Pavel Nedvěd

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Pavel Nedvěd
Personal information
Full name	Pavel Nedvěd
Date of birth	August 30, 1972 (1972-08-30) (age 35)
Place of birth	Cheb, Czechoslovakia
Height	1.77 m (5 ft 9+1⁄2 in)
Playing position	Left Midfielder, Attacking midfielder
Club information
Current club	Juventus
Number	11
Youth clubs
1977–1985 1985–1986 1986–1990 1990 1990–1991	TJ Skalná RH Cheb Škoda Plzeň VTJ Tábor Dukla Praha
Senior clubs1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1992–1996 1996–2001 2001–	Sparta Prague Lazio Juventus	098 (23) 137 (33) 215 (43)
National team2
1994–2006	Czech Republic	091 (18)
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 15:03, 21 May 2008 (UTC). 2 National team caps and goals correct as of 17:31, 26 January 2008 (UTC). * Appearances (Goals)

Pavel Nedvěd pronounced [ˈpavɛl ˈnɛdvjɛt] (help·info) (born August 30, 1972 in Cheb, Czech Republic, at that time Czechoslovakia) is a Czech professional football player. Nedvěd is a midfielder for Italian club Juventus and formerly for the Czech Republic national team. Before joining Juventus, Nedvěd played for Czech clubs Dukla Prague (1991-92), Sparta Prague (1992-96), and Lazio (1996-2001) in Italy. He has won one Italian scudetto championship with Lazio and four with Juventus (though two of these were later stripped from Juventus after the match-fixing scandal).

He was named by Pelé as one of the top 125 greatest living footballers in March 2004.

[edit] Career

Nedvěd got his international breakthrough when he was part of the Czech national team which went to the final of Euro 96, where they lost to Germany. Nedvěd's performance did not go unnoticed and he transferred from Sparta Prague to Lazio in the Serie A in 1996.

[edit] Lazio

At Lazio, Nedvěd won the Coppa Italia in 1997/98, and the last international Cup Winners' Cup tournament in 1999 against Real Mallorca, where he scored the last ever goal of the tournament in a 2-1 win for Lazio.

[edit] Juventus

Nedvěd eventually moved to Juventus in 2001 for a fee of €41 million as a replacement for Zinedine Zidane who had transferred to Spain's Real Madrid the same summer. He proved to be one of the few midfielders capable of assuming the playmaking role of his brilliant French predecessor. Nedved played an integral part in Juventus' scudetto-winning teams of 2001/02, 2002/03, 2004/05 and 2005/06.

Nedvěd helped lead Juventus into the 2003 Champions League final against AC Milan, but he was forced to sit out the final because of accumulation of yellow cards, after being booked in the semifinal for tackling Real Madrid midfielder Steve McManaman. At the end of the year, he won the European Footballer of the Year award.

Following the 2005/06 season, and Juventus's relegation from Serie A due to the Calciopoli scandal, the future of Pavel Nedved as a Juventus player was heavily discussed. Nedved dispelled those rumors by vowing to return to Juventus in order to return the club to Serie A. However, the season was somewhat tumultuous for the Czech international. With only a one year contract, he hinted he might retire from football altogether at the end of the season. He repeated this threat after a 5-game ban stemming from a red card on December 1.^[1] Nedved persisted, and Juventus won the Serie B title, securing promotion to Serie A. During the 2007/08 season, Nedved has performed admirably for the Bianconeri, providing valuable contributions while being Juve's first choice left winger. However, he has not been free from controversy. Nedved came under negative spotlight recently for his tackle on Inter Milan midfielder Luis Figo, which resulted in a broken fibula for the Portuguese player. ^[2]. He was linked with a move to Japanese side Jubilo Iwata but the rumours were quickly scotched when Pavel commited his future to Juventus for another year after signing a new one year contract extension which will expire in June 2009. He cited 'a deep connection for the club' as his reason and a desire to win the Champions League with the Old Lady.

[edit] International career

By the time of his first retirement from international football, Nedvěd was captain of the Czech national team. In the Euro 2004 semi-final against Greece, Nedvěd was injured when he slammed his knee into Kostas Katsouranis backside while jumping for the ball. Though he continued on the pitch for a while, he was eventually replaced by Vladimír Šmicer. Some observers of the match considered Nedvěd's injury to be a key factor in the Czechs' defeat. The injury also led him to retire from the national team in September 2004. Nedvěd had scored 18 goals in 73 games for the Czechs and played for his country at Euro 96, Euro 2000, and Euro 2004.

He came out of international retirement to play for the Czechs in their 2006 World Cup qualifying playoff against Norway in November 2005. The Czechs won both matches 1-0, first in Oslo and then in Prague, to qualify for the 2006 FIFA World Cup, the first FIFA World Cup appearance for the Czech team since the partition of Czechoslovakia. Nedvěd chose to remain eligible for national selection, and was named to the Czech World Cup squad. Despite an impressive start against the USA, the Czechs failed to qualify for the knock-out stages after losing against Ghana and Italy. He then retired shortly after the World Cup, his last international match ending 3-1 against Serbia in August 2006. Pavel Nedved has since all but ended his affiliation with the Czech national side after he rejected a call-up for the Euro 2008 squad by Karel Brückner on the 14th of May 2008.

[edit] Honours

[edit] Club

• Sparta Prague
  • Czechoslovak League: 1 (1992-93)
  • Czech Gambrinus liga: 2 (1993-94, 1994-95)
  • Czech Republic Football Cup: 1 (1996)
• Lazio
  • Serie A: 1 (1999-00)
  • Coppa Italia: 2 (1997-98, 1999-00)
  • Supercoppa Italiana: 2 (1998, 2000)
  • UEFA Cup Winners' Cup: 1 (1998-99)
  • UEFA Super Cup: 1 (1999)
• Juventus
  • Serie A: 4 (2001-02, 2002-03, 2004-05¹, 2005-06¹)
  • Supercoppa Italiana: 2 (2002, 2003)
  • Serie B: 1 (2006-07)

¹ Juventus was stripped of both titles because of the 2006 match-fixing scandal

[edit] International

• UEFA Euro 1996 Silver Medal

[edit] Individual

• Serie A Footballer of the Year: 2003
• Serie A Foreign Footballer of the Year: 2003
• European player of the year: 2003
• Czech Player of the Year: 1998, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2004
• World Soccer Magazine Player of the Year: 2003
• Champions League best Midfielder: 2003
• Sportske Novosti award: 2003
• R.S.S. Player of the Year:2003
• About a ball awards (World Player of the year): 2003
• Player of the Decade by Czech Soccer: 2003
• UEFA Team of the Year: 2003, 2004, 2005
• Soccer Digest World Player of the year: 2003
• Golden Foot award: 2004

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Juventus profile
• Career profile and stats at FootballDatabase

v • d • e Czech Republic squad - UEFA Euro 2004 1 Čech • 2 Grygera • 3 Mareš • 4 Galásek • 5 Bolf • 6 Jankulovski • 7 Šmicer • 8 Poborský • 9 Koller • 10 Rosický • 11 Nedvěd • 12 Lokvenc • 13 Jiránek • 14 Vachoušek • 15 Baroš • 16 Blažek • 17 Hübschman • 18 Heinz • 19 Týce • 20 Plašil • 21 Ujfaluši • 22 Rozehnal • 23 Kinský • Coach: Brückner

v • d • e Czech Republic squad - 2006 FIFA World Cup 1 Čech • 2 Grygera • 3 Mareš • 4 Galásek • 5 Kováč • 6 Jankulovski • 7 Sionko • 8 Poborský • 9 Koller • 10 Rosický • 11 Nedvěd • 12 Lokvenc • 13 Jiránek • 14 Jarolím • 15 Baroš • 16 Blažek • 17 Štajner • 18 Heinz • 19 Polák • 20 Plašil • 21 Ujfaluši • 22 Rozehnal • 23 Kinský • Coach: Brückner