Mini football figure - Czech Republic

Czech Republic

The Czech national football team is the formal successor to the Czechoslovak national football team that existed after the split of Czechoslovakia into Czech Republic and Slovakia on 1 January 1993 until the unsuccessful conclusion of the qualifying round for the 1994 World Cup at the end of 1993.

The Czech team was re-formed as the selection team of the Bohemian-Moravian Football Association in 1994. At the 1996 European Football Championship in England, they were only defeated by the German team in extra time in the final. At the 2000, 2008 and 2016 European Championships, the team was eliminated in the preliminary round, while at the 2004 European Championship it reached the semi-finals and in 2012 the quarter-finals. For the 2006 World Cup, the Czech Republic qualified for participation in a World Cup for the first time - after two relegation matches against Norway. In the tournament, the team was eliminated after the preliminary round.

As for Slovakia, FIFA also takes into account the Czechoslovak team's results, such as winning the 1976 European Football Championship and reaching the finals of the 1934 and 1962 World Cups.

Coach

The post of national coach was held until October 2009 by Ivan Hašek, who was also the chairman of the Czech Football Association ČMFS. The former national coach Karel Brückner and Michal Bílek, who had coached the Czech record champions Sparta Prague until 2008 and then coached the Slovakian first division team MFK Ružomberok, acted as coaching advisors. Hašek had taken over from František Straka, who coached the team from mid-May 2009 until the end of June 2009 for a friendly match against Malta (result 1-0). Hašek resigned after the failure in the World Cup qualifiers. He was succeeded by Michal Bílek in October 2009.

Football World Cup

The Czech Republic was part of Czechoslovakia during the World Cup tournaments held until 1990. After the separation from Slovakia, the team only managed to qualify for a World Cup once in five attempts. The Czech Republic met Slovakia in the qualifiers for the 1998 and 2010 World Cups.

European Football Championships

The Czech Republic took part in the European Championships from 1960 to 1992 as part of Czechoslovakia. After Czechoslovakia split into two independent states, the Czech Republic took part in qualifying for the European Championship for the first time in 1996 and has qualified every time since, while Slovakia only managed to qualify for a final round again in 2016.