HC Sparta Praha

Hockey Club Sparta Praha (eng: HC Sparta Prague) is a Prague based Czech ice hockey team playing in the Czech Extraliga.

History
Former names:
 * 1909 - AC Sparta Praha
 * 1948 - Sokol Sparta
 * 1949 - Sokol Bratrství Sparta
 * 1951 - Sokol Sparta Sokolovo
 * 1953 - Spartak Praha Sokolovo
 * 1965 - Sparta ČKD Praha
 * 1990 - HC Sparta Praha

The Sparta Praha hockey club is one of the most successful and famous clubs in Czechoslovakian and later Czech ice hockey history. It was originally formed in 1903 as a bandy club but the hockey section was not created until 1909.

Sparta’s great successes were reached in the years following World War II as it won two national titles in a row - 1952/54 and 1953/54—under the name Spartak Sokolovo. The next highly successful period came much more recently, when Sparta won the national league in 1989/90 and in 1992/93. Another recent achievement (along with two third place finishes in 1995/96 and 1996/97) was Sparta’s participation in the final group of the European League (EHL) in 1996/97.

After a few years of bad luck and less success, Sparta returned to the top of the Czech Extraliga in 1999/00 when they were crowned league champions. That victory was the first of four championships they would win over seven seasons, adding Extraliga titles in 2002, 2006 and 2007. In addition to those achievements, Sparta managed to be part of the Top Four in the European League (EHL) again in 1999/2000 and achieved the greatest result in Czech hockey history: second place.

Present
HC Sparta Praha has regularly been one of the best teams in the Czech Extraliga, making the playoffs almost every year. HC Sparta Praha's home games are played at Tipsport Arena which is the second-largest hockey arena in the Czech Republic with a capacity of 13,150 spectators.