David Sebastian Klement Rozehnal (born 5 July 1980) is a Czech former

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who currently plays as a defender for amateur club Sokol Kožušany (Czech 7th tier). He previously played for a host of European clubs, making over 400 appearances in a career spanning almost two decades, and retired from the professional game in April 2018.

Early life

Rozehnal was born in

Šternberk Šternberk (; (german: (Mährisch-)Sternberg) is a town in Olomouc District in the Olomouc Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 13,000 inhabitants. The historic town centre is well preserved and is protected by law as an urban monument zone ...

and raised in Kožušany. He comes from a sports family, his father was a second-league football player, his mother played competitive handball. His father then trained amateur club Sokol Kožušany, where Rozehnal started with football.

Club career

Sigma Olomouc

Rozehnal began his career at

SK Sigma Olomouc SK Sigma Olomouc is a Czech football club from the city of Olomouc. The club currently plays in the Czech First League, the first tier of Czech football. The club played in the first tier league for 30 years between 1984 and 2014, winning the Czec ...

, where his performances earned him a place in the Czech Republic under-21 team.

Club Brugge

In 2003, he was signed by

Belgian Belgian may refer to: * Something of, or related to, Belgium * Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent * Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German *Ancient Belgian language, an extinct languag ...

club

Club Brugge (), known simply as Club Brugge (in English also: ''Club Bruges''), is a Belgian professional football club based in Bruges, Belgium. It was founded in 1891 and its home ground is the Jan Breydel Stadium, which has a capacity of 29,062.

. In 2004, Rozehnal played for the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

at the European Championship where the team made it to the semi-finals before being knocked out by

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

. He won the

Belgian Cup The Belgian Cup (french: link=no, Coupe de Belgique; nl, Beker van België []; german: link=no, Belgischer Fußballpokal) is the main Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in Belgium, run by the Belgia ...

in his first season with Brugge and the

Belgian League The Belgian Pro League,(officially the Jupiler Pro League due to sponsorship reasons with Jupiler), is the top league competition for association football clubs in Belgium. Contested by 18 clubs since the 2020–21 season and reduced to 16 team ...

in 2005.

Paris Saint-Germain

He signed for

Paris Saint-Germain Paris Saint-Germain Football Club (), commonly referred to as Paris Saint-Germain, Paris, Paris SG or simply PSG is a professional football club based in Paris, France. They compete in Ligue 1, the top division of French football. As Fr ...

in June 2005. At the end of the 2006–07 season, he was named as the club's Player of the Year. His form resulted in reported interest from

Borussia Dortmund Ballspielverein Borussia 09 e. V. Dortmund, commonly known as Borussia Dortmund (), BVB (), or simply Dortmund (), is a German professional sports club based in Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is best known for its men's professional footb ...

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Newcastle upon Tyne, that plays in the Premier League – the top flight of English football. The club was founded in 1892 by the merger of Newcastle East End ...

and

Sevilla Seville (; es, Sevilla, ) is the capital and largest city of the Spain, Spanish autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the Guadalquivir, River Gua ...

. Sources close to the defender confirmed that he would favour a move to Newcastle.

Newcastle United

On 22 June 2007, it was confirmed by the player's agent that a "definite agreement" had been reached for the player to join Newcastle United. He underwent a medical check on 25 June and Newcastle confirmed the transfer had been completed on 29 June for a fee of £2.9 million. On 11 August Rozehnal made his debut for Newcastle against

Bolton Wanderers Bolton Wanderers Football Club () is a professional football club based in Horwich, Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in . The club played at Burnden Park for 102 years from 1895 after moving from their original home at Pike's ...

Lazio

Rozehnal left Newcastle for

Lazio it, Laziale , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...

, on loan until the end of the 2007–08 season, on 31 January 2008, despite having only signed in June 2007. After only playing seven times for Lazio during his loan spell, it remained unclear if they wanted to sign him on a permanent deal. On 9 June 2008, Lazio officially announced they had signed Rozehnal on a permanent basis, with Newcastle recouping the full £2.9 million which they initially paid for the defender.

Hamburger SV

After only one year in

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

, Rozehnal left Lazio, on 29 July 2009 for German top club

Hamburger SV Hamburger Sport-Verein e.V. (), commonly known as Hamburger SV () or Hamburg (), is a German sports club based in Hamburg, with its largest branch being its football section. Though the current HSV was founded in June 1919 from a merger of three ...

, signing a contract until 30 June 2012. After a poor season with several costly errors by Rozehnal, he was removed from the first team and asked to find a new club.

Lille

On 31 August 2010, Hamburg confirmed that Rozehnal would leave for French side

Lille Lille ( , ; nl, Rijsel ; pcd, Lile; vls, Rysel) is a city in the northern part of France, in French Flanders. On the river Deûle, near France's border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France Regions of France, region, the Pref ...

on a year-long loan, with the German club still paying part of his salary. While at Lille, his side reached the

2011 Coupe de France Final The 2011 Coupe de France Final was the 93rd final of France's most prestigious football cup competition. The final took place on 14 May 2011 at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis and was contested between Paris Saint-Germain and Lille. Paris Sai ...

where he faced former side PSG. Lille prevailed 1–0 in the final, claiming their first Coupe de France trophy since 1955. After the 2010–11 season with Lille, Rozehnal signed for Lille on a permanent basis.

K.V. Oostende

On 29 June 2015, he joined

Jupiler Pro League The Belgian Pro League,(officially the Jupiler Pro League due to sponsorship reasons with Jupiler), is the top league competition for association football clubs in Belgium. Contested by 18 clubs since the 2020–21 season and reduced to 16 team ...

club K.V. Oostende and spent three seasons playing for the Belgian side.

Retirement

Rozehnal retired from professional football on 4 April 2018 and joined Sokol Kožušany, who play in the seventh tier of the Czech Republic league system. His brother, Marek, also plays for the same club. He made his debut for the club the following weekend.

International career

Rozehnal was part of the Czech side which won the UEFA U-21 Championships in 2002. He made his debut for the Czech Republic national team in a friendly match against Italy (2:2) on 18 February 2004. Rozehnal represented his country at

Euro 2004 The 2004 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as Euro 2004, was the 12th edition of the UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial football competition contested by the men's national teams of UEFA member associations. The ...

and played in all three of Czech Republic's matches at the

2006 FIFA World Cup The 2006 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Germany 2006, was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to host the ...

. On 12 August 2009, he scored his only goal in a 3-1 friendly home win against

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

. He was named in the Czech Republic's squad for

Euro 2008 The 2008 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2008 or simply Euro 2008, was the 13th UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial football tournament contested by the member nations of UEFA (the Union of European ...

and played in all three of the group stage games. Rozenhal ended his career with a total of 60 caps.

Honours

;

Belgian Pro League The Belgian Pro League,(officially the Jupiler Pro League due to sponsorship reasons with Jupiler), is the top league competition for association football clubs in Belgium. Contested by 18 clubs since the 2020–21 season and reduced to 16 team ...

: 2004–05 *

: 2003–04 *

Belgian Super Cup The Belgian Super Cup ( nl, Belgische Supercup, ; french: Supercoupe de Belgique; german: Belgischer Fußball-Super Cup), ''Pro League Supercup'', is a Belgian club competition played as a single match between the Belgian First Division A champion ...

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...

; PSG *

Coupe de France The Coupe de France, formerly known as the Coupe Charles Simon, is the premier knockout cup competition in French football organized by the French Football Federation (FFF). It was first held in 1917 and is open to all amateur and profession ...

: 2005–06 ;

Coppa Italia The ("Italy Cup") is an annual knockout cup competition in Italian football organized by the FIGC until the 2009–10 season and the Lega Serie A ever since. History The beginning of the tournament was turbulent, due to the complexity of ...

: 2008–09 ;

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

Ligue 1 Ligue 1, officially known as Ligue 1 Uber Eats for sponsorship reasons, is a French professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the French football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. A ...

Personal life

Rozehnal is married to Petra and their first child, Luka, was born on 3 October 2007.

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Rozehnal, David 1980 births Living people People from Šternberk Czech footballers Czech Republic under-21 international footballers Czech Republic international footballers SK Sigma Olomouc players Club Brugge KV players Paris Saint-Germain F.C. players Newcastle United F.C. players S.S. Lazio players Hamburger SV players Lille OSC players K.V. Oostende players UEFA Euro 2004 players 2006 FIFA World Cup players UEFA Euro 2008 players Czech First League players Belgian Pro League players Ligue 1 players Premier League players Serie A players Bundesliga players Expatriate footballers in Belgium Expatriate footballers in France Expatriate footballers in England Expatriate footballers in Italy Expatriate footballers in Germany Czech expatriate footballers Association football defenders Sportspeople from the Olomouc Region