"Hello Zlín, you're a stupid head!" - Ten Tumultuous Years in South East Moravia

 The word Zlín probably doesn’t mean much for anyone beyond the Czech borders, but it’s an important city within the wider framework of the country’s history. Known by the German name of Gottwaldov until as recently as 1989, it’s always been something of an industrial epicentre for Moravia and beyond, particularly with regard to shoe making. After all, it’s the birthplace of iconic entrepreneur Tomáš Baťa, founder of the Bata shoe company.

I’ve always thought of it as the Northampton of the Czech Republic for that reason, but that does the town a disservice. It’s incredibly distinct compared to some of the other towns and cities in the country, even those nearby, which in many cases cannot be distinguished due to the influence of communism on the country. Zlín somehow breaks this mould with its unique almost American or Canadian modernity.

A recent visit for a Tipsport Liga fixture between Zlín and Zbrojovka (a 2-1 away win) inspired this blog, having been a couple of times now, and what’s striking from above is just how much the town resembles Springfield. The cooling tower certainly helps, but it’s still an eerie familiarity. 

From that recent visit, I should also give a shout out to the excellent Kavárna Továrna (Coffee Factory), and an Indian/Nepalese restaurant called Makalu with a superb Fish Korma. But the purpose of this blog is to look at a fascinating fall from grace that somehow isn’t a fall at all yet for 2017s unlikeliest Czech Cup winners, and subsequently Europe’s unlikeliest group stage entrants in 2017/18.

Who are Zlín? How did they get here? Will they ever achieve the increasingly elusive positive goal difference in the top flight? Moreover, how are they still there after so many years of desperate struggle?

If the shoe fits…

Back in 2009, Zlín’s seven year stay in the top flight was over, following a 15th placed finish which

saw them drop along with Viktoria Žižkov. They wouldn’t return for another six years in 2015, despite

finishing 3rd in the 2nd Liga that season. Though champions Sigma Olomouc and Varnsdorf had

finished above Zlín, it was the latter’s stadium’s inability to meet the requirements of the top league

that gave Zlín their promotion back to the big time.

It’s where they’ve remained ever since, though it has been anything but stable. Their first season back

saw a 13th placed finish, only three clear of Příbram and their fellow promoted side Sigma Olomouc,

the latter of whom went down with a worse head to head record than Příbram. It wasn’t vintage, but it was enough for another season in the top flight at least.

Having guided them to promotion and survival, manager Bohumil Páník wasn’t finished there. Put

simply, they were a tough nut to crack in 2016/17, and they started magnificently, winning away at

fierce rivals Slovacko with ten men (1-3), Viktoria Plzen (0-2), and getting a credible 2-2 draw at

Slavia Praha. 

They didn’t lose until a 1-0 defeat at the hands of Dukla Praha, but even that didn’t arrive until late

November. They’d dropped off when the calendar changed to 2017, with only two goals scored in the

first six games back after the break. Remarkably, they would only pick up another two wins in the

league - away at Bohemians in April (0-2), and away at Příbram in May on the final day. 

That said, they would still finish 6th, and besides, who needs league success when you’ve got the MOL

Cup?

The Unexpected Star of the Shoe

4-0 wins away at Třebíč and Tachov would kick off the cup campaign with relative ease, before a more

challenging tie at home to Sparta Praha. They managed to win 3-1 after extra time, with Matej Hulkrab

giving the away side an 18th minute lead, before Croat Marko Jordan equalised on 52 minutes.

Extra time would see goals from Bosnian Haris Harba and Serb Vukadin Vukadinovic, who is on

his fourth spell with Zlin as we speak. He’d grab another in the quarter final at a Slovan Liberec

side who’d had a certain Tomas Soucek in their side. Slovan took an early lead through a Gajic own goal,

but Vukadinovic and Matejov turned the game around in the second half. 

Radek Voltr sent the teams to extra time, before Lukáš Holík and Miloš Kopečný settled the tie.

They’d need to defeat the other Praha giants in Slavia, which they would do courtesy of another Lukáš

Holík goal in the 32nd minute. A cup final against fellow surprise package Opava beckoned, where

Robert Bartolomeu’s 20th minute goal settled proceedings in Olomouc. 

That was that, and Zlín would be playing European group stage football for the first time since playing

in the Intertoto Cup in 2005, courtesy of their first ever cup win post-1993.

The Cobbled Road through Europe

All that said, Europa League football would not come to Zlín, rather it would come to Olomouc, with

Letna not meeting UEFA regulations. The Andruv Stadion was more than sufficient, though playing an

hour away  will have undoubtedly taken some of the magic away for Zlín’s hardcore supporters.

Their first game would be a goalless draw at home to Sheriff Tiraspol of Moldova (or Transnistria,

depending on who you ask) - given that the group also contained Lokomotiv Moscow and Copenhagen,

it would have felt like a missed opportunity not to win at home in such a tight game.

Things were off to a dreadful start in Moscow, with Manuel Fernandes putting Ševci to the sword

courtesy of a 17 minute hat trick. It would remain 3-0 though, despite a spirited response from Zlín.

That spirit would continue in a foggy Olomouc, however, with Zlín going close to shocking Danish side

Copenhagen in a 1-1, even taking the lead after eleven minutes through Dame Diop. It only took

Peter Ankersen eight minutes to respond with that equaliser though.

When all was said and done, however, two points from the opening three games would inevitably leave

them bottom of Group F, with trips to Copenhagen and a particularly arduous trip to Tiraspol on the

horizon.The former was another 3-0 whitewash, with that being Copenhagen’s first win, and surely Zlín’s

killer blow.

The trip to Tiraspol was to be next, which was a tough journey for anyone, let alone a side of Zlín’s resources. They would have to get to Chisinau before crossing the controversial border zone into Transnistria, only to lose 1-0 courtesy of Jairo’s 11th minute strike. If you have a translator enabled for your browser, then it’s well worth looking at one reporter’s tale of this particular journey. The final game was a 2-0 loss at “home” to Lokomotiv, which ended their first and last Europa League campaign, for now at least.

Clogging the drain…

Though admittedly the most tenuous of the shoe puns, it's certainly been the case that Zlín have been clinging on for dear life in the top flight since that European campaign.

Zlín finished 10th in 2017/18, which wasn’t terrible by any means given that they had to juggle

European football on top of all else. They would, however suffer two of the four heaviest defeats that

season, at home to Mlada Boleslav (1-5) and Jablonec (0-4) respectively. 

10th perhaps sounded better than it was in reality, given that anyone from 8th down to 15th realistically

could have joined Zbrojovka in the 2nd tier. A 1-0 cup semi-final loss to Jablonec will have hurt most

though, with an unexpected repeat of their 2017 success no longer on the cards.

2018-19 was the first season that saw the league split into three, with Zlín finishing 8th and qualifying

for the middle group. Any European ambitions were scuppered by Mlada Boleslav, however, who’d

won the play-off second-round by overturning a 3-1 deficit in the second leg with a 3-0 win.

2019 is where things began to get truly bleak for Ševci. COVID would have spared them the ignominy

of relegation, though they finished 13th in any case, with the league expanding to 18 teams the following

season. With the league format returning to normal, they would survive by a mere six points in 2021,

finishing 14th, 

With the split recommencing in 2021-22, they would finish that amount of points off the middle group in

11th, before finishing just two points shy of the relegation play-off by the end of the season. Last season

was truly their annus horribilis, and yet somehow they managed to stay up.

The Sole of the League

Given that Ševci had finished bottom before the split on a measly 26 points, this is perhaps the only pun

that works on a literal level. If the Czech League was a shoe (which it’s not incidentally), they would be

the sole going into that split.

They hadn’t won an away game all season, with their five wins all coming against sides around them,

with the exception of Bohemians who’d inexplicably been beaten 4-1 in Zlín. 2-1 wins at home to

Ostrava, and away at Pardubice left Zlín with a winner takes all clash away at Zbrojovka, though in

their case a draw would be enough.

It was goalless, with Zlín sending Zbrojovka down, and subsequently narrowly seeing off Vyškov 1-0

over two legs. By all accounts, they could do the same again this season, with the likes of České

Budějovice and Karvina looking particularly dreadful, but a sequence of results that sums them up

perfectly would be the goalless draw at Sigma Olomouc which followed the insane 5-9 defeat at home to

Mlada Boleslav. 

Surviving somehow for so many years (with ten different managers, including Páník again - you could say they pulled the Páník cord), Zlín appear to be the Hamilton Academical of the Czech League, or perhaps the Wigan Athletic. Though as we all know now, those seemingly improbable stays did eventually prove to be just that.

For the sake of balance, I should add that they are still in the MOL Cup this year...

Credit to Sam and David at @Zbrojovkast who often make the above Simpsons quote when Zlín

are referenced in conversation, hence the title.

Definitely give them a follow and a listen.