Malmö vs Sparta Praha facts

Having both made several appearances in the UEFA Champions League proper, Malmö and Sparta Praha will be looking to take a step towards a place in the competition's new-look league phase when they meet in Sweden in the first leg of their play-off tie.

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

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, Malmö hitting 12 in their four matches to Sparta's ten.

The return leg is in Prague on 27 August.

Previous meetings

The teams' sole previous fixtures 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

Malmö

Records vs Czech clubs: W1 D0 L3 F6 A9
Home record vs Czech clubs: W1 D0 L1

Aside from their 2014 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 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 against KÍ is Malmö's only success in their last five home European matches (D1 L3).

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

Sparta Praha

Record vs Swedish clubs: W3 D1 L4 F9 A10
Away record vs Swedish clubs: W0 D0 L4

Those 2014 games against Malmö are Sparta's last fixtures against a team from Sweden.

The 2-0 loss in Malmö made it four defeats in as many games in Sweden, where Sparta have never scored – conceding six goals in those fixtures.

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.

The Prague club have won both away European games in 2024/25 – as many as in their previous 22 matches (D2 L18).

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.

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.