Michal Pospíšil

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Personal information
Michal Pospíšil
Date of birth	March 5, 1979 (age 27)
Place of birth	Prague, Czech Republic
Nickname	Poppy
Position	Striker
Club information
Current club	Heart of Midlothian
Number	11
Youth clubs
1992-1995	Slavoj Zbraslav Dukla Prague Sparta Prague
Professional clubs*
Years	Club	Apps (goals)
1995-2000 1998-2000 2000-2002 2002-2004 2003-2005 2005-present	Sparta Prague → Chmel Blsany (loan) Viktoria Žižkov Sparta Prague Slovan Liberec Hearts	74 (24) 29 (8)
National team**
	Czech Republic under-21s	21 (5)
* Professional club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 1 December 2006 (UTC). ** National team caps and goals correct as of 1 December 2006 (UTC).

Michal Pospíšil (born 5 March 1979, in Prague) is a Czech footballer who currently plays as a striker for Heart of Midlothian in the Scottish Premier League.

A physically strong and aggressive striker, particularly effective in the air, Pospíšil is one of the most respected marksman in the Czech Republic. This is reflected in his record of 21 Czech under-21 appearances, during which he was a member of the Czech "Golden Era" side which defeated France under-21s 3-1 on penalties in the final of the UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship in May 2002. He scored the first penalty in the penalty shootout ^[1], in which former Heart of Midlothian team mate Rudi Skacel also netted.

Pospíšil began his career as a youth player with Slavoj Zbraslav and Dukla Prague, before joining Sparta Prague in 1992. He eventually made the senior squad and played in the UEFA Champions League before spending two years on loan at FK Chmel Blsany(1998-2000). The big striker then moved on to FK Viktoria Žižkov in July 2000 and in addition to playing in the UEFA Cup, he helped Viktoria to win the Czech Republic Football Cup in July 2001, with a 2-1 victory over Sparta Prague.

In 2001-2002, Pospíšil helped Viktoria to third place in the league and then in June 2002 he returned to Sparta Prague, where he once again played in the UEFA Champions League and immediately helped his club win the Gambrinus liga. In July 2003 the tough attacker was recruited by FC Slovan Liberec where he scored 24 goals in 74 games and helped his club finish in the top half of the league in the two seasons he was there.

In August 2005 Pospíšil became George Burley's fourth signing for Hearts, joining the Edinburgh side for a fee of £300,000. ^[2] He made his Hearts debut as a substitute in a 3-0 victory at Dundee United on 14 August 2006 and scored his first goal for the club the next week, a spectacular effort against Aberdeen ^[3] He was predominantly deployed as a subsitute over the course of the 2005-06 season yet managed to score 7 league goals. He also scored the crucial fourth penalty in the Scottish Cup final penalty shootout victory over Gretna ^[4].