Futbalový štadión MŠK TESLA Stropkov

Futbalový štadión MŠK TESLA Stropkov sits at the end of Matica slovenská in a town where the main road runs straight through the centre. The ground is not large: the terraces hold around 2,500 people, and there are no floodlights.

The club that calls it home traces its roots back to 1920 under the name ŠK Stropkov. It became KCS Stropkov in 1951, and then TJ Tesla Stropkov after the local plant opened.

The stands are low and flat, built of concrete blocks and painted in faded blue. Behind one goal, a single row of seats looks out over a small car park. The other side is open to the street, and the sound of traffic carries into the ground during quiet afternoons. There is no roof over the main stand, so rain falls directly onto the dugouts.

Old photographs show the team in knickerbockers and long socks, lined up on the same grass. The players’ faces change, but the ground stays the same: the white touchlines, the corner flags, the patch of mud near the penalty spot. The club has played in the second tier of Slovak football, and the ground has hosted matches that mattered to the town, even if the crowd never filled the 2,500 seats. Today the club sits lower down the pyramid, and the stadium is simply a place where the local team plays its games.