Pavel Nedvěd

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Pavel Nedvěd
Pavel Nedvěd.jpg
Pavel Nedvěd in the jersey of the
Czech national team (2006)
Personnel
birthday August 30, 1972
place of birth ChebCzechoslovakia
size 177 cm
position midfield
Juniors
Years station
1977-1985 Tatran Skalná
1985-1986 RH Cheb
1986-1990 TJ Škoda Pilsen
Men's
Years station Games (goals) 1
1990-1991 TJ Škoda Plzeň 16 0(2)
1991 Dukla Tábor 7 0(4)
1991-1992 Dukla Prague 19 0(3)
1992-1996 Sparta Prague 98 (23)
1996-2001 Lazio Rome 137 (33)
2001-2009 Juventus Turin 247 (51)
National team
Years selection Games (goals)
1994-2006 Czech Republic 91 (18)
1 Only league games are given.

Listen to Pavel Nedvěd ? / i (born August 30, 1972 in Cheb , Czechoslovakia ) is a former Czech football player and current Vice President of Juventus Turin . Audio file / audio sample

Career

In the club

Pavel Nedvěd grew up in the town of Skalná in the Bohemian Vogtland near the German border. At the age of five he started playing football for the Tatran club. Already in these years his ambition made itself felt through additional training units. Rudá Hvězda Cheb brought the then 13-year-old Pavel Nedvěd into his own youth in 1985, but could not keep the talent for long. After only one year, Nedvěd moved on to Pilsen to the local Škoda Pilsen . In 1991/92 he did his military service with Dukla Prague and made his debut in the first Czechoslovak league that game year . In 19 games he scored three goals. During this time, the leading club in Czechoslovakia , Sparta Prague , became aware of the midfielder and signed him for the 1992/93 season . At Sparta, he was not immediately part of the team. He made 18 games, was substituted on 13 times and scored no goals. It wasn't until 1993/94 that he fought his way into the team, with 23 games and three goals at the end of the season.

For the 1994/95 season he was already one of the leading players at Sparta, which secured the third championship title in a row. Nedvěd made 27 games and contributed six goals. The following playing year 1995/96 was one of the best in Nedvěd's career to date. He became the star of the team and attracted the attention of foreign clubs with 14 goals in 27 games. PSV Eindhoven , with whom Nedvěd signed a contract, showed particular interest . During the European championship in England , which was successful for the Czech national team in 1996 , the Lazio Rome coached by the Czech- Italian coach Zdeněk Zeman also showed interest and signed the midfield director. PSV Eindhoven received a severance payment. The transfer from Sparta Prague to Lazio was extremely strange: for around 1.5 million Czech crowns it was transferred to the Slovak 1. FC Košice and from there to Lazio Rome for around 7.5 million German marks . Like Sparta Prague, 1. FC Košice belonged to the Slovak entrepreneur Alexander Rezeš, who wanted to push a training tax for Nedvěd's youth club Škoda Pilsen .

Under Zeman, Nedvěd was regularly deployed after initial acclimatization problems. In the following years he developed at Lazio into one of the best attacking midfielders in Europe. He won a total of seven titles with the club, including the 1998/99 European Cup Winners' Cup and the Italian Championship in 1999/2000  - the first for Lazio since 1973/74 .

Pavel Nedvěd (left) in the 2007 Juventus jersey

In the summer of 2001, Juventus Turin signed him for the equivalent of 41.2 million euros as the successor to the French Zinédine Zidane who had migrated to Real Madrid . In his first season for the Italian record champions, the Czech fell short of expectations, but still won his second Scudetto under coach Marcello Lippi .

The following 2002/03 season went much better, but in some ways also tragic. A yellow card in the UEFA Champions League semi-final against Real Madrid resulted in a suspension for the final in which Juventus lost to AC Milan on penalties . In Serie A , Pavel Nedvěd developed into the team's absolute top performer and fan favorite. With Juve he won his third championship title in Italy this season.

At the end of 2003 he was the second Czech after Josef Masopust to receive the European Footballer of the Year award from France Football . In March 2004, Pelé put him on the list of the 125 greatest footballers alive .

In 2005 and 2006 , Nedvěd under Fabio Capello at Juventus won championship titles number five and six. Both were withdrawn because of the involvement of Turin in the Italian soccer scandals 2005/2006 . In addition, Juve had to relegate to Serie B at the end of the 2005/06 season . Although almost every top European club would have welcomed him with open arms, despite his advanced age of almost 34 years at that time, Nedvěd decided to stay with Juve and go to Serie B with the club. Since his contract only ran until July 2007, he thought for a long time to end his active career at the end of the season. He played another outstanding season under the new coach Didier Deschamps , scored many decisive goals and managed to get promoted again with the team despite nine penalty points. His contract in Turin expired at the end of the 2008/09 season , after which he ended his active career.

On October 23, 2015, Juventus appointed Nedvěd as the club's new vice-president.

On September 24, 2017, he announced that he would play for the amateur team of his home town, FC Skalna, with his 18-year-old son for the coming season.

In the national team

His career as a Czech international began Pavel Nedvěd on June 5, 1994. In a friendly game on Lansdowne Road in Dublin against Ireland Nedvěd came on in the 84th minute for Jiří Němec .

At the European Championships in England in 1996 , Nedvěd was already an absolute top performer in the midfield of the Czechs. He played five of the six games in the tournament and scored the 1-0 in the second group game, in a 2-1 win against Italy . In the further course of the tournament, the Czech Republic even reached the final against Germany , but lost 2-1 to Oliver Bierhoff's golden goal in extra time and became vice European champion.

At the 2004 European Championships in Portugal , Pavel Nedvěd led the Czech team to the semi-finals as captain, but suffered a knee injury in the first half in a tackle in the Greek penalty area . Without its most important player, the Czech Republic was eliminated with a silver goal .

At his own request, he was not appointed to the national team for the next few months, so as not to expose his health to any additional stress. It was not until the relegation games for the 2006 World Cup against Norway , for which they finally managed to qualify, that national coach Karel Brückner nominated him again for the national selection.

On August 15, 2006 Nedvěd announced that he had ended his career in the national team. In a friendly against Serbia on August 16, 2006 in Uherské Hradiště , he ran for the last time for the Czech Republic. He was replaced after 44 minutes and said goodbye with great applause. He made a total of 91 international matches and scored 18 goals.

successes

In the club

* revoked in the context of the Italian soccer scandal in 2005/2006

In the national team

Personal title

Others

Nedvěd was everywhere in attacking midfield , but mostly he played on the left. His strengths included his two-footed game, his running strength, his commitment and his targeted shot. According to his own statements, one of his weaknesses was his header game .

With his wife Ivana, Nedvěd has two children, son Pavel and daughter Ivana.

His nicknames include Méďa ( belittling for Medvěd, German : Bear ), Grande Paolo , Furia Ceca , Stachanovec and Duracell . Because of his blond, long hair, he was often referred to as the blond angel in soccer .

At the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin , he commented on the ice hockey games of the Czech national team for Italian television. Nedvěd's advisor is Zdeněk Nehoda .

Together with his former teammates Vratislav Lokvenc and Tomáš Votava , Nedvěd took part in the Prague half marathon on March 27, 2010 .

Web links

Commons : Pavel Nedvěd  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. Nedved stops. www.sport1.de, February 26, 2009, accessed on February 26, 2009 .
  2. Juventus appoints Pavel Nedved as Vice President. www.sport1.de, October 23, 2015, accessed on June 26, 2016 .
  3. Football legend celebrates comeback. www.t-online.de, September 24, 2017, accessed on September 24, 2017 .
  4. ^ Nedvěd runs Prague Half Marathon ( Memento of April 3, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) in The Prague Post of March 31, 2010, accessed on April 26, 2010 (English)