Czech, historically also Bohemian, is a West Slavic language of the Czech–Slovak group. Spoken by over 10 million people, it serves as the official language of the Czech Republic. Czech is closely related to Slovak, to the point of mutual intelligibility to a very high degree. Like other Slavic languages, Czech is a fusional language with a rich system of morphology and relatively flexible word order. Its vocabulary has been extensively influenced by Latin and German.
The Czech Republic, also known by its short-form name, Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west, Austria to the south, Slovakia to the east and Poland to the northeast. The Czech Republic covers an area of 78,866 square kilometers (30,450 sq mi) with a mostly temperate continental climate and oceanic climate. It is a unitary parliamentary republic, with 10.6 million inhabitants. Its capital and largest city is Prague, with 1.3 million residents; other major cities are Brno, Ostrava, Olomouc and Pilsen.
The Football Association of the Czech Republic or colloquially the Czech Football Association is the governing body of football in the Czech Republic, based in Prague. It organizes the lower-level league competitions in the country, the Czech Cup, and the Czech Republic national football team.
The national team was founded in 1901, existing under the previously mentioned names before the separation of Czechoslovakia in 1992. Their first international competition as the Czech Republic was the UEFA Euro 1996, where they finished runners-up, and they have taken part in every European Championship since. Following the separation, however, they have only featured in one FIFA World Cup, the 2006 tournament, where they were eliminated in the first round of the competition.
The 1996 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as Euro 96, was the 10th UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial football tournament contested by European nations and organised by UEFA. It took place in England from 8 to 30 June 1996.
The UEFA European Championship is the primary association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA), determining the continental champion of Europe. Held every four years since 1960, in the even-numbered year between World Cup tournaments, it was originally called the UEFA European Nations' Cup, changing to the current name in 1968. Starting with the 1996 tournament, specific championships are often referred to in the form "UEFA Euro [year]"; this format has since been retroactively applied to earlier tournaments.
The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The championship has been awarded every four years since the inaugural tournament in 1930, except in 1942 and 1946 when it was not held because of the Second World War. The current champion is France, which won its second title at the 2018 tournament in Russia.
The Kingdom of Bohemia, sometimes later in English literature referred to as the Czech Kingdom, was a medieval and early modern monarchy in Central Europe, the predecessor of the modern Czech Republic. It was an Imperial State in the Holy Roman Empire, and the Bohemian king was a prince-elector of the empire. The kings of Bohemia, besides Bohemia, also ruled the Lands of the Bohemian Crown, which at various times included Moravia, Silesia, Lusatia, and parts of Saxony, Brandenburg, and Bavaria.
The Hungary national football team represents Hungary in international football and is controlled by the Hungarian Football Federation.
The England men's national football team represents England in senior men's international football and is controlled by The Football Association, the governing body for football in England.
Czechoslovakia, or Czecho-Slovakia, was a sovereign state in Central Europe that existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until its peaceful dissolution into the Czech Republic and Slovakia on 1 January 1993.
The Czechoslovakia national football team was the national association football team of Czechoslovakia from 1920 to 1992. The team was controlled by the Czechoslovak Football Association, and the team qualified for eight World Cups and three European Championships. It had two runner-up finishes in World Cups, in 1934 and 1962, and won the European Championship in the 1976 tournament.
The 1934 FIFA World Cup was the second FIFA World Cup, the world championship for men's national association football teams. It took place in Italy from 27 May to 10 June 1934.
The 1990s
When Czechoslovakia split and reformed into the Czech Republic and Slovakia, the Czech Republic national team was formed, and they played their first friendly match away to Turkey, winning 4–1, on 23 February 1994. The newly formed team played their first home game in Ostrava, against Lithuania, in which they registered their first home win, a 5–3 victory.
Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's territory spans about 49,000 square kilometres (19,000 sq mi) and is mostly mountainous. The population is over 5.4 million and consists mostly of Slovaks. The capital and largest city is Bratislava, and the second-largest city is Košice. The official language is Slovak.
The Turkey national football team represents Turkey in association football and is controlled by the Turkish Football Federation, the governing body for football in Turkey. They are affiliated with UEFA.
Ostrava is a city in the north-east of the Czech Republic and is the capital of the Moravian-Silesian Region. It is 15 km (9 mi) from the border with Poland, at the meeting point of four rivers: the Odra, Opava, Ostravice and Lučina. In terms of both population and area Ostrava is the third largest city in the Czech Republic, the second largest city in Moravia, and the largest city in Czech Silesia. It straddles the border of the two historic provinces of Moravia and Silesia. The population is almost 300,000 people. The wider conurbation – which also includes the towns of Bohumín, Doubrava, Havířov, Karviná, Orlová, Petřvald and Rychvald – is home to about 500,000 people, making it the largest urban area in the Czech Republic apart from the capital, Prague.
Their first competitive match was part of the UEFA Euro 1996 qualifying campaign, in which they defeated Malta 6–1 in Ostrava. During the campaign, the Czech Republic registered six wins, three draws, and an embarrassing defeat against Luxembourg, finishing their qualifying Group 5 in first place, above favourites the Netherlands. In the final tournament, hosted by England, the Czechs progressed from the group stage, despite a 2–0 opening game defeat to Germany. They continued their good form, and progressed to the UEFA Euro 1996final, where they lost 2–1 to the Germans at Wembley Stadium.
Qualifying for UEFA Euro 1996 took place throughout 1994 and 1995. Forty-seven teams were divided into eight groups, with each team playing the others in their group both home and away. The winners of each group, as well as the six best runners-up, qualified automatically, while the two worst runners-up were involved in a play-off at a neutral venue. England qualified automatically as hosts of the event.
The Malta national football team represents Malta in international football and is controlled by the Malta Football Association, the governing body for football in Malta.
The Luxembourg national football team is the national football team of Luxembourg, and is controlled by the Luxembourg Football Federation. The team plays most of its home matches at the Stade Josy Barthel in Luxembourg City.
Given their success at Euro 1996, the Czechs were expected to qualify for the 1998 FIFA World Cup. They finished third in their qualifying group, however, behind Spain and Yugoslavia, and subsequently missed the tournament.
The 2000s
The Czech Republic qualified for Euro 2000, winning all ten of their group games and conceding just five goals.[5] In the finals the team were drawn in Group D, alongside 1998 FIFA World Cup winners France, co-hosts the Netherlands and UEFA Euro 1992 winners Denmark. This was considered to be the most difficult group to advance from in the tournament.[6] The team were unlucky in the first match against the Netherlands as they hit the woodwork multiple times before losing 1–0 to a last-minute penalty.[7] The Czechs lost their second match against eventual champions France 2–1 which eliminated them from advancing to the knockout round. Czech Republic managed a 2–0 win against Denmark in their final game courtesy of two goals from Vladimír Šmicer.[7]
Once again, the Czech Republic failed to qualify for the World Cup, this time finishing second in their group, behind Denmark, and then being beaten 1–0 in both legs by Belgium in the UEFA play-offs for a place in the finals.
After the disappointment of the play-off defeat to Belgium, however, the fortunes of the national team began to change significantly with a settled team of star players at top European clubs, such as Pavel Nedvěd, Jan Koller, Tomáš Rosický, Milan Baroš, Marek Jankulovski and Tomáš Galásek together with the emergence of highly rated young goalkeeper Petr Čech. The team were unbeaten in 2002 and 2003, scoring 53 goals in 19 games and easily qualifying for Euro 2004 in the process. The Czech Republic went on a 20-game unbeaten streak, finally ended in Dublin on 31 March 2004 in a friendly match against the Republic of Ireland.[8] The Czechs entered the Euro finals in Group D, dubbed the tournament's Group of Death alongside the Netherlands, Germany and Latvia.[9] Despite going behind in all three group games, the team won them all. This included trailing 2–0 to the Netherlands in a classic 3–2 win and beating Germany in the final match with a much weakened team having already qualified.[10] The Czechs convincingly beat Denmark in the quarter-finals meaning a semi-final against Greece awaited them. The Czech Republic went into the semi-final against Greece as favourites and Tomáš Rosický hit the bar after just two minutes, Jan Koller had shots saved by the Greek goalkeeper and Pavel Nedvěd left the pitch injured in the end of the first half. It was not to be as the 90 minutes finished goalless and Greece won the game in the last minute of the first half of extra-time with a silver goal.[11] Greece would go on to win the tournament.
The Czech Republic recorded their record win during the 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification (UEFA), thrashing Andorra 8–1 in a qualification match in Liberec. In the same match, Jan Koller became the all-time top scorer for the national team with his 35th international goal.[12] At the end of the campaign, after finishing in second place in Group 1 then defeating Norway in a playoff, the Czechs qualified for their first FIFA World Cup.[13] The team was boosted prior to the play-off matches by the return of Pavel Nedvěd,[14] who had initially retired from international football after Euro 2004. The squad for the 2006 World Cup in Germany included 18 of the Euro 2004 team which reached the semi-finals. With the team ranked second in the world,[15] the Czechs were expected to do well. They started the tournament in fine form with a 3–0 win over the United States. During the game, however, Jan Koller was forced to leave with a hamstring injury,[16] putting him out of the tournament. In the next game, with the absent Koller and Milan Baroš still recovering from injury, the team suffered a shock loss, having Tomáš Ujfaluši sent off and ultimately losing 2–0 to Ghana.[15] Baroš returned for the final game against Italy which the Czechs had to win to progress. Once again, however, the team were reduced to ten men as Jan Polák was dismissed before half-time for two bookable offences.[16] Italy went on to win 2–0. Pavel Nedvěd, Karel Poborský and Vratislav Lokvenc retired from the national team after this tournament.[17]
The disappointing World Cup campaign was followed by a successful qualifying campaign for Euro 2008, where they finished top of their group, above Germany on head-to-head records. The Czechs beat co-hosts Switzerland 1–0 in their opening game, before being beaten 3–1 by Portugal, this meant that they, and Turkey carried identical records going into the final group game. The Czechs took a 2–0 lead just past the hour mark and looked set to qualify. The Turks, however, scored three goals in the final 15 minutes of the game to win the game 2–3,[18] and that signalled the end of another disappointing performance at a major tournament and the final match for coach Karel Brückner.
After the failure to impress at the European Championship, the Czechs faced World Cup qualification, being drawn in Group 3, under the guidance of coach Petr Rada. They started with a 0–0 away draw against Northern Ireland, which was followed by a poor performance against Poland, losing 2–1. A late goal from Libor Sionko won the next game 1–0 against Slovenia. This was followed by an unconvincing win against San Marino, and a goalless draw in Slovenia. In their following match, against neighbours Slovakia, a disastrous 2–1 defeat at home left the Czechs in a precarious qualifying position. Manager Petr Rada was dismissed and six players were suspended.[19]Ivan Hašek took temporary charge as manager,[20] gaining four points from his first two matches, as the team drew away to group leaders Slovakia and thrashed San Marino 7–0 in Uherské Hradiště. They subsequently beat Poland in Prague but followed this result with a goalless draw against Northern Ireland, finishing third in the group and failing to qualify for the World Cup. Hašek announced his immediate resignation.[21]
The 2010s
Czech Republic in 2014
A much changed team under new manager Michal Bílek entered the Euro 2012qualifiers. The campaign began disastrously with a home loss to Lithuania. But an important win at home to Scotland was followed by wins against Liechtenstein. World champions Spain defeated the Czechs in between the Liechtenstein games, but the play-off spot was still in their hands. In the next game, a controversial last minute penalty from Michal Kadlec away to Scotland secured a 2–2 draw.[22] Despite Scotland winning their next two games and the Czechs again being defeated by Spain, the team could finish second if they could beat Lithuania away from home in the final game, assuming Spain would beat Scotland at home. Spain won 3–1 and the Czechs convincingly defeated Lithuania 4–1 to seal second spot and a place in the play-offs. The Czechs were drawn to face Montenegro in the two-legged play-off. A memorable goal from Václav Pilař and a last minute second from Tomáš Sivok helped the Czechs to a 2–0 first leg lead. In the second leg in Podgorica, a late goal from Petr Jiráček sealed a 1–0 win and the Czechs ran out 3–0 aggregate winners and qualified for Euro 2012.
At the tournament, the Czechs lost their opening game 4–1 to Russia, with their only goal coming from midfielder Václav Pilař. In their second match, against Greece, the Czech Republic went 2–0 up within the first six minutes thanks to goals from Petr Jiráček and a second from Pilař. Following the half-time substitution of captain Tomáš Rosický, Greece scored a second-half goal following a mistake from Czech goalkeeper Petr Čech, although there were no more goals and the Czech Republic recorded their first win of the tournament.[23] Going into their third and final group match, the Czech Republic needed at least a draw against co-hosts Poland to advance to the knock-out stage of the tournament. A second-half strike by Jiráček proved the difference between the teams as the Czechs ran out 1–0 winners. Due to Greece beating Russia in the other group game, the Czech Republic subsequently finished top of Group A,[24] becoming the first team to ever win a group at the European Championships with a negative goal difference.[25] The Czech team faced Portugal in the quarter-finals. In a tense and cagey game of few chances, Portugal eventually made the breakthrough with 11 minutes remaining through a header from Cristiano Ronaldo to win the match 1–0 and eliminate the Czechs.
Due to the improved performance over Euro 2008 (as well as their previous World Cup qualification campaign), Bílek stayed on as coach, despite unrest amongst fans, and was tasked with qualifying for the 2014 World Cup.[26] The Czechs were drawn into UEFA Qualifying Group B along with Italy, Denmark, Bulgaria, Armenia and Malta. The beginning of the campaign was stuttering,[26] with two goalless draws with Denmark and Bulgaria, paired with a narrow win against Malta, capping off their first three games. The team then had a setback in their fourth game, losing 0–3 to Denmark at home. The team was able to win against Armenia and draw with group leaders Italy, but lost to both Armenia and Italy in the rematches, greatly dimming their qualification hopes.[26] Bílek resigned[26] after the loss and was replaced with assistant coach Josef Pešice.[27] In their last two games with their new coach, the Czechs recorded wins over Malta and Bulgaria but lost to Italy, leaving them in third place and ending their qualification hopes. Pešice resigned as coach following the conclusion of qualifying.
Pavel Vrba, the well known coach of Viktoria Plzeň, was appointed as the team's new coach on the first day of 2014, ahead of Euro 2016 qualifying.[28] The Czech team, which was much changed from their disappointing World Cup campaign, was drawn into a tough[29] group for qualifying, namely Group A, along with 2014 World Cup semi-finalists the Netherlands, Turkey, Iceland, Latvia and Kazakhstan. The Czech team began with a win, defeating group favourites Netherlands 2–1, and followed up with victories over Turkey, Kazakhstan and Iceland, leaving them as group leaders with maximum points after four matches. A draw at home against Latvia followed; nonetheless, the Czechs remained group leaders, and on 6 September 2015, the Czech Republic qualified for their sixth European Championship. However, they only managed to get one point from a draw with Croatia, losing to Spain and Turkey and suffering their worst performance in the European Championship. During a friendly match against Australia on 1 June 2018, the Czechs recorded their biggest defeat losing 0–4 in Sankt Pölten, Austria.[30] They got their worst defeat during their first qualifier for Euro 2020, as they were beaten 0–5 at Wembley Stadium by England.[31]
Head-to-head records (since 1994)
As of 26 March 2019, after a match against Brazil.
Ten different cities hosted national team matches of the Czech Republic between 1994 and 2011.[32] The most commonly-used stadium is Generali Arena, the home stadium of AC Sparta Prague. As of 3 June 2014, the team has played 36 of 92 home matches there. Since 2012, competitive games have also been held Doosan Arena, Plzeň.
Stadiums which have hosted Czech Republic international football matches:
The following players were called up for the UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying match against England on 22 March and the friendly match against Brazil on 26 March.
All caps and goals as of 26 March 2019, after match against Brazil.
(Above Information in both tables taken from individual player pages, based on players from the Czech Republic international footballers page (List of Czech Republic international footballers))
Milan Baroš is a Czech footballer who plays as a striker for Baník Ostrava in the Czech First League.
The Republic of Ireland national football team represents Ireland in association football. It is governed by the Football Association of Ireland (FAI) and stages its home fixtures at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin.
Pavel Nedvěd is a Czech retired footballer who played as a midfielder. Described as one of the best footballers of his generation, he is also regarded as one of the most successful players to emerge from the Czech Republic, winning domestic and European accolades with Italian clubs Lazio, including the last Cup Winners' Cup, and Juventus, whom he led to the 2003 UEFA Champions League Final.
The Slovakia national football team represents Slovakia in association football and is controlled by the Slovak Football Association (SFZ), the governing body for football in Slovakia. Slovakia's home stadium from 2019 is reconstructed Tehelné pole in capital city of Slovakia Bratislava and their head coach is Pavel Hapal. Slovakia is one of the newest national football teams in the world, having split from the Czechoslovakia national team after the dissolution of the unified state in 1993. Slovakia maintains its own national side that competes in all major professional tournaments since.
The Switzerland national football team is the national football team of Switzerland. The team is controlled by the Swiss Football Association.
The Poland national football team represents Poland in association football and is controlled by the Polish Football Association, the governing body for football in Poland.
Petr Čech is a Czech professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Premier League club Arsenal. He is widely regarded by players, pundits and managers as one of the greatest goalkeepers of all time.
Antonín Kinský is a Czech former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He played club football in the Czech Republic for nine seasons, winning the national league in 2002 with FC Slovan Liberec. He subsequently moved to Russia, where he played for Saturn Ramenskoye. During his seven years in Russia, he played 200 competitive games and was recognised as the Russian Premier League's best goalkeeper in the 2007 season.
Pavel Mareš is a retired Czech football player who played as a defender at either centre-back or left-back. He played top-league football in the Czech Republic for Bohemians Prague and Sparta Prague, and played for Zenit Saint Petersburg in the Russian Football Premier League.
Roman Týce is a Czech former football player. He played club football in the Czech Republic and Germany, as a defender and defensive midfielder. Týce played internationally for the Czech Republic at Euro 2004.
Vratislav Lokvenc is a Czech former professional footballer who played as a striker. After playing youth football for Náchod and Hradec Králové, he began his senior club career with the latter team. After moving to Sparta Prague he won five league titles and one cup, as well as the 1999–2000 league top scorer award. He subsequently played abroad, playing club football in Germany, Austria and Switzerland for 1. FC Kaiserslautern, VfL Bochum, Red Bull Salzburg, FC Basel and FC Ingolstadt 04. He retired in 2009.
Jan Suchopárek is a Czech football coach and former defender, who is currently head coach of the Czech Republic national under-19 football team.
Luboš Kalouda is a Czech former footballer. He has represented his country at under-21 level.
David Limberský is a Czech footballer who currently plays for Czech club FC Viktoria Plzeň. He has previously played for Modena F.C., Tottenham Hotspur F.C., and AC Sparta Prague. He was a member of the Czech Republic national football team.
František Rajtoral was a Czech football player. He last played for Turkish club Gaziantepspor, and was best known for his stint at Viktoria Plzeň. He was a member of the Czech Republic national football team.
Pavel Kadeřábek is a Czech football player who currently plays for 1899 Hoffenheim and the Czech Republic. He previously represented his country at under-19 level and was in the Czech squad for the 2011 UEFA European Under-19 Football Championship, where he played all five of his country's matches.
Filip Novák is a Czech professional left-footed football player who currently plays in the Süper Lig for Trabzonspor. He holds the Czech First League record for most goals scored in one season by a defender with 11 goals in the 2014–15 season.
Tomáš Rosický is a Czech former professional footballer who was the captain of the Czech Republic national team for a ten-year period. He played club football for Sparta Prague, Borussia Dortmund and Arsenal. He was nicknamed "the little Mozart" for his ability to "orchestrate" the midfield.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
