Hlinsko

Roman Jůn left Hlinsko for Sparta Praha and came back a champion in 2001; František Jílek made the same journey a generation earlier, into Dukla Praha and Sparta, and Jakub Pešek followed later still, out through Sparta and on to Slovan Liberec — three names that suggest Hlinsko has done more to produce footballers than to keep them.

What the club kept for itself came in short bursts. In the 1980/81 Czechoslovak Cup it beat the reigning league champions, Baník Ostrava, on penalties after a 1-1 draw, then knocked out TŽ Třinec before Dukla Praha finally ended the run in extra time. In the 1984/85 season it reached the third tier of Czechoslovak football, finishing fifteenth and coming straight back down. A regional title in 2005/06 is the only line added to that record since.

The club has worn several names before this one — Sparta Hlinsko at its founding in 1905, then Spartak under both SK and TJ before it, and FC Spartak after that — settling on FC Hlinsko only in 1996. Around the town, people just call the players Hlinečtí. The green-and-white side plays at the Městský stadion, known locally as Olšinky, holding a thousand people, small enough that the district derby against Chrudim still counts as the fixture of the year, alongside meetings with Vysoké Mýto and Trutnov.

Now Hlinsko sits in Group C of the fourth tier.