Czech Republic Tickets

The Czech Republic national football team has a lengthy and rich history, with their first international taking place in 1903, when they were known as Bohemia. Following the dissolution of Czechoslovakia at the end of 1992, their first international fixture to feature the Czech Republic came in February 1994 when they thumped Turkey 4-1 in a friendly.

FIFA World Cup History

As Czechoslovakia, the national football team finished as runners-up at the FIFA World Cup in 1934 and then repeated the feat in 1962. It would be fair to say that they competed at a much higher level in this guise.

Since it has been known as the Czech Republic, the national team has successfully qualified for the World Cup on just one occasion, that coming in 2006 in Germany.

On that occasion, despite the presence of top talents like Milan Baros, Tomáš Rosický, Petr Čech, and Pavel Nedved, the team could only manage one win from their three group stage games, failing to make it to the last 16.

The Czechs won their opening group game convincingly, beating the United States by three goals to zero. However, subsequent defeats to Ghana and Italy saw Czech Republic crash out of the tournament.

Czech Republic at the UEFA European Championship

The Czech Republic national team has proven far more effective in UEFA European Championship tournaments, qualifying for every edition of the competition since 1996. Even while it was part of Czechoslovakia, the national team was a force to be reckoned with and even emerged as the overall winners at Euro 1976.

At the 1996 event, the first after the Czech Republic had become a sovereign state, the national team exceeded all expectations by reaching the final. The Czechs beat Portugal in the quarter-finals and followed that up with a famous penalty-shootout win over France in the semis, before they were narrowly defeated by Germany at Wembley Stadium.

In 2004, the Czech Republic exited the Euro at the semi-finals stage, bowing out against eventual champions Greece.

Czech Republic reached the quarter-finals at the 2012 event and again at Euro 2020, losing out to Portugal and Denmark, respectively.

The Czechs qualified for Euro 2024, held in Germany, following a successful qualifying campaign that consisted of Poland and Albania.

Best Czech Republic Football Players

A handful of well-known individuals have represented the Czech Republic national team in the last three decades.

Petr Čech is the most-capped Czech international of all time, with 124 outings for his country. The goalkeeper made his international debut in 2002, aged just 19 at the time, and he went on to enjoy a fruitful 11-year spell with English club Chelsea. Čech made almost 500 appearances during his time at Stamford Bridge, winning multiple major honours including the Premier League (4), FA Cup (4) and UEFA Champions League titles.

Karel Poborsky was capped 119 times by the Czech Republic national team. The winger signed for Manchester United in 1996 and later represented other major European clubs including SL Benfica and Lazio among others.

Jan Koller has scored more international goals than any other Czech player, past or present, with 55 goals in national team colours.

Tomáš Rosický spent almost half of his playing career with Arsenal, having joined from Borussia Dortmund in 2006. The midfielder featured almost 250 times for the Gunners before returning to boyhood club Sparta Prague in 2016.

Pavel Nedved is best known for his spell with Juventus, having switched from fellow Serie A side Lazio in 2001 for a transfer fee in the region of €40 million. The midfielder amassed more than 500 appearances for the two Italian clubs and picked up several major titles with both of them. Nedved earned 91 caps for Czech Republic and he was the recipient of the prestigious Ballon d'Or award in 2003.

Vladimír Šmicer was a Liverpool player for six years and he shared a dressing room with countryman Milan Baroš for half of that period. The pair celebrated Champions League success with the Reds in 2005, shortly before both players departed from Anfield, and they made a combined 173 appearances for Czech Republic.

Amongst the current crop of talent in the Czech national team, Tomas Soucek is a seasoned international with more than 65 caps to his name. He transferred to West Ham United in 2020 and contributed towards the Hammers' successful UEFA Conference League campaign in 2022/23, alongside compatriot Vladimir Coufal.

Adam Hložek was signed by Bayer Leverkusen in 2022. This came two years after compatriot and fellow striker Patrik Schick had made the move to the Bundesliga outfit, following spells with AS Roma and RB Leipzig.

Czech Republic National Football Team – Home Stadium

The Czech Republic tend to play the majority of their home fixtures at the Generali Arena in Prague, a stadium that has a capacity of 18,887 and is home to AC Sparta Prague.

In recent years the national team have also played in Teplice, Olomouc, and Plzen.