Pavel Nedvěd

Pavel Nedvěd
Pavel Nedvěd
Personal information
Full name Pavel Nedvěd
Date of birth August 30, 1972 (1972-08-30) (age 37)
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 Prague
Senior clubs1
Years Club App (Gls)*
1992–1996
1996–2001
2001–		 Sparta Prague
Lazio
Juventus		 098 (23)
137 (33)
224 (47)   
National team2
1994–2006 Czech Republic 091 (18)

1 Senior club appearances and goals
counted for the domestic league only and
correct as of 23:12, Oct 30, 2008 (UTC).
2 National team caps and goals correct
as of 17:31, January 26, 2008 (UTC).
* Appearances (Goals)

Pavel Nedvěd (pronounced [ˈpavɛl ˈnɛdvjɛt]; born August 30, 1972 in Cheb) is a Czech football midfielder currently playing for Italian Serie A club Juventus F.C. He was the recipient of the prestigious Ballon D'or in 2003.

Contents

Club 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; despite having a verbal agreement with PSV Eindhoven, Nedvěd decided to move from Sparta Prague to Lazio Roma in the Serie A in 1996.

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.

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 French predecessor. Nedved played an integral part in Juventus' scudetto-winning teams of 2001/02, 2002/03, 2004/05 and 2005/06.

Nedvěd was instrumental in leading 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. 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. [1]. Nedved had a good season during Juve's return, but only scored twice. During Serie A 2007-08, Nedved acquired a slight concussion that kept him off of the pitch for about a month. He was linked with a move to Japanese side Jubilo Iwata, during the 2008-2009 summer transfer window, but the rumours were quickly scotched when Pavel committed his future to Juventus for another year after signing a new one year contract extension which will expire in June 2009. He scored Juventus's first league goal of the 2008/09 season in a 1-1 away draw with Fiorentina.

International career

Nedvěd's first international tournament came in the Euro 1996 where he helped the national team to second place. 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.

He came out of international retirement to help 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 for good shortly after the World Cup, his last international match ending 3-1 against Serbia in August 2006.

Nedvěd refused to come out of retirement for the Euro 2008 despite pleas from national team coach Karel Brückner, teammates and fans.

Career statistics

Club performance League Cup Continental Total
Season Club League Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Czechoslovakia League Cup Continental Total
1991-92 Dukla Prague First League 19 3 - - 19 3
1992-93 Sparta Prague First League 18 0 - 5 0 23 0
Czech Republic League Czech Republic Football Cup Europe Total
1993-94 Sparta Prague Gambrinus liga 23 3 - 4 0 27 3
1994-95 27 6 - 2 0 29 6
1995-96 30 14 - 8 5 38 19
Italy League Coppa Italia Europe Total
1996-97 Lazio Serie A 32 7 3 1 3 2 38 10
1997-98 26 11 6 2 11 2 43 15
1998-99 21 1 4 0 8 4 33 5
1999-00 28 5 6 1 12 1 46 7
2000-01 31 9 3 1 10 3 44 13
2001-02 Juventus Serie A 32 4 4 0 7 0 43 4
2002-03 29 9 1 0 15 5 45 14
2003-04 30 6 4 0 6 2 40 8
2004-05 27 7 1 0 10 3 38 10
2005-06 33 5 4 0 8 2 44 7
2006-07 Serie B 33 11 3 1 - 36 12
2007-08 Serie A 31 2 2 1 - 31 3
2008-09 9 3 9 3
Total Czechoslovakia 37 3 - 5 0 42 3
Czech Republic 80 23 - 14 5 94 28
Italy 362 80 41 7 90 24 490 111
Career Total 479 106 41 7 109 29 626 142

Honours

Sparta Prague

Lazio

Juventus

Individual

References

  1. ↑ "Nedved apologises over Figo tackle".

External links

Juventus F.C. – current squad

1 Buffon • 3 Chiellini • 4 Mellberg • 5 Zebina • 6 Zanetti • 7 Salihamidžić • 8 Amauri • 9 Iaquinta • 10 Del Piero (c) • 11 Nedvěd • 12 Chimenti • 13 Manninger • 14 Andrade • 15 Knežević • 16 Camoranesi • 17 Trézéguet • 18 Poulsen • 19 Marchisio • 20 Giovinco • 21 Grygera • 22 Sissoko • 27 Ekdal • 28 Molinaro • 29 De Ceglie • 30 Tiago • 32 Marchionni • 33 Legrottaglie • Manager: Ranieri
Persondata
NAME Nedvěd, Pavel
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Nedvěd, Pavel
SHORT DESCRIPTION footballer
DATE OF BIRTH 1972-8-30
PLACE OF BIRTH Cheb, Czechoslovakia
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH