| Nickname(s) | Národní tým | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Association | Fotbalová asociace České republiky | ||
| Confederation | UEFA (Europe) | ||
| Head coach | Michal Bílek | ||
| Captain | Tomáš Rosický | ||
| Most caps | Karel Poborský (118) | ||
| Top scorer | Jan Koller (55) | ||
| Home stadium | Various | ||
| 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 | 35 | ||
| Highest Elo ranking | 1 (June 2004, June 2005) | ||
| Lowest Elo ranking | 37 (September 2010) | ||
|
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| First international | |||
| Turkey 1–4 Czech Republic (Istanbul, Turkey; 23 February 1994) |
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| 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 Rep.; 9 Sep. 2009) |
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| Biggest defeat | |||
| Switzerland 3–0 Czech Republic (Zürich, Switzerland; 20 April 1994) Norway 3–0 Czech Republic (Oslo, Norway; 10 August 2011) |
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| World Cup | |||
| Appearances | 1 (First in 2006) | ||
| Best result | Round 1, 2006 as Czech Republic; Runners-up, 1934 and 1962 as Czechoslovakia | ||
| European Championship | |||
| Appearances | 4 (First in 1996) | ||
| Best result | Runners-up, 1996 as Czech Republic; Winners in 1976 as Czechoslovakia |
||
| Confederations Cup | |||
| Appearances | 1 (First in 1997) | ||
| Best result | 3rd, 1997 | ||
The Czech Republic national football team (Czech: Česká fotbalová reprezentace) represents the Czech Republic in association football and is controlled by the Football Association of the Czech Republic, the governing body for football in the Czech Republic. Their current head coach is Michal Bílek. Before its separation in 1992, the team participated in FIFA and UEFA competitions as Bohemia, Austria-Hungary, and the majority as Czechoslovakia.
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 Euro 1996 where they finished runners-up, their best finish in any international competition. Despite their early success, they have only featured in one FIFA World Cup, the 2006 tournament, where they were eliminated in the first round of the competition. They suffered the same fate at Euro 2008, their most recent appearance in the final stages of a major tournament.[1]
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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.
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. In the finals the team were unlucky in the first match against the Netherlands as they hit the woodwork three times before losing 1-0 to a last minute penalty. The Czechs lost the next match against eventual champions France meaning elimination despite a 2-0 win against Denmark in their final game.
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.
However after the disappointment of the play-off defeat to Belgium, 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, easily qualifying for Euro 2004 in the process. The Czechs entered the Euro finals as one of the dark horses for the title. 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. The Czechs convincingly beat Denmark in the quarter-finals meaning a semi–final against Greece awaited them. Greece won the game in the last minute of the first half-half of extra-time with a silver goal after the Czechs missed several chances and hit the bar. Greece would go on to win the tournament.
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. The team was boosted prior to the play-off matches by the return of Pavel Nedvěd who had initially retired from international football after Euro 2004. The squad for the World Cup included 18 of the Euro 2004 team which reached the semi-finals. As two years previously, the Czechs were tipped to do well. They started the tournament in fine form with a 3–0 win over the USA. However towards the end of the first half Jan Koller was stretchered off with a pulled hamstring, putting him out of the tournament. In the next game, with the absent Koller and Milan Baros still recovering from injury, the team struggled, losing 2–0 to Ghana with Tomáš Ujfaluši being sent off with the team a goal behind. Baroš returned for the final game against Italy which the Czechs had to win to progress. Once again the team were reduced to ten men a goal behind as Jan Polák was dismissed before half-time. Italy went on to win 2-0. Pavel Nedvěd, Karel Poborský and Vratislav Lokvenc retired from the national team after this tournament.
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.
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. It was also coach Petr Rada's last match. Ivan Hašek took over as both Czech FA president and manager, slightly improving things, as the team 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 succeeded but Slovakia losing 2–0 meant that minnows San Marino had to hold the Slovenians to a draw to give the Czechs a chance of reaching the play-offs. The miracle did not happen and the team failed to qualify for the first major tournament since 2002.
A much changed team under new manager Michal Bílek entered the Euro 2012 qualifiers. 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 had defeated the Czechs in between the Liechtenstein games but the play-off spot was still in their hands. In the next game a vital last minute penalty from Michal Kadlec away to Scotland grabbed a 2-2 draw. Despite Scotland winning their next two games and again the Czechs 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.
For 1930 to 1994 records, see: Czechoslovakia
Since independence from Slovakia, the Czech Republic has only qualified for one FIFA World Cup, in 2006. Coming into the 2006 World Cup as the team ranked second best in the world after Brazil, due to Czech domination in the 2004 Euro Cup, expectations were enormous. The Czechs defeated the United States 3-0 in their first game and people expected this to be a brilliant tournament for Czecho, however in the second game against the Ghana national football team the Czechs were unable to rebound from an early Ghana goal, despite hitting the post many times. Though the Czech team outplayed the opponents throughout the game, it still ended horribly for the Czech Republic; 2-0 for Ghana after a late insurance goal by the strong African team. Experts would go on to consider this a significant moment of collapse for the Czech team, who was put in a position of having to defeat Italy to advance to the next round. In a relatively close game, the eventual world champions defeated the Czechs by the score of 2-0 eliminating a team that didn't even approach expectations. They went out in the first round following one victory and two defeats in what came to be thought of as a disastrous World Cup for the Czech national team.
| Year | Round | Position | GP | W | D* | L | GS | GA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1998 and 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 |
The Czechs qualified for the 1997 Confederations Cup following their second place in the UEFA Euro 1996 Competition and Germany's subsequent refusal to take part. Given that teams only qualify for the Confederations Cup if they win either the FIFA World Cup, or regional championship (UEFA Euro,) this is their only appearance.
| Year | Round | GP | W | D* | L | GS | GA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1992 to 1995 | Did not qualify | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1997 | Third place | 5 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 10 | 7 |
| 1999 to 2009 | Did not qualify | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Total | 1/8 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 10 | 7 |
1960 to 1992 records, see: Czechoslovakia
Since their independence, Czech Republic have never failed to qualify for the European Football Championships, with their best finish being second place in the 1996 edition of the tournament (which was also their first), since then they have advanced from the first round on only one occasion, in 2004. Qualifying for UEFA Euro 2012 is now underway.
| UEFA European Championship record | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Round | Position | GP | W | D* | L | GS | GA |
| 1996 | Runners-up | 2nd | 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 7 | 8 |
| 2000 | Group Stage | 10th | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 3 |
| 2004 | Semi Final | 3rd | 5 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 10 | 5 |
| 2008 | Group Stage | 11th | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 6 |
| 2012 | Qualified | |||||||
| Total | 7/13 | 25 | 11 | 5 | 9 | 36 | 32 | |
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)
| Date | Home Team | Score | Away Team |
|---|---|---|---|
| 9 February 2011 | Croatia | 4–2 | Czech Republic |
| 25 March 2011 | Spain | 2–1 | Czech Republic |
| 29 March 2011 | Czech Republic | 2–0 | Liechtenstein |
| 4 June 2011 | Czech Republic | 0–0 | Peru |
| 7 June 2011 | Japan | 0–0 | Czech Republic |
| 10 August 2011 | Norway | 3–0 | Czech Republic |
| 3 September 2011 | Scotland | 2–2 | Czech Republic |
| 6 September 2011 | Czech Republic | 4–0 | Ukraine |
| 7 October 2011 | Czech Republic | 0–2 | Spain |
| 11 October 2011 | Lithuania | 1–4 | Czech Republic |
| 11 November 2011 | Czech Republic | 2–0 | Montenegro |
| 15 November 2011 | Montenegro | 0–1 | Czech Republic |
| Republic of Ireland | 29 February 2012 | |
| Finland | 11 September 2012 |
| 8 June 2012 20:45 |
Russia | v | Czech Republic | Municipal Stadium, Wrocław |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12 June 2012 18:00 |
Greece | v | Czech Republic | Municipal Stadium, Wrocław |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 16 June 2012 20:45 |
Czech Republic | v | Poland | Municipal Stadium, Wrocław |
|---|---|---|---|---|
The most important matches of the Czech national team are held in Prague's Generali Arena, the home stadium of AC Sparta Prague. However, as of November 2011, the team has only played 34 of 83 home matches there. This is due to the policy of playing matches against teams with a lesser reputation outside the capital city, as is the case for Spain.
Stadia which have hosted Czech Republic international football matches:
| Number of matches |
Stadium | First international | Last international |
|---|---|---|---|
| 34 | Generali Arena, Prague | 26 April 1995 | 11 November 2011 |
| 19 | Na Stínadlech, Teplice | 18 September 1996 | 26 August 2009 |
| 5 | Bazaly, Ostrava | 25 May 1994 | 16 August 2000 |
| 5 | Andrův stadion, Olomouc | 25 March 1998 | 7 September 2010 |
| 4 | Stadion u Nisy, Liberec | 4 June 2005 | 11 August 2010 |
| 3 | Stadion Střelnice, Jablonec | 4 September 1996 | 5 June 2009 |
| 3 | Synot Tip Arena, Prague | 27 May 2008 | 8 October 2010 |
| 2 | Sportovní areál, Drnovice | 18 August 1999 | 15 August 2001 |
| 2 | Městský stadion, Uherské Hradiště | 16 August 2006 | 9 September 2009 |
| 1 | Stadion SSK Vítkovice, Ostrava | 26 March 1996 | 26 March 1996 |
| 1 | Strahov Stadium, Prague | 24 April 1996 | 24 April 1996 |
| 1 | Stadion FC Bohemia Poděbrady, Poděbrady | 26 February 1997 | 26 February 1997 |
| 1 | Stadion Evžena Rošického, Prague | 18 August 2004 | 18 August 2004 |
| 1 | Stadion Za Lužánkami, Brno | 8 March 1995 | 8 March 1995 |
| 1 | Stadion Střelecký ostrov, České Budějovice | 29 March 2011 | 29 March 2011 |
Match date: 11 and 15 November 2011.[2]
Opposition: Montenegro
Caps and goals updated as 15 November 2011.
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The following players have also been called up to the Czech Republic squad within the last twelve months:
Previous squads
Player recordsPlayer records are accurate as November 15, 2011. Most capped Czech Republic players
Top Czech Republic goalscorers
(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)[3]) See alsoReferences
External links
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