Vsetín

Getting there meant grinding through the regional levels that have defined the Valaši for most of their existence — the club took the lower A třída Zlínského kraje four times before that, in 1998/99, 2000/01, 2003/04 and 2013/14.

None of it ever reached a national title. The closest the club came to real prominence was a quarter-final run in the Czechoslovak Cup in 1966/67, and a fourth-place league finish back in 1942/43 — history that predates almost everything else attached to the name. The club itself dates to 1905, and it still plays in red and white at the Fotbalový stadion na Tyršově ulici, a ground that holds 2,500.

What keeps Vsetín's matches sharp has little to do with any of that. It is the fixture with Zlín, sitting a short drive away, that supporters call the Valašské derby. There is no official name stamped on it beyond that, but three decades of meeting in the same divisions have given it an edge that outlasts whatever level either side happens to be playing at.

Promotion has put the Valaši back in the MSFL, the third tier, and the task now is simply holding that ground.