Dušan Fitzel (born 15 April 1963) is a

Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus' Places * Czech, ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

coach and a former player. He is an assistant coach with

FC Viktoria Plzeň Football Club Viktoria Plzeň () is a Czech professional football club based in Plzeň. They play in the Czech First League, the top division of football in the country. As runners-up in the 1970–71 Czechoslovak Cup, the club gained the right ...

. He managed the

Malta national football team The Malta national football team ( mt, Tim nazzjonali tal-futbol ta' Malta) represents Malta in international football and is controlled by the Malta Football Association, the governing body for football in Malta. The first official game playe ...

from 2006–2009, but in July 2009 health problems made it necessary to give up the role of manager. He is married and has two children. He is a lecturer in coach education as well as a contributor of articles on football and coaching in '' Fotbal a trénink''.

Playing career

For the most part of his career Fitzel played in the Czechoslovakian league for

Dukla Prague Dukla Prague ( cz, Dukla Praha) was a Czech football club from the city of Prague. Established in 1948 as ATK Praha, the club won a total of 11 Czechoslovak league titles and eight Czechoslovak Cups, and in the 1966–67 season, reached the semi ...

in the position of

defensive midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

. In 158 appearances he scored three goals. In 1992, he left for

EPA Larnaca EPA Larnaca (, ''Enosis Pezoporikou Amol'') was a Cypriot football club based in the city of Larnaca. Founded in 1930 with the merge of two local clubs, Pezoporikos and AMOL, the club was a founding member of Cyprus Football Association and part ...

Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is geo ...

where he had 42 appearances and scored three goals. Fitzel retired from his career as a professional footballer in 1995 for

FK Chmel Blšany FK Chmel Blšany was a Czech football club based in the village of Blšany. The club played in the Czech First League between 1998 and 2006 and was the first professional club of goalkeeper Petr Čech. The club disbanded in 2016 after resigning ...

Coaching career

His coaching career Fitzel started with the youth team of

SK Slavia Praha Sportovní klub Slavia Praha – fotbal (Sports Club Slavia Prague – Football, ), commonly known as Slavia Praha or Slavia Prague, is a Czech professional association football, football football team, club in Prague. Founded in 1892, they are ...

. From 1998 to 2005 Fitzel worked within the

Football Association of the Czech Republic The Football Association of the Czech Republic ( cs, Fotbalová asociace České republiky; FAČR) or colloquially the ''Czech Football Association'' is the governing body of association football in the Czech Republic based in Prague. It organiz ...

, coaching teams from U18 to U21 level. His greatest achievement came when with him as assistant coach the Czech U21 team won the

European Under-21 Championship The UEFA European Under-21 Championship, the UEFA Under-21 Championship or simply the Euro Under-21, is a biennial football competition contested by the European men's under-21 national teams of the UEFA member associations. Since 1992, the compe ...

in 2002. In January 2006 he was appointed the head coach for Malta as the successor to Horst Heese. His contract expires with the end of 2007. The Maltese national team results under Fitzel have been rather promising, including a 2-1 victory over

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...

(first win for the team in official games since 1993) and a 2-2 draw against the

2002 World Cup The 2002 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Korea Japan 2002, was the 17th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial Association football, football world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams organized by ...

bronze medalists

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

.Malta holds Turkey in 2-2 draw
/ref> Dusan Fitzel has been nicknamed "La Valette" in

Malta Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...

after the Maltese grandmaster and hero Jean de la Valette.

Honours

Czechoslovak First League The Czechoslovak First League ( cs, 1. fotbalová liga, sk, 1. futbalová liga) was the premier football league in the Czechoslovakia from 1925 to 1993, with the exception of World War II. Czechoslovakia was occupied by German forces who formed ...

: **Runner-up (2): 1983-84, 1987–88 * Czechoslovak Football Cup: **Winner (2): 1985, 1990

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Fitzel, Dusan Living people 1963 births Czech footballers Slovak footballers Czechoslovak footballers Dukla Prague footballers FK Chmel Blšany players Cypriot First Division players Expatriate footballers in Cyprus Czech football managers Czech expatriate football managers Czech expatriate footballers Slovak football managers Slovak expatriate football managers Slovak expatriate sportspeople in Malta Slovak expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Malta Expatriate football managers in Malta Malta national football team managers Expatriate football managers in Russia Association football midfielders Czech people of Slovak descent Sportspeople from Bojnice