Sparta Praha vs Malmö facts

Sparta Praha are closing in on a place in the new league phase of the UEFA Champions League as they take on Malmö in Prague holding a 2-0 first-leg advantage in their play-off tie.

The Czech side claimed victory in Sweden on 21 August with a Jens Stryger own goal opening the scoring in the 31st minute at the Malmö New Stadium before Matěj Ryneš added a second a minute from time.

Sparta are attempting to end an absence from the competition proper that stretches back to 2005 while Malmö featured three times in the group stage – all in the last decade.

Both clubs have come through two qualifying rounds to set up this tie and both have found goals easy to come by so far in the 2024/25 Champions League, both scoring 12 times in their five fixtures.

Previous meetings

The teams' sole previous fixtures before this tie came in the third qualifying round of the 2014/15 Champions League, when Malmö progressed on away goals after a 4-4 aggregate draw on their way to reaching the group stage for the first time.

The first leg in Czechia ended 4-2 to Sparta, Emil Forsberg and Isaac Thelin putting the visitors 1-0 and 2-1 up respectively. A David Lafata hat-trick ultimately won the day for the home side, Radoslav Kovác getting their third goal.

Malmö turned the tables in Sweden, two Markus Rosenberg goals either side of half-time giving them a 2-0 victory and sealing progress.

Form guide

Sparta Praha

Record vs Swedish clubs: W4 D1 L4 F11 A10
Home record vs Swedish clubs: W3 D1 L0

Those 2014 games against Malmö were Sparta's most recent fixtures against a team from Sweden before this tie.

While Sparta had never scored in Sweden before the first leg of this tie, losing all four games, they are unbeaten at home to Swedish visitors, scoring nine goals in those four matches and conceding four – all in the last two games.

The aggregate loss to Malmö means Sparta have lost their last three ties against Swedish clubs, winning only the first – against AIK in the 1993/94 Champions League first round (0-1 a, 2-0 h).

Sparta featured in the Champions League group stage seven times, one more than all the other Czech clubs combined – although their last appearance came in 2005/06, the seventh time in nine seasons they had made it that far.

The Prague club have subsequently lost nine times in qualifying – including in 2023/24, when they were eliminated on penalties by Copenhagen in the third qualifying round (0-0 a, 3-3 h aet, 2-4 pens).

Sparta subsequently moved into the Europa League and finished second in their section behind Rangers before eliminating Galatasaray in the knockout round play-offs (2-3 a, 4-1 h) only for Liverpool to prove too strong in the last 16 (1-5 h, 1-6 a).

Rudí started this season in the Champions League second qualifying round, beating Shamrock Rovers of the Republic of Ireland (2-0 a, 4-2 h) before getting the better of Romania's FCSB (1-1 h, 3-2 a) having led 3-0 after 37 minutes of the second leg.

Last season's loss to Liverpool is Sparta's only defeat in their last ten home European matches (W5 D4).

Sparta's run of nine successive Champions League qualifying losses includes their only previous play-off in the competition – a 0-3 reverse against Žilina of Slovakia in 2010/11 (0-2 h, 0-1 a).

Lars Friis succeeded the Feyenoord-bound Brian Priske as Sparta coach in June.

Priske had taken Sparta to their second successive league title, and 38th overall, in 2023/24 – the first time they had won successive championships since 2001. Sparta also claimed the Czech Cup last season for a 16th time, completing a sixth domestic double.

Sparta have won 15 of the 16 UEFA competition ties in which they recorded an away first-leg victory and all of the last eight since the sole aggregate defeat, against Dynamo Kyiv in the 1998/99 Champions League second qualifying round (1-0 a, 0-1 h aet, 1-3 pens). This season's win against Shamrock Rovers made it five aggregate wins from five when the away first leg has finished 2-0.

Sparta's record in three UEFA penalty shoot-outs is W1 L2:
1-3 v Dynamo Kyiv, 1998/99 UEFA Champions League second qualifying round
4-3 v OB Odense, 2007/08 UEFA Cup first round
2-4 v Copenhagen, 2023/24 Champions League third qualifying round

Malmö

Records vs Czech clubs: W1 D0 L4 F6 A11
Away record vs Czech clubs: W0 D0 L2

Aside from their three games against Sparta, Malmö's only other meetings with a Czech club came in the 1996/97 UEFA Cup first round, when they lost 2-1 at home and 3-1 away against Slavia Praha.

The Swedish side have therefore conceded seven goals in their two matches in Czechia.

The last of Malmö's three Champions League group appearances came in 2021/22, when they came through four qualifying rounds but subsequently finished fourth in their section behind holders Chelsea, Juventus and Zenit, losing five of their six games – the exception a 1-1 Matchday 5 draw at home to the Russian club.

They had defeated Ludogorets in the play-offs (2-0 h, 1-2 a) to make their record at this stage of the Champions League W3 L1 with wins in the last three.

Malmö subsequently lost in the second qualifying round of the 2022/23 Champions League, 0-3 against Žalgiris Vilnius of Lithuania, and went on to reach the UEFA Europa League group stage.

European Cup finalists in 1979, the Swedish club were not involved in UEFA competition in 2023/24 – the first time they had missed out since 2016/17.

Henrik Rydström's side kicked off this season in the second qualifying round, a 4-1 first-leg win setting up a 6-4 aggregate triumph against KÍ Klaksvik of the Faroe Islands (2-3) before coming through a thrilling tie against Greek side PAOK in the third qualifying round (2-2 h, 4-3 a aet) in which they scored twice in extra time to progress.

This season's win at PAOK ended Malmö's run of four successive away European defeats and is one of only two victories in their last 13 away from home (D2 L9).

Malmö claimed their 23rd Swedish title – and third in four years – in 2023, and also won a 16th Swedish Cup.

On all nine previous occasions that Malmö have been beaten at home in the first leg of a UEFA tie they have been unable to recover the deficit in the second fixture, most recently losing to Chelsea in the 2018/19 Europa League round of 32 (1-2 h, 0-3 a). The only other time they lost 0-2 at home in the opening leg, against Atlético de Madrid in the 1966/67 European Cup first round, they were defeated 3-1 in the return.

Malmö's record in two UEFA penalty shoot-outs is W1 L1:
2-1 v Magdeburg, 1975/76 European Cup first round
4-5 v Dynamo Dresden, 1990/91 European Cup second round

Links and trivia

Sparta midfielder Veljko Birmančević scored 14 goals in 46 league appearances for Malmö between 2021 and 2022, winning the 2021 Swedish league title and the 2021/22 Swedish Cup.