Highs and lows for Spartak Trnava
It all ended in tears. A few days after winning a trophy, Martin Skrtel, the former Liverpool centre-back, suddenly announced a press conference. There, he confirmed the rumours: one of Slovakian football’s all-time greats would be ending his football career.
The 37-year-old Skrtel returned to Slovakia at the start of last season after17 years abroad. Although he became a professional at Trencin, he always expressed his dream to play for Spartak Trnava, the team he supported as a boy and historically one of Slovakia’s two biggest clubs.
His dream came true in the summer of 2021, after a spell in Turkey at Istanbul Basaksehir came to an end. Skrtel, with104 caps for Slovakia and participations at two major tournaments, immediately became the biggest star of the Slovak Fortuna Liga. With Skrtel at the heart of the defence, Spartak Trnava looked like title challengers.
“I felt the players’ desire to achieve something,” Michal Gasparik, Spartak Trnava’s coach, tells World Soccer.
“A lot of coaches changed and we had to convince the players they could achieve more.”
Trnava, a town of 63,000 in the west of the country, last won the league in 2018, when they became champions for the first time since1973. That latter title was the conclusion of a dominant era for the club, as they won the Czechoslovak league five times in six seasons and reached the European Cup semi-final in1969, where they were defeated by Johan Cruyff’s Ajax.
This was a real golden age for Trnava, with most of the team born in or nearby the town, and legendary players like Ladislav Kuna, Karol Dobias and Jozef Adamec in the squad.
Every Spartak Trnava side since have lived in the shadow of that legendary team. Realistically, those European heights are now out of reach, but a club with arguably the strongest and most passionate fan base in the country have undoubtedly underperformed domestically. It took the arrival of young Serbian-born English coach Nestor El Maestro to end the 45-year wait for a title – Trnava’s first since the dissolution of Czechoslovakia.
After an impressive start to the 2021-22 campaign, it looked as though Trnava could challenge Slovan Bratislava for the title. The rivalry between the two sides is the biggest in Slovakia, but in recent years Trnava have been unable to compete with the financially stronger Slovan, who have now won the last four league titles in a row.
There are some differences between these clubs: Slovan, in their attempt to become successful in Europe, import a lot of players from abroad, while Trnava have traditionally aimed to build the squad around homegrown, local players. In order to aid that process, they appointed Gasparik as their new head coach in January 2021 after five years working as a youth coach at the club.
The 40-year-old was himself a graduate of his hometown club’s academy, playing over150 league games in three different spells at Trnava. In total, Gasparik says he has spent around 25 years at the club: “I built a close relationship, different to other clubs I played in. In the end, I became their head coach. It’s very different to work at home, where everybody knows me.”
After taking charge of the team,
Gasparik wanted to strengthen the links to the local community. That’s why he pushed for captain Martin Mikovic – born in Trnava – to stay, and build the core around him and other locals, such as Roman Prochazka, and young talents like Gergely Tumma and Sebastian Kosa.
After guiding the side to the Europa Conference League, Gasparik’s first full season in charge started well and, after ten games, they faced Slovan with the two sides level on points at the top of the table.
It was a game that was described as one of the biggest in the history of the Slovak league – yet it didn’t even last a quarter of an hour.
After15 minutes, crowd trouble spilled over onto the pitch, as hooligans of both teams ran through barriers and started fighting on the pitch. The game was suspended and never continued. Trnava, as hosts, were punished and Slovan were handed a 3-0 victory.
A couple of months later, key men Filip Twardzik and Cabral departed, and Trnava’s title challenge collapsed.
The opportunity for redemption came at the end of the season, though, as the two teams met in the final of the Slovak Cup. A few days before the game, it still wasn’t clear if it would go ahead, and if so, where. Last minute, the Slovak Football Association (SFZ) chose the National Football Stadium as the venue.
It wasn’t a popular decision. Trnava were opposed to the idea of playing at Slovan’s home ground, while the local municipality didn’t want to host the derby after the fan violence from just a few months earlier.
It was a game that was described as one of the biggest in the history of the Slovak league – yet it didn’t even last a quarter of an hour
In the end, the game went ahead. Despite playing on enemy soil, Trnava came from1-0 down to win 2-1 in extra-time. More importantly, there was no violence and supporters even found a common ground – however, only in vulgar chanting directed against the Slovak FA.
Skrtel, who wore the captain’s armband for his final game, fulfilled his dream by lifting silverware with his boyhood club – the perfect way to bow out. Ideally he’d have continued, but his body would not allow it. In a press conference, he explained that back problems cause him pain even while walking. It simply wasn’t worth it anymore.
“I don’t remember a day without the pain,” Skrtel said. “If it was only in the games or training, you could accept it somehow. However, over the last months I had to play with pills and injections. My personal life didn’t exist, I had a problem to go with my son for a100-metre walk. If we did this press conference standing, I wouldn’t manage to do it.”
Skrtel had an immense impact on both Trnava and the rest of the league, to the extent that many people travelled from around the country just to watch him play live.
“In the dressing room, it was visible
the players had a big respect for Skrtel, as he’s a Slovak football icon,” Gasparik explains. “Since the start, he acted like he was just one of us. Young players have grown up while playing with him. It’s a pity it lasted only one year, because we created a centre-back partnership with18-year-old Kosa, who had Skrtel as his mentor.”
Gasparik thinks the recent cup success could be also seen in a wider perspective. “There are a few guys from Trnava also in the coaching staff, not only in the squad,” he says. “Then, you can feel it on the pitch, too. Even if Slovan might have had a higher quality, we showed some things typical for Trnava: a fighting spirit, bigger emotions. Sometimes, that means more than a football art. That’s why we might have won the trophy, too, and we did it at our rival’s pitch.”
In Slovakia, the public interest in the
In Slovakia, the public interest in the local league is small, with some games’ attendances in the hundreds. Trnava are one of the very few clubs left with a proper supporters’ base and a fan culture
local league is small, with some games’ attendances in the hundreds. Trnava are one of the very few clubs left with a proper supporters’ base and a fan culture. “Here, a love for the club still exists, and there is a fans potential, which is missing in some parts of the country,” Gasparik points out. “Also, when Trnava are high in the table, the interest is bigger than anywhere else. Trnava are also interesting for a Slovak market, we have a big media attention and many of our games are shown on TV. Wherever we go, people come to the stands, because they are curious.
“Maybe we don’t have results like in the1970s, but in Slovak terms, Spartak is a massive brand, and the fandom goes from generation to generation. Nobody has such potential as Spartak has.”
Next year is Trnava’s centenary year. What better way to celebrate their100-year anniversary than by adding more trophies?