Sinobo Stadium: Slavia Prague & Czech Republic

Petr Vilgus [CC BY-SA 3.0], via Wikimedia Commons

Sportovní klub Slavia Praha is a football club that’s often referred to simply by the English name of Slavia Prague. Based in the Czech Republic’s capital city of Prague, the club was formed in 1892 and is one of the Czech Republic’s top teams. On the European stage the club reached the semi-finals of the UEFA Cup, which is now the Europa League, in 1996 and reached the group stage of the Champions League for the first time during the 2007-2008 campaign.

They play their league games at the Sinobo Stadium, which was previously known as the Eden Aréna when it opened in 2008. The rename came about when CEFC China Energy bought the stadium in 2016, having initially planned to buy a 70% stake in it. The ground stands on the site of a former football ground, also called Eden, which was meant to be replaced during the 1970s but never was because of the vagaries of dealing with the communist regime.

Stats

Sinobo Stadium Photos

View From Stands During a Match
Markus Unger from Vienna

View Of Stands and Media Area
Stormen425 [CC BY-SA 4.0]

External View
External View

Sinobo Stadium Seating Plan and Where to Sit

The stadium boasts a curious design, essentially looking like many of the older English grounds that have four distinct sides to them. Yet in actuality it’s more like a bowl because the corners are filled in to allow for continuous seating. The main stand is split over two levels, with hospitality boxes sitting in the middle of them.

Slavia Prague Ticket Prices

Tickets for Slavia Prague matches are split into three different categories (Z1, Z2, Z3) depending on the level of the opponent, with games against the likes of Sparta Prague and Plzen being the most expensive. As an example, tickets for the Z3 match between Slavia Prague and 1.FC Slovácko in 2019 would have cost you between 420 and 890 Czech koruna.

How To Get Slavia Prague Tickets

The club’s website is the best place to start, given that it has an English translation built-in and can easily tell you everything that you need to know. Tickets go on sale about three weeks before the match is due to take place. If you’d rather buy tickets in person then you can head to the ticket office, which is located close to Entry Gate 4 at the stadium. The club also has a deal in place with Ticketportal.

Where to Buy

• Ticket Compare

Getting To Sinobo Stadium

Train – It takes just over 24 hours to get from London to Prague, going first to Paris, then Stuttgart and on to Munich before finally heading to Prague itself. With that in mind, it might be both quicker and cheaper to fly. Once you’re actually in Prague you can get the Metro to Želivského or the train to Praha-Vršovice, which is the closest train station.

Bus – Buses 135, 136, 150 and 213 all stop to the west of the stadium. You can also opt to get the tram, with numbers 4, 7, 22 and 24 stopping within the vicinity of the ground.

Car – If you’re intent on driving rather than taking public transport then you can find Sinobo Stadium just off the E65, which is the main road that runs closest to it.

By Air – Flying is definitely the quickest way of getting to Prague if you’re travelling from the UK, with Prague Václav Havel Airport being about 25 miles or so from the stadium.

Taxi – A taxi from the castle, which is close to the centre of Prague, out to the ground will cost you around 650 Czech koruna, which is about £20 at today’s exchange rate.

Parking Near Sinobo Stadium

There is very limited parking at the actual ground and it’s located in a residential area, so parking restrictions are in place on a match day.

• See Available Parking Near Sinobo Stadium

Useful Resources

• Flights & Travel - Expedia
• Coach Travel - Eurolines
• Parking - Just Park

Sinobo Stadium Hotels

Prague is one of the most picturesque cities in Europe, and absolutely heaving with tourists. The smart ones will go with one of the hotels below.

Hotel Peko - £50+

Brtnická 713/1, Praha 10 - Vršovice, 10100

This hotel is small, with just ten guest bedrooms. It’s worth putting on the list, though, because it extremely convenient for the Sinobo Stadium. It’s just a 15 minute walk away, with the hotel offering free parking so it’s great for anyone who wants to drive but doesn’t want to try to park close to the venue. There’s also free Wi-Fi on offer and an airport pickup service available direct from the hotel, so don’t rule it out just because it’s on the small side. More details.

Mamaison Residence Belgicka - £70+

Belgicka 12, 12000

When you find yourself in a foreign city it’s often nice to have a home-from-home, so the Mamaison Residence is a good choice. There are 30 apartments available, each boasting a kitchenette. The building itself has a fitness centre and meeting room on-site, so there are plenty of things to do to mean you don’t have to just sit in your room the whole time. The common area offers tea and coffee, with breakfast also available and room service on offer. There’s free Wi-Fi, so you’ll be able to keep in touch with everyone back home. It’s also close to the ground. More details.

Hotel Don Giovanni Prague - £120+

Vinohradska 157a, 13020

Of course, some times being away from home is a chance to treat yourself and the Hotel Don Giovanni gives you just that. There are more than 400 rooms, three restaurants and three bars on-site, so you’ll only really have to leave it when it’s time to go to the match. There’s a full-service spa, fitness centre and 24-hour business centre, too. If the weather is good then why not head onto the rooftop terrace? Self-parking is available, as is free Wi-Fi, whilst the stadium is just twenty minutes away on foot. More details.

Pubs and Bars Near Sinobo Stadium

Thanks to ancient laws, the tax on beer in Prague makes it literally cheaper to drink a pint than a bottle of water. Obviously not recommending that, but if you are going to have a pint or two there are plenty of great places here to do so on the cheap.

Facilities

You won’t get the same sort of facilities that you might expect at the most modern Premier League grounds, but it’s still one of the best grounds in the Czech Republic so it’s not exactly lacking in what it offers.

Hospitality

Given that it is both the largest and the most modern stadium that the Czech Republic has to offer, it’s no major surprise that there’s an excellent VIP section. The Goal Club and the Legend Club are two options available to you if you wish to opt for a more formal match experience.

Private Hire

As well as offering a decent VIP section for those that wish to use it, the stadium also has a business centre and office space that can be hired out by those hoping to take advantage of it.

Stadium Tours & Museum

There is an excellent museum onsite as well as the ability to do tours. It opens at 10am and then closes at either 2pm or 6pm depending on when you go. It takes in everything you might expect from a stadium tour and nothing is left out. The tour costs 200CZK for adults, 150CZK for concessions, 50CZK for kids, and under 6’s go free.

About Slavia Prague

Sportovní klub Slavia Praha, better known as Slavia Prague in the UK, was founded in 1892 and are one of the Czech Republic’s most successful teams. The sports club was initially founded by medicine students with the specific aim of encouraging fellow students to be more active. It was initially a cycling club, with the football side of the operation not being introduced until 1896. Not long after being formed the club played a match against Sparta Prague, beginning a rivalry that is still very much in place today. The club enjoyed its first golden age in 1905 when the Scottish manager and player John Madden arrived in the city with new tactics that revolutionised the game and kept the club successful for more than two decades.

The club won thirteen titles between its formation and the start of the 1940s, but was forced to wait nearly five decades for their fourteenth. That arrived in 1996, which was when the club also made it as far as the semi-finals in the UEFA Cup. The club’s name has changed countless times over the years, starting life as SK ACOS Praha in 1892, before eventually transitioning to Slavia Praha nearly one hundred years later. The club uses the colours of red and white, which are supposed to stand for heart and blood and represent fair play and sportsmanship. Slavia Prague is widely considered to be a Jewish club, but that’s actually a misconception.

Sinobo Stadium History

Construction of the stadium began in September of 2006, with the official opening coming on the 7th of May in 2008. That means that it’s one of the most modern stadiums in the Czech Republic. It was built on the site of the club’s previous ground, which was located in the Eden area of the city of Prague. That was why it was called the Stadion Eden when it opened, eventually taking on the moniker of Synot Tip Arena because of sponsorship with the betting company. In 2016 the company CEFC China Energy, which had a majority stake in Slavia Prague, announced its intention to buy as much as 70% of the stadium. In the end they bought the stadium outright and renamed it as Sinobo Stadium in 2017.

The ground has been the home of Slavia Prague from the moment it opened, but it has also hosted other clubs over the years. The Czech National team has played a few games here, for example, whilst it was also the home of Bohemians 1905 between 2010 and 2012. During the 2011 to 2012 season the Czech team FC Viktoria Plzeň used the venue as its home ground for their Champions League matches because their own stadium, the Doosan Arena, wasn’t good enough to meet UEFA requirements for grounds that sides played games in club football’s elite competition in. In 2013 it was used to host the UEFA Super Cup, which was between the winners of the Champions League, Bayern Munich, and the Europa League, Chelsea.

Future Developments

When CEFC China Energy bought the stadium in 2017 they announced that they planned to invest around €50 million in improving the ground, expanding the capacity and making it the main stadium that would be used by the Czech Republic national side. At the time of writing, however, that has yet to happen.