2005–06 FC Artmedia Bratislava season

During the 2005–06 Slovak football season, Artmedia Bratislava competed in the Superliga.

Artmedia Bratislava
2005–06 season
ManagerSlovakia Vladimír Weiss
StadiumStadium FC Petržalka 1898 (domestic games)
Tehelné pole (European matches)
Superliga2nd
Slovak CupSemi-finals
Champions LeagueGroup stage
UEFA CupRound of 32

Season summary edit

Artmedia reached the group stages of the UEFA Champions League after wins over Kairat Almaty, Celtic and Partizan Belgrade. They beat Almaty 4–3 on aggregate in the first qualifying round despite a 2–0 defeat in the first leg. However it was on 27 July 2005 that they made their mark on the tournament, producing one of the shock results of Champions League history as they beat 2003 UEFA Cup finalists and 1967 European Cup winners Celtic 5–0 in the first leg of their Champions League second qualifying round match. The stunned Celtic side could not quite recover, only managing to win the return leg 4–0, and Artmedia held on to progress in the tournament. On 23 August 2005 they clinched a place in the group stages after overcoming Serbian powerhouse Partizan Belgrade 4–3 on penalties after a 0–0 aggregate scoreline, thus becoming the second Slovak club after 1. FC Košice in 1997–98 to reach the coveted Champions League group stages. Their success was even more remarkable considering Artmedia's entire annual budget was just over £1 million.

Artmedia also made history by becoming one of the first two clubs ever to advance from the first qualifying round into the Champions League group stage. The other club to do so was 2004–05 winners Liverpool, who were given a special entry into the first qualifying round of the 2005–06 tournament and managed to progress to the group stage.

Artmedia played their Champions League fixtures at the Tehelné pole ground of crosstown rivals Slovan Bratislava because their own ground did not meet UEFA standards for Champions League play.

On 28 September 2005, Artmedia made history once again by becoming the first Slovak side to collect a point in the Champions League group stage. In another famous upset, they came back from a 2–0 first-half deficit to defeat 2004 Champions League winners Porto 3–2 at Porto's home ground.

Eventually, they finished third in the group, parachuting them into the UEFA Cup, but not before missing a late chance to score a goal in the return fixture against Porto that would have sent them to the round of 16 at Rangers' expense.

In December 2005, goalkeeper Juraj Čobej underwent brain surgery to remove a malign tumor. He made a full recovery.

Artmedia lost the home leg of their UEFA Cup round of 32 tie with Levski Sofia 1–0 and were knocked out of the tournament after an away defeat of 2–0.

After the successful season, coach Vladimír Weiss left for FC Saturn Ramenskoe.[1] Several players left the club, including Ján Ďurica (to FC Saturn Ramenskoe), Balázs Borbély (to Kaiserslautern) and Blažej Vaščák (to Treviso).

Competitions edit

Superliga edit

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification or relegation
1 Ružomberok (C) 36 26 2 8 65 28 +37 80 Qualification for Champions League second qualifying round
2 Artmedia Bratislava 36 23 5 8 58 33 +25 74 Qualification for UEFA Cup first qualifying round
3 Spartak Trnava 36 21 5 10 57 31 +26 68
4 Žilina 36 18 6 12 69 44 +25 60
5 Nitra 36 12 9 15 42 48 −6 45 Qualification for Intertoto Cup first round
Source: RSSSF.org
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
(C) Champions

Slovak Cup edit

  • August 31: Inter Bratislava 0-2 Artmedia Bratislava
  • October 5: Artmedia Bratislava 1-0 FC Senec II
  • October 25: FC Senec II 1-1 Artmedia Bratislava
  • March 29: MFK Ružomberok 2-0 Artmedia Bratislava
  • April 29: Artmedia Bratislava 0-2 MFK Ružomberok

Champions League edit

First qualifying round edit

12 July 2005 Kairat Almaty   2–0   Artmedia Bratislava Central Stadium, Almaty
15:30 Fomenka   39'
Artemov   70'
Report MatchCentre Referee: René Rogalla (Switzerland)

Second qualifying round edit

Third qualifying round edit

Group stage edit

23 November 2005 Internazionale   4–0   Artmedia Bratislava San Siro, Milan
20:45 Figo   28'
Adriano   41', 59', 74'
Report MatchCentre Attendance: Closed doors
Referee: Mike Riley (England)

UEFA Cup edit

Round of 32 edit

First-team squad edit

Squad at end of season

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player
1 GK   SVK Juraj Čobej
2 DF   SVK Ondrej Debnár
3 DF   SVK Pavol Staňo
4 DF   SVK Ján Ďurica
5 DF   CZE Aleš Hellebrand
6 MF   SVK Andrej Hanták
7 MF   SVK Jozef Kotula
8 MF   SVK Blažej Vaščák
9 FW   BRA Fábio Gomes
10 FW   SVK Martin Mikulič
11 MF   SVK Anton Šoltis
12 MF   SVK Branislav Obžera
13 MF   SVK Daniel Tchuř
No. Pos. Nation Player
14 FW   SVK Juraj Halenár
15 MF   SVK Vratislav Gajdoš
16 FW   CZE Lukáš Hartig
17 MF   SVK Balázs Borbély (captain)
18 GK   SVK Ľuboš Kamenár
19 FW   SCG Milorad Bukvić
20 MF   SVK Branislav Fodrek
21 DF   SVK Peter Petráš
22 DF   CZE Aleš Urbánek
23 DF   SVK Roman Konečný
24 DF   SVK Peter Burák
25 MF   SVK Ján Kozák
30 GK   SVK Štefan Kollár

References edit