Czech Republic national football team

Czech Republic

Nickname(s)	Národní tým
Association	Českomoravský fotbalový svaz
Confederation	UEFA (Europe)
Head coach	Michal Bílek
Captain	Petr Čech
Most caps	Karel Poborský (118)
Top scorer	Jan Koller (55)
Home stadium	Generali Arena Na Stínadlech Synot Tip Arena
FIFA code	CZE
FIFA ranking	33
Highest FIFA ranking	2 (Sept 1999; Jan-May 2000; Apr-May 2005; Jan-May 2006)
Lowest FIFA ranking	67 (March 1994)
Elo ranking	T 31
Highest Elo ranking	1 (Jun. 2004, Jun. 2005)
Lowest Elo ranking	36 (Nov 2009–)
Home colours Away colours
First international
Hungary 2–1 Bohemia (Budapest, Hungary; 5 April 1903)  Turkey 1–4 Czech Republic (Istanbul, Turkey; 23 February 1994)
Biggest win
Czech Republic 8–1 Andorra  (Liberec, Czech Republic; 4 June 2005) Czech Republic 7–0 San Marino  (Liberec, Czech Republic; 7 October 2006) Czech Republic 7–0 San Marino  (Uherské Hradiště, Czech Republic; 9 September 2009)
Biggest defeat
Bohemia 0–4 England  (Prague, Bohemia; 13 June 1908)  Switzerland 3–0 Czech Republic (Zürich, Switzerland; 20 April 1994)
World Cup
Appearances	1 (First in 2006)
Best result	Round 1, 2006
European Championship
Appearances	4 (First in 1996)
Best result	Runners-up, 1996
Confederations Cup
Appearances	1 (First in 1997)
Best result	3rd, 1997

The Czech national football team is the national football team of the Czech Republic, and is controlled by the Football Association of the Czech Republic.

History

Before World War I, Bohemia, present–day Czech Republic, whilst part of Austria–Hungary, played seven matches between 1903 and 1908, six of them against Hungary and one against England. Bohemia also played a match against Yugoslavia, Ostmark and Germany in 1939 while being the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia.

Outside Synot Tip Arena

When the Czech Republic was part of Czechoslovakia, the national team had runner–up finishes in World Cups (1934, 1962) and a European Championship win in 1976.

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.

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 favorites 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 1996 final, where they lost 2–1 to the Germans at Wembley Stadium.

Given their success at Euro 1996, the Czechs were expected to qualify for the 1998 FIFA World Cup. However, they finished third in their group, behind Spain, and Yugoslavia, and subsequently failed to qualify.

They did, however, qualify for Euro 2000, winning all ten of their group games, conceding just five goals. The team failed to perform well at the finals though, producing just one win, and being eliminated in the group stage.

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, and 0–1 by Belgium in the UEFA play–offs for a place in the finals.

They progressed to the finals of Euro 2004, qualifying through their group ahead of the Netherlands, and their only dropped points being in a 1–1 draw away to the Oranje. In the Euro finals, the Czechs progressed to the semi–finals, where they were beaten 1–0 by the eventual upset champions Greece

The Czechs finally qualified for a FIFA World Cup, qualifying for the 2006 edition in Germany, via a play–off against Norway, winning both legs 1–0. They seemed set to progress to the last 16, with a 3–0 win over the USA, however, 2–0 defeats to Ghana, and Italy promptly ended their hopes of progression.

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. However, the Turks staged a stunning comeback in the last 15 minutes of the game to win the game 2–3, and that signaled the end of another disappointing performance at a major tournament and the final match for coach Karel Brückner. It was said amongst many Czechs, that the injury of midfielder Marek Matejovsky crippled the team's chances of reaching the quarter finals.

After the failure to impress at the Euro, 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. Their campaign was starting to become a nightmare when they had loads of trouble to defeat Slovenia, winning 1–0 thanks to a Libor Sionko goal with ten minutes to go. This was followed by an unconvincing win against San Marino, and a goalless draw in Slovenia. However, the worst thing was still to come. Their following match, against their neighbors Slovakia, meant an impacting 2–1 defeat at home that left the Czechs in a terrible situation, and it was also coach Petr Rada's last match. Ivan Hašek took over as both Czech FA president and manager, slightly improving things, as they drew away to group leaders Slovakia and thrashed San Marino 7–0 at Uherske Hradiste. They entered the penultimate matchday with a game against Poland to win, and hoping that Slovenia did not defeat Slovakia. They did their task, but the Slovaks weren't able to theirs, and lost 2–0, which meant that minnows San Marino had to hold the Slovenians to a draw to give the Czechs a chance of reaching the play-offs. Effectively, their hopes had sunk, and the 0–0 draw against the Northern Irish was a mere formality which ended the first Czech failed campaign since 2002.

There was a large confusion in the western media over the head coach of the Czech national team in November 2009. Former player Vladimír Šmicer was named as manager of the administrative division on 11 November 2009, just one day after he had retired from football. The term manager (which has a different meaning in Czech language) caused a widespread speculation. In fact the Head coach of the Czech national Team is Michal Bílek as of November 2009.

Record in major tournaments

World Cup

For 1930 to 1994 records, see: Czechoslovakia

Year	Round	Position	GP	W	D*	L	GS	GA
1998	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
2002	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-
2006	Round 1	20	3	1	0	2	3	4
2010	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Total	1/4		3	1	0	2	3	4

Confederations Cup

Year	Round	GP	W	D*	L	GS	GA
1992	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-
1995	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-
1997	Third place	5	2	1	2	10	7
1999	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-
2001	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-
2003	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-
2005	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-
2009	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-
Total	1/8	5	2	1	2	10	7

European Championship

For 1960 to 1992 records, see: Czechoslovakia

Year	Round	GP	W	D*	L	GS	GA
1996	Runner-up	6	2	2*	2	7	8
2000	Round 1	3	1	0	2	3	3
2004	Semifinal	5	4	0	1	10	5
2008	Round 1	3	1	0	2	4	6
Total	4/4	17	8	2	7	24	22

*Denotes draws include knockout matches decided on penalty shootout.

**Gold background color indicates that the tournament was won. Red border color indicates tournament was held on home soil.

Managers

Václav Ježek (1993)
Dušan Uhrin (1994–1997)
Jozef Chovanec (1998–2001)
Karel Brückner (2001–2008)
Petr Rada (2008–2009)
František Straka (2009)
Ivan Hašek (2009)
Michal Bílek (2009–present)

Recent results

Date	Home Team	Score	Away Team
5 September 2009	Slovakia	2–2	Czech Republic
9 September 2009	Czech Republic	7–0	San Marino
10 October 2009	Czech Republic	2–0	Poland
14 October 2009	Czech Republic	0–0	Northern Ireland
15 November 2009	Czech Republic	0–0* 2-3(p)	United Arab Emirates
18 November 2009	Czech Republic	0–2	Azerbaijan
3 March 2010	Scotland	1–0	Czech Republic
22 May 2010	Turkey	2–1	Czech Republic
25 May 2010	United States	2–4	Czech Republic
11 August 2010	Czech Republic	4–1	Latvia

FIFA World Cup qualification

Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts  Slovakia 10 7 1 2 22 10 +12 22  Slovenia 10 6 2 2 18 4 +14 20  Czech Republic 10 4 4 2 17 6 +11 16  Northern Ireland 10 4 3 3 13 9 +4 15  Poland 10 3 2 5 19 14 +5 11  San Marino 10 0 0 10 1 47 −46 0

Czech Republic  – 0 – 0 2 – 0 7 – 0 1 – 2 1 – 0 Northern Ireland  0 – 0 – 3 – 2 4 – 0 0 – 2 1 – 0 Poland  2 – 1 1 – 1 – 10 – 0 0 – 1 1 – 1 San Marino  0 – 3 0 – 3 0 – 2 – 1 – 3 0 – 3 Slovakia  2 – 2 2 – 1 2 – 1 7 – 0 – 0 – 2 Slovenia  0 – 0 2 – 0 3 – 0 5 – 0 2 – 1 –

Upcoming fixtures

Friendly matches

Opponents	Venue	Date	Result
Denmark	Atletion, Århus	17 November 2010	–

UEFA Euro 2012 qualification – Group I

Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts  Spain 3 3 0 0 10 3 +7 9  Czech Republic 3 2 0 1 3 1 +2 6  Scotland 4 1 1 2 4 5 −1 4  Lithuania 3 1 1 1 2 3 −1 4  Liechtenstein 3 0 0 3 1 8 −7 0

Czech Republic  — 29 Mar '11 0–1 1–0 7 Oct '11 Liechtenstein  0–2 — 4 Jun '11 8 Oct '11 0–4 Lithuania  11 Oct '11 2 Sep '11 — 0–0 29 Mar '11 Scotland  3 Sep '11 2–1 6 Sep '11 — 2–3 Spain  25 Mar '11 6 Sep '11 3–1 11 Oct '11 —

7 September 2010 20:15 UTC+2	Czech Republic	v	Lithuania	Andrův stadion, Olomouc

8 October 2010 20:15 UTC+2	Czech Republic	v	Scotland	Synot Tip Arena, Prague

12 October 2010 20:00 UTC+2	Liechtenstein	v	Czech Republic	Rheinpark Stadion, Vaduz

25 March 2011	Spain	v	Czech Republic	Santiago Bernabéu Stadium, Madrid

29 March 2011	Czech Republic	v	Liechtenstein

3 September 2011	Scotland	v	Czech Republic	Hampden Park, Glasgow

7 October 2011	Czech Republic	v	Spain

11 October 2011	Lithuania	v	Czech Republic	S. Darius and S. Girėnas Stadium, Kaunas

Stadia

The most important matches of the Czech national team are held in Prague's Generali Arena, the home stadium of Sparta Prague. Other venues include Synot Tip Arena (the biggest and perhaps most modern in the country) and Na Stínadlech in Teplice. Other stadiums are used in the cities of Olomouc and Liberec.

Current squad

Match Date: September 7, 2010 ^[1]
Opposition:  Lithuania

0#0 Pos. Player Date of Birth (Age) Caps Goals Club GK Petr Čech May 20, 1982 (1982-05-20) (age 28) 74 0 Chelsea GK Jan Laštůvka July 7, 1982 (1982-07-07) (age 28) 0 0 FC Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk DF Roman Hubník June 6, 1984 (1984-06-06) (age 26) 8 1 Hertha Berlin DF Tomáš Hübschman September 4, 1981 (1981-09-04) (age 29) 29 0 Shakhtar Donetsk DF Michal Kadlec December 13, 1984 (1984-12-13) (age 26) 16 1 Bayer Leverkusen DF Zdeněk Pospěch December 14, 1978 (1978-12-14) (age 32) 20 2 FC Copenhagen DF Jan Rajnoch September 30, 1981 (1981-09-30) (age 29) 8 0 MKE Ankaragücü DF Marek Suchý March 29, 1988 (1988-03-29) (age 22) 8 0 FC Spartak Moscow MF Mario Holek October 28, 1986 (1986-10-28) (age 24) 5 0 Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk MF Jaroslav Plašil January 5, 1982 (1982-01-05) (age 29) 56 4 Bordeaux MF Jan Polák March 14, 1981 (1981-03-14) (age 29) 51 7 Anderlecht MF Daniel Pudil September 27, 1985 (1985-09-27) (age 25) 14 2 Racing Genk MF Tomáš Rosický October 4, 1980 (1980-10-04) (age 30) 73 19 Arsenal MF Jiří Štajner May 27, 1976 (1976-05-27) (age 34) 33 4 Slovan Liberec FW Milan Baroš October 28, 1981 (1981-10-28) (age 29) 78 38 Galatasaray FW Roman Bednář March 26, 1983 (1983-03-26) (age 27) 4 1 West Bromwich Albion FW Martin Fenin April 16, 1987 (1987-04-16) (age 23) 13 3 Eintracht Frankfurt FW Tomáš Necid August 13, 1989 (1989-08-13) (age 21) 16 6 CSKA Moscow

Recent callup

Players who are temporarily injured or have been called up recently to the squad:

0#0 Pos. Player Date of Birth (Age) Caps Goals Club GK Antonín Kinský May 31, 1975 (1975-05-31) (age 35) 5 0 Saturn Moscow Oblast GK Daniel Zítka June 20, 1975 (1975-06-20) (age 35) 3 0 Sparta Prague GK Jaroslav Drobný October 18, 1979 (1979-10-18) (age 31) 3 0 Hamburg GK Martin Vaniak October 4, 1970 (1970-10-04) (age 40) 7 0 Slavia Prague DF Tomáš Sivok September 15, 1983 (1983-09-15) (age 27) 11 1 Beşiktaş DF Jan Šimůnek February 20, 1987 (1987-02-20) (age 23) 4 0 Kaiserslautern DF David Rozehnal July 5, 1980 (1980-07-05) (age 30) 58 1 Lille DF Zdeněk Grygera May 14, 1980 (1980-05-14) (age 30) 65 2 Juventus DF Martin Jiránek May 27, 1979 (1979-05-27) (age 31) 31 0 Birmingham City MF David Jarolím May 17, 1979 (1979-05-17) (age 31) 27 1 Hamburg MF Michal Švec March 19, 1987 (1987-03-19) (age 23) 0 0 Heerenveen MF Radek Šírl March 20, 1981 (1981-03-20) (age 29) 8 0 Zenit St. Petersburg MF Mario Lička April 30, 1982 (1982-04-30) (age 28) 0 0 Brest MF Milan Černý March 16, 1988 (1988-03-16) (age 22) 2 1 Slavia Prague MF Marek Matějovský December 20, 1981 (1981-12-20) (age 29) 13 1 Sparta Prague FW Jan Blažek March 20, 1988 (1988-03-20) (age 22) 2 0 Larissa FW Martin Fillo February 7, 1986 (1986-02-07) (age 25) 1 0 Viking FW Michal Papadopoulos April 14, 1985 (1985-04-14) (age 25) 3 0 Heerenveen FW Lukáš Magera January 17, 1983 (1983-01-17) (age 28) 3 0 Timişoara FW Stanislav Vlček February 26, 1976 (1976-02-26) (age 34) 14 0 Slavia Prague FW David Lafata September 18, 1981 (1981-09-18) (age 29) 8 2 Jablonec

Past squads and campaigns

European Championship Squads

• Euro 1996 squad
• Euro 2000 squad
• Euro 2004 squad
• Euro 2008 squad

World Cup Squads

• 2006 World Cup squad

See also

• Czech Republic national under-21 football team
• Full results history for the Czech Republic

References

External links

• Official web
• RSSSF archive of results 1994-
• RSSSF archive of results 1903,1906-08,1939
• RSSSF archive of most capped players and highest goalscorers

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