Pavel Nedvěd is a former Czech footballer, born in 1972 in Cheb.
Pavel Nedvěd is a former Czech footballer, born in 1972 in Cheb. As captain of the Czech national team he won the Ballon d'Or in 2003, awarded to the best footballer in Europe. He later served on the management of the Italian club Juventus Turin.[1][2]
Youth and beginnings
He was born in Cheb and grew up in Skalná, near Cheb. Skalná has had the status of a town since 1905, but Nedvěd himself always regarded it as a village. His father brought him to the local cinder pitch at the age of four.[1]
He is notable for his physical fitness and hard shot. He left the local Tatran, after a short spell at RH Cheb, for Škoda Plzeň. There he was coached by Josef Žaloudek, whom he later described as a man who gave him a great deal on a personal level too. Jiří Lopata sent him on for the first time at the age of seventeen, in a match for second-division Plzeň.[1]
In 1991 he moved to Dukla in Prague, where he did his military service. AC Sparta Prague was also interested in him at the same time. This period also saw the start of his cooperation with the manager and agent Zdeněk Nehoda, a former player and 1976 European champion. According to his official biography, the cooperation continues to this day.[1]
Sparta and the national team
From the 1992/93 season he played for AC Sparta Prague and repeatedly won the league title with it. In June 1994 he made his first appearance in a national team shirt, in a match against Ireland. At the 1996 European Championship in England he was already among the players in the starting line-up. In the season before the tournament he had scored fourteen goals in the Czech league.[1]
The team, led by coach Dušan Uhrin, reached the final of this tournament and lost to Germany. After this success, foreign clubs made offers for the players. Among others, the Dutch club PSV Eindhoven was interested in Nedvěd, but Lazio Rome, managed by the Czech-born coach Zdeněk Zeman, won out in the end.[1]
Ballon d'Or
In December 2003, as captain of the national team, Nedvěd received the Ballon d'Or in Paris. This happened on 22 December. Among Czech footballers, only Josef Masopust had received the award before him.[1]
Time at Juventus
Nedvěd was vice-president of the club Juventus Turin. The club's chairman Andrea Agnelli, Nedvěd and the entire board resigned from their posts. According to the daily Gazzetta dello Sport, this was prompted by suspicion of falsified accounting. Gianluca Ferrero was to become the new chairman, his nomination having been announced by Exor, the holding company of the Agnelli family, which controls Juventus.[2]
Chronology
- — Footballer Ryan Naderi, born in Dresden to a Czech mother, has decided to represent Czechia and joined the national team ahead of Saturday's Nations League match against Spain. iDNES.cz ČTK / České noviny