The Other Slavia Prague Team
The reason I included “Football” in the title is because in Prague, Slavia would also be an Ice Hockey Club and in fact both do play their matches in the same complex. Remember that the Slavia Prague website does not sell tickets direct and instead uses a site at http://www.ticketportal.cz.
As you may have already noted on the Sparta Prague page, Slavia Prague is definitely playing catch-up when it comes to status. They rarely qualify for the major European competitions and when they do they have not made it out of the group stages.
Still it means that UK teams playing in the Europa League may come here to play Slavia Prague so as well as some tips on where the stadium is and how to get there, I’ll also share some of the club’s history. If Sparta were “Arsenal” then Slavia Prague would be “Spurs” right down to being called “yiddos” because of a rather tenuous link to an insurance company payout over a cancelled game against West Ham in 1922. Slavia means “land of the Slavs” and once you are in that stadium they’ll let you know it.
Founded the year before Sparta Prague in 1892 it was very successful pre-war but since then Sparta has dominated and in recent years it has also come under pressure from Plzen and Viktoria Zizkov. Their new purpose built football stadium in the Vršovice district of Prague is called the Eden Arena. Capacity of a little under 21,000 means it can get an atmosphere and it’s easily accessible by public transport. If searching on the web then use the term “SK Slavia Prague” but if you just want to see where it is on a map then check the Google Maps location.
How to get here?
A taxi or Uber to here will work out to about CZK400. You can do it with a combination of Metro and Tram but my advice is to catch the Number 22 Tram from the centre of town (tram stops at Narodni, IP Pavlova and Namesti Miru all have the No.22) in the direction of “Nadrazi Hostivar”. Get off at the “Slavia” stop where you’ll see the big supermarket on one side of the road and the Slavia Prague stadium on the other side. You’ll just need a CZK30 ticket as it’s less than a 30 minute one-way trip.
Entering the stadium
YOU MUST HAVE A PRINTED TICKET. They will not accept e-tickets on a mobile phone. Now if you intend buying a ticket in Prague then here are some tips:
The Gate 4 ticket office is the general location for anybody to buy tickets and it usually opens 3 days before any scheduled game. Here you can use cash or credit cards. On the day, there will be an option for you to buy at Gate 3.
The Gate 3 ticket office is for use by AWAY fans. It opens at 10am every day but although they state that credit cards are accepted, don’t take this as gospel and have the necessary CZK cash to buy the tickets .
If the game is “sold out” then your only other option is to wait until 2 hours before the kick-off and go back to the Gate 3 ticket office to see if you can get any pre-sale returns. For this you will definitely need cash. If it gets to half-time and there’s still no tickets available then go to the pub and watch it on TV because you won’t get in the ground.
I warn you now that the “Away Fans” section is very small and in the event of an away sell-out, the Slavia Prague stadium does not like away fans in the home stands so may not sell you any tickets.
Souvenirs
You’ll find the Fan shop next to Gate 1. Generally they open from 10am until 5pm (Thursday until 7pm). Credit cards accepted.
Eating and Drinking
There are a few takeaway places and a couple of restaurants at the stadium so if you are thinking of eating or drinking locally then all the places to go are in the main street with the tram line called “V Olšinach”.