Sparta Prague at Olympiacos: Czech football fights for UEFA spot

Sparta Prague will play Athens-based Olympiacos in Piraeus on Thursday, and the match could be one of the key ones for Czech football this autumn: Czech clubs have never won in Greece in 19 official meetings, and the country risks losing tenth place in the UEFA coefficient table.

The fight for tenth place

At stake is keeping 10th position, the last one that guarantees the national champion a direct place in the Champions League. Czechia has held this privilege for three seasons, including the current one. What is being decided now is who gets the places for the 2028/2029 season.

Last week Slavia lost to Sabah, Viktoria Plzeň lost to Ferencváros, Jablonec to Freiburg, and Sparta drew at home with Lillestrøm. As a result, Czechia dropped to 12th place in the interim standings. Greece moved up to tenth and Poland to eleventh.

The gap is minimal, though. Slavia won back some points by drawing with Fenerbahçe in the Champions League on Tuesday, while AEK Athens lost to Manchester City. The main action, however, will come on Thursday.

What the coaches say

The hosts' coach, Imanol Alguacil, is focused only on winning: he says he has known since his first day at the club that he must win. Forward Roman Yaremchuk stressed that Sparta is treated with great respect in Greece: they are strong, tall players, and the match will have to be played “with the heart.” Alguacil added that the Prague side is efficient and likes to build its play from defence.

In European competitions, Greece is represented by AEK in the Champions League, Olympiacos and OFI Crete in the Europa League, and Panathinaikos in the Conference League. Poland has only two clubs in the Europa League: Jagiellonia and Lech Poznań. Each country's results are divided by five, the number of teams each sent into European competitions in the summer, including qualifying.

A chance to end the dismal run

It is now up to Sparta to break the losing streak. The Prague side's Danish coach, Brian Priske, admitted he will be a little selfish: he is thinking not about Czech football as a whole, but about three points for Sparta. If that also happens to change the historical record, he will take it as a pleasant bonus.

“We have to respect Olympiacos, but we have come to fight them,” Priske said, promising to give everything.

Around Prague, based on reporting by sport.cz