Spartak Trnava: Who are Newtown's Europa Conference League Opponents?

Newtown will play Slovakian outfit Spartak Trnava in the Europa Conference League second qualifying round tonight.

The Mid Wales club progressed through the first qualifying round with a win against Froes side Havnar Boltfelag on penalties.

The JD Cymru Premier side will turn their focus on preparing for Spartak Trnava who play in the Slovakian Super Liga, last season Trnava finished 2nd in their season and won the Slovak Cup.

The History:

The club was founded on 30 May 1923 by the merger of Šk Čechie and ČšŠk into TSS Trnava. After a communist takeover it became affiliated with the metal industry and was renamed to TJ Kovosmalt.

FC Spartak Trnava is a Slovak professional football club based in Trnava. Historically, it is one of the most successful clubs in the country, having won the Czechoslovak First League five times and the Czechoslovak Cup on four occasions, and reaching the semi-final of the European Cup once and the quarter-final twice. More recently, the club won the Slovak league title in 2018, as well as Slovak cup in 2019 and 2022.

In Fortuna liga season 2017–18 Spartak won the league title for the first time in 45 years. Under the leadership of coach Nestor El Maestro, Trnava won the title three games before the end of the 2017/18 season after the victory 2:0 over Dunajská Streda.[1] The title celebrations took place after the last season match against AS Trenčín (17,113 spectators).

Anton Malatinský Stadium is a football stadium located in Trnava, Slovakia, which is the home ground of the local football club Spartak Trnava. The stadium was completely renovated in 2013–2015 and has an all-seated capacity of 19,200 which makes it the second-largest football stadium in Slovakia.

On 14 January 1998, the stadium was named in the honour of former footballer and manager Anton Malatinský, who died in 1992.

Stadium underwent a complex reconstruction in 2013–2015. The project consisted not only of complete reconstruction of the stadium, but also building the adjacent shopping centre named City Arena. The whole construction cost of the project is €79 million, out of which €28 million is the cost of stadium reconstruction. Slovak government provided €13 million of the cost.

Spartak Trnava officially announced the intention on 25 November 2011, and after that preparation works began immediately. Three out of four stands (including old floodlight) were completely demolished between April and August 2013. Construction permit was granted in August 2013 and cornerstone of the stadium was placed in September 2013. Spartak Trnava continued playing at the stadium even during the reconstruction, with only West stand in service. In May 2015, the last of the four stands was demolished and subsequently rebuilt.

Anton Malatinský Stadium has hosted 34 matches of the Slovakia national team (14 friendlies and 20 competitive games).

Wales fans will know Anton Malatinský Stadium very having watched Wales play in it in 2007 & 2019.

The Manager: Michal Gašparík

The club managed by Michal Gašparík took over the club in January 2021, signing a three year deal.

The 40 year old has played for Spartak Trnava spent eight years at the club and scored 16 goals.

This is former player first professional job as a first team manager after being with Trnava youth team for five years.

European Success:

During the 2018/19 season Spartak reached the UEFA Europa League group stage for the first time. They played against GNK Dinamo Zagreb, Fenerbahçe S.K. and R.S.C. Anderlecht. They finished 3rd with a record of 2 wins, 1 draw and 3 losses.

In 2019/20 the Slovakian side reached the second qualifying losing to Bulgarian side Lokomotive Plovdiv on away goals (3-3)

2020/21 they reached the third qualifying round losing to Maccabi Tel Aviv 0-1.