FK Dukla Prague is a football club from Prague. According to the club's website, its history begins in 1948, when it was formed under the name ATK (Armádní tělovýchovný klub, the Army Sports Club) from a selection of army footballers who were doing basic military service [1].
The road to the top division
In 1946 the army footballers reached the final of the Allied Armies championship. Two years later they played as Armádní XI, by then a regular side of registered players in uniform, and aimed to enter the league. The play-off for the fourteenth place in the top division was against the Pardubice team MZK, the winner of the ROH tournament, which brought together the best works teams. The soldiers won the first match 4:3 but lost the return leg 3:4. A third match on neutral ground in Bratislava decided the tie, and Armádní XI won it 7:1 [1].
The years 1948 to 1952
After joining the league, ATK was at first an average side in terms of results. There was no shortage of players: in the seasons 1949, 1950 and 1951 about thirty league footballers appeared in the club's shirt each time, and in 1950 sixty-four of them served at Strahov, where the club was based. The army had no other sports centres at that time, so every footballer called up for basic military service went to Strahov, whether he played in the league, the division or lower competitions [1].
A settled team could not be put together from such a large squad. Every year half of the soldiers left for civilian life, new men arrived who had to get used to a different environment and discipline, and some of them did not reach in the army shirt the level they had shown with their civilian clubs. Coaches also changed quickly; in the first three years the league team was led, among others, by Zástěra, Raigl, Čapek, Vévoda and Ženíšek [1].
A turning point came in the autumn of 1951 with the arrival of the coach Karel Kolský, a former player of AC Sparta Prague. Kolský was convinced that a good collective could only be built from permanent members, and he therefore built a stable squad. By 1952 ATK already had several mainstays: the goalkeepers Dolejší and Pavlis, the midfielder Pluskal and the left winger Dobay. Later they were joined by Šafránek, Ivo Urban, Ladislav Novák, Masopust, Hertl, Ječný and Borovička. He ran training more demandingly than was usual in Czech football at the time. Results did not come at once, but according to the club this work laid the foundation of later successes [1].
ÚDA and the first league title
In 1953 the club was renamed ÚDA, that is Ústřední dům armády Praha (Central House of the Army, Prague). The jersey that is traditional today dates from roughly the same time. It consists of a dark red colour, yellow sleeves, yellow shorts, a yellow collar or trim at the neck and red-and-yellow socks [1].
That year, a year before the World Cup in Switzerland, the league was played in a single round only, so that the national team could concentrate on qualifying matches against Romania and Bulgaria. ÚDA Prague dominated the competition and won the league title for the first time in its history. The club itself points out that, because of the football reorganisations of the time and because every team played only thirteen matches, this success should not be overrated. At that time three leading players of the then Prague side Dynamo joined ÚDA, at the instigation of the State Office for Physical Education and Sport [1].