Game Day. "Metalist 1925" - "Pardubice". Match #2. Winter training camp 2026
January 23, 2026, 4:00 PM (3:00 PM local time). Spain, Estepona, Estepona Football Center stadium. Friendly match #2. Winter training camp 2026
Watch the match broadcast on the YouTube channel "Metalist 1925" and UPL.TV.
Preparation: "Metalist 1925" has been training at the training camp in Estepona, Spain for the second week. Mladen Bartulovich's team has already played a friendly match against Austria's "Wolfsberg," in which they narrowly lost 0-1.
"Pardubice" started their preparation in the Czech Republic, where they even played a friendly match against "Jihlava" from the Second Division and won 2-0. In Spain, the Czech team also had a friendly game against Sweden's "Hammarby," which ended in a goalless draw. It is worth noting that "Pardubice" will play their first official match against Prague's "Slavia" on February 1.
Head-to-head history: Throughout the existence of "Metalist 1925," there have been no meetings with "Pardubice."
Current season: "Pardubice" had a terrible start in the domestic championship, as they only managed to secure their first victory in the 11th round. This result led to two coaching changes, as David Strzigavka, who started the season with the team, was first dismissed, followed by Irzhi Kreichi after a few weeks of work. Currently, the team is coached by Jan Trousil, under whom the team won 4 matches, drew 2, and lost 2. A successful run at the end of the year allowed the Czech team to rise to the 11th position in the table (21 points, goal difference: 25-34). The team's top scorer with 8 goals is Voytech Patrak. In the Czech Cup, the team reached the Round of 16, where they were defeated by "Ostrava" in extra time - 3:4, ending their participation in the tournament.
Geography: The football club represents the city of the same name in the central part of the Czech Republic, which is the capital of the region and located 92 kilometers east of the capital, Prague. The population of Pardubice is approximately 92,000 people. The distance from Kharkiv to Pardubice by road is 1,618 kilometers.
Transfer market: According to the portal, the total value of the team's players is 15 million 600 thousand euros. The most expensive player is Mikulash Konechny, a young Czech defender on loan to "Slavia" until the end of the season. The second most valuable player is Greek attacking midfielder Janis-Fivos Botos.
The team's roster can truly be called international, as it includes many foreign players from various European countries: Georgia, Switzerland, Belgium, Ukraine, the Netherlands, Finland, Greece, and Estonia. Additionally, "Pardubice" has players from Nigeria, the USA, Gambia, and Ivory Coast.
Currently, "Pardubice" has only two players representing their national teams: Robi Saarma from Estonia and Ryan Mahuta from Finland.
Winter transfers: During this transfer window, Jan Trousil significantly strengthened his team. Czech players Michal Glavatiy, Ales Mandus, Tobias Boledovich, Jirzi Gamza, and Tomas Yelinek (all except Yelinek on full contracts) joined the team. Additionally, contracts of two foreign players were bought out: Nigerian Emmanuel Godwin from Swedish "Trelleborg" (500 thousand euros) and Ukrainian Bohdan Slyubik from "Rukh" (1 million 500 thousand euros).
There were also departures from the team. Voitech Sikora moved to "Slovan" from Liberec, and loan agreements for several players expired at the end of the year: Diveyn Tia, Milan Lexa, Dominik Masek, and Denis Aliadzhich - all of them returned to their respective teams.
