Division: First Division  Tier: 1Status: ProfessionalBalance: OkayBudget: £159,000Training Facil.: Youth Facil.: Youth Academy: Stadium Capacity: 9,100Avg. Occupation: 36.3%Max. Occupation: 78.0%Introduction
All I want for Christmas is a Dukla Prague away kit. The Czech club immortalised by a song by Half Man Half Biscuit in the 80’s is much more than just a very attractive retro football kit. Once a very successful team, it has since fallen on hard times. In fact, it isn’t even Dukla Prague anymore. The original Dukla Prague exists today as 1. FK Příbram, merged with FC Příbram who were formed in 1928, and this is the team I will be profiling. I must add at this point, that there is a Dukla Prague currently active in the Czech Premier League, but this isn’t the same club, despite them having taken the original Dukla Prague badge, they were formed in 1959 as Dukla Dejvice, and didn’t become Dukla Prague until after the original had become 1. FK Příbram, and have no rights to Prague’s titles.

History
Dukla Prague was formed in 1948 by the Czechoslovak army as ATK (Armádní tělocvičný klub or if that doesn’t roll off the tongue, the English translation is Army Club of Physical Training.). The club was immediately allowed into the top division. The name Dukla Prague came about in 1956, named after a famous battle of World War II, Dukla Pass. They stayed in the top division until 1994, when, after falling on hard times during the 1990s and unable to compete with Sparta Prague and other rivals in terms of sponsorship due to Communist connections, Dukla won only one game during the season and were subsequently relegated. They were bought by a Czech businessman, who immediately bought rival team FC Příbram, who were playing in a lower division. The clubs were merged in 1996 and took the place of FC Příbram in the 2nd division. They were known then as FC Dukla, next Dukla Příbram and finally, as we know them now, 1. FK Příbram.

Honours
11 Czech League titles, 8 Czech Cups.

During their heyday of the 1950s and 60s, Dukla Prague managed to win eight Czech Football League Championships and five Czech Cups (one unofficial) between 1953 and 1966 and during this time they also reached the European Cup semi-final in 1967, losing to eventual champions Celtic. Since then they had another successful spell in the late 70s and early 80s claiming three League titles and three Czech cups between ’77 and ’85. They added one more cup to this tally in 1990.

What have they been upto lately?
Nothing, basically. After staying in and around the first division, with a promotion to the Premier League as champions in 2008, 1. FK Příbram have remained in the top division since, not bothering anybody.

Has anyone famous ever played for/managed the club?
Yes, Dukla Prague has been able to boast amongst it’s ranks several Czech legends of football. The midfield of Masopust and Pluskal of the 60s is amongst the best ever central partnerships to grace the game, with the former winning European Player of the Year in 1962. The pair were also vital to the Czechoslovak team which, in the same year, finished as runners-up in the World Cup, losing 3-1 to Brazil in the final.

Zdeněk Nehoda was a right winger, and Ivo Viktor a goalkeeper who were key members of the European Championship winning Czech team of 1976. Finally a man who would need no introduction to most, a certain Mr. Pavel Nedvěd, who played during a bleak time for Dukla, but went on to have a highly successful career in Italy with Lazio and Juventus.

How does this tie in to FM?
1. FK Příbram currently play at the Na Litavce stadium in the town of Příbram, it holds 9100 people all-seated. It’s an old stadium, build in 1928, so it is a bit worse for wear, but there is under soil heating as that is a requirement of the Czech top division. They have average training facilities and adequate youth facilities. Added to this, average junior coaching and youth recruitment and adequate corporate facilities, the team needs a little background work to bring them up to speed with their rivals. As for your transfer budget, the board give you around Ł320k to spend, and a Ł17k wage budget, of which Ł9k is in use, so there is a little wiggle room there. 1. FK Příbram aren’t a team that bring in a lot of money, so it would be advisable to be careful with these budgets. I should also mention that when the merger in '96 was agreed, the titles that Dukla won were not given to the newly formed club, so a new dynasty would have to be created in their memory.

Well, here lies a club, the heart and soul of which has been removed due to financial trouble, and a short-sighted businessman who couldn’t resist a merger and a move. Once a glorious team, one which could boast a squad amongst the best in Europe, upon taking on the challenge of 1. FK Příbram, your job would be to bring the good times back to the club, in the name and memory of the once great Dukla Prague. Maybe the European semi-final would be a stretch, but to become dominant in the Czech league is something the poor fans who have had their club moved and renamed remember fondly. Though the club name, and the home location is different, maybe you could bring the memories flooding back to the actual, if not spiritual, home of Dukla Prague.

(Note: Below, you will find the images in this article, two images of former Dukla Prague kits and the screenshots of the Pribram finance and facility page in Football Manager 2012)