Slavia Praha U19

Twelve titles in the Czech U19 Championship since 2013/14 tell most of what needs telling about this side. That kind of dominance at youth level does not happen by accident, and the fact that Slavia's academy keeps producing rather than losing is the point.

The clearest proof wears a first-team shirt now. Tomáš Souček came through this academy before becoming a fixture in Slavia's midfield and later in the Premier League.

The Round of 32 in the UEFA Youth League, reached twice, in 2019/20 and 2022/23, is as far as European competition has taken them. Domestically there is no such limit. The senior side's own record, nine league titles and eleven cups, sets the standard the U19s are pushed toward.

None of it began with a football at all. Slavia started in 1892 as an academic cycling club, and only took up the game four years later, in 1896, playing its first official match that March.