Ivan Hašek Source: Profimedia
PRAGUE – Ivan Hašek became the new coach of the Czech national football team. It was decided by the executive committee of the Football Association of the Czech Republic (FAČR), which unanimously elected the 60-year-old coach.
Hašek replaced Jaroslav Šilhavy on the bench, who resigned from his position just after advancing to the EC in Germany.
“First of all, I would like to thank Jaroslav Šilhavé for five successful years. Thanks to him, I may be the one sitting here. I also thank the executive committee for the unanimous election. It is important to me that we have an agreement. I thank the clubs for helping us in welcome during the formation of the implementation team It is a great honor for me to coach the Czech national team.
I take it as the highlight of my career and the biggest thing that can happen to a coach. I have a dream to participate in the World Cup once more, not just as a spectator. I believe that we will fight for the World Championship in 2026, I will do my best for that,” said Hašek at Thursday’s press conference for ČT Šport.
The contract is valid until the end of the WC 2026 qualification and with a subsequent option for extension in the event of promotion to the play-offs or the final tournament.
Hašek’s first assistant will be 34-year-old Jaroslav Köstl, who by joining the national team ended his work on the bench of Slavia Prague, where he was Jindřich Trpišovský’s assistant. “I consider Jaroslav Köstl to be the best assistant available in the Czech Republic,” remarked Hašek. The second assistant will be Jaroslav Veselý, head coach of Bohemians Prague.
At the same time, the 46-year-old helmsman will also remain active on the club’s bench. The goalkeeping coach will be Radek Černý from Slavia Praha, team leader Michal Černý, who moved to the position from the Czech twenty-one team.
Nedvěd said no
Pavel Nedvěd did not accept the position of manager. “The negotiations were correct, the conditions were above standard. According to some, the first offer was allegedly dishonorable, but I want to say that it is a lie. He also confirmed it, but in the end he decided differently. We have to respect it, we wish him the best of luck.” said FAČR chairman Petr Fousek.
The association was interested in hiring Jindřich Trpišovský from Slavia for the position of coach, but the club did not want to release him. In this way, three coaches without engagements got into the narrowest circle of candidates, in addition to Hašek, Michal Bílek and Vitězslav Lavička.
“After the negotiations, we unanimously agreed on Ivan. He has a lot of experience from national teams abroad. He was also my personal candidate, because we have known each other for 30 years and we have the same opinion on many things. We did not want a coach only for the EC in Germany. It will happen quickly in a row, in the fall the League of Nations, in which we want to advance to ‘A’, immediately after that the important World Cup qualification,” remarked Fousek.
Sixty-year-old Hašek was already on the bench of the Czech Republic in 2009. He then took over the national team from the position of president of the association after the dismissed Petr Rada and unsuccessfully tried to save the qualification for the World Cup 2010. The Czechs ended up third behind advancing Slovakia and Slovenia. Since then, Hašek has worked outside of Europe – he trained in the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Qatar. He most recently led the national team of Lebanon.
At this year’s EC in Germany, the Czechs are waiting in Group F for the start of the tournament against the favored Portugal (June 18) in Leipzig. They will then move to Hamburg, where on June 22 they will meet the winner of the play-off of the C-branch of the League of Nations (Georgia, Luxembourg, Greece, Kazakhstan). At the end of the group stage, they will also face Turkey in Hamburg (June 26).
- Author: © List/
- VIDEO: Facebook/Czech national football team
- Source: TASR
2024-01-04 11:26:15
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