Jan Berger (born 18 August 1976 in

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

) 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, ...

retired

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 played as a

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 ...

. He last played for

East Bengal FC East Bengal Club, commonly referred to as East Bengal (), is an Indian professional multi-sport club based in Kolkata, West Bengal. It is best known for its professional men's football team that competes in the Indian Super League, the top fl ...

in the

I-League The I-League (known as Hero I-League for sponsorship ties with Hero MotoCorp) is the second-tier men's professional football competition of the Indian football league system. It is currently contested by 12 clubs across the country with the w ...

Club career

As a youth, Jan Berger played for

Sparta Prague ) but refer to Spartans as "''Rudí''" ( en, The Dark Reds/The Maroons).'' Letenští'' , ground = Generali Česká pojišťovna Arena , capacity = 19,416 , clubname = Sparta Prague , image = Sparta Praha logo.png , image_size = 160px , fu ...

but when his father, Jan Berger Senior, signed for

FC Zürich Fussballclub Zürich, commonly abbreviated to FC Zürich or simply FCZ, is a Swiss football club based in Zürich. The club was founded in 1896 and has won the Swiss Super League 13 times and the Swiss Cup 10 times. The most recent titles a ...

, his family moved to

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

and he continued his youth career with

FC St. Gallen Fussballclub St. Gallen 1879, commonly known as St. Gallen, is a Swiss professional football club based in the city of St. Gallen, Canton of St. Gallen. As of the 2022–23 season, the team competes in the Swiss Super League. History Founde ...

. He then moved to the youth department by

Grasshopper Club Zürich Grasshopper Club Zürich, commonly referred to as simply GC, GCZ, or Grasshoppers, is a multisports club based in Zürich, Switzerland. The oldest and best known department of the club is its football team. With 27 titles, Grasshopper holds the ...

, later he started his professional career with them in 1994. With

, he played 2

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

matches in 1996 and scored 1 goal against

Rangers FC Rangers Football Club is a Scottish professional football club based in the Govan district of Glasgow which plays in the Scottish Premiership. Although not its official name, it is often referred to as Glasgow Rangers outside Scotland. The fou ...

. Berger joined

FC Basel Fussball Club Basel 1893, widely known as FC Basel, FCB, or just Basel, is a Swiss football club based in Basel, in the Canton of Basel-Stadt. Formed in 1893, the club has been Swiss national champions 20 times, Swiss Cup winners 13 times, and ...

's first team for their 1997–98 season under head coach

Jörg Berger Jörg Berger (13 October 1944 – 23 June 2010) was a German football manager and player, who last managed Arminia Bielefeld. Career As an active he played for 1.FC Lok Leipzig. Coaching career In 1970, Berger was forced to retire due t ...

. He played his domestic league debut for his new club in the home game in the St. Jakob Stadium on 8 November 1997 as Basel won 4–1 against

Kriens Kriens is a city and a municipality in the district of Lucerne in the canton of Lucerne in Switzerland. The municipality lies at the foot of the mountain Pilatus, and is a western suburb of Lucerne. History In the oldest documents of the Bened ...

. He scored his first goal for the club on 1 March 1998 an away game as Basel beat

Solothurn Solothurn ( , ; french: Soleure ; it, Soletta ; rm, ) is a List of towns in Switzerland, town, a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality, and the Capital (political), capital of the canton of Solothurn in Switzerland. It is located in the n ...

. In fact he scored two goals as Basel won 3–2. He spent just one season with the club and during this time Berger played a total of 21 games for Basel scoring just those two goals. 14 of these games were in the Nationalliga A, two in the

Swiss Cup The Swiss Cup (; ; ; ) is a football cup tournament that has been organised annually since 1925–26 by the Swiss Football Association. Since 1999 the winner earns the chance to qualify for the UEFA Europa League or the UEFA Europa Conference L ...

and five were friendly games. In the summer of 1998 Berger signed for

FC Aarau FC Aarau is a Swiss football club based in Aarau. They play in the Swiss Challenge League, the second tier of Swiss football after being relegated from Swiss Super League. History FC Aarau was formed on 26 May 1902 by workers from a local ...

. Short spells at

AC Bellinzona AC Bellinzona is a Swiss football club based in Bellinzona. It was founded in 1904, and won the Swiss Super League in 1948. After being folded in 2013 declaring bankruptcy, the team played the Ticino Group of 2.Liga, the sixth tier of the Swi ...

and

FC Baden FC Baden is a Swiss football club based in Baden, Canton Aargau, which is a short distance from Zürich. It was founded in 1897. FC Baden has a total of 22 different teams at age levels, including five women's teams. They play in the Swiss Promo ...

then followed before he moved to

, where he spent three years. In the summer of 2003, he joined Czech club 1. FK Příbram on a free transfer. He played just two games in the

Gambrinus liga The Czech First League, known as the Fortuna liga for sponsorship reasons, is a Czech professional league for football clubs. At the top of the Czech football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. Seasons typically ru ...

before moving back to Switzerland to play for

FC Sion Football Club de Sion, commonly known as simply FC Sion or Sion, is a Swiss football team from the city of Sion. The club was founded in 1909, and play their home matches at the Stade Tourbillon. They have won the Swiss Super League twice, and ...

. His move to Sion did not turn out so good either as he 18 reserve matches compared to his 15 first-team matches and was loaned out to

Lausanne Sports FC Lausanne–Sport (also referred to as LS) is a Swiss football club based in Lausanne in the canton of Vaud. Founded in 1896, Lausanne Sport played in the Swiss Super League in their most recent 2021-22 season, the highest tier of football i ...

in 2005. He then played in the Swiss 1. Liga and 2. Liga with

FC Bulle FC Bulle is a Swiss football club, based in Bulle. Their home ground is the Stade de Bouleyres. History Founded in 1910, they last played in the Swiss top tier in 1992–93. That was ten years after their previous spell at the highest level. ...

and

CS Chênois Club Sportif Chênois is a Swiss association football club, playing in the Swiss 2. Liga Interregional. It plays in the municipality of Thônex. History Formed in 1907 as FC Thônex, the club adopted its current name in 1924. The club compete ...

, for a short while, before returning to 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 ...

with

FK Fotbal Třinec FK or fk may refer to: In arts and entertainment: * Flyer Killer, fictional automated robots in the ''Terminator'' film franchise. * Fox Kids, a former American children's television programming block. * Funky Kong, a video game character. Place: ...

in 2007. He achieved some good form while playing in the

Czech 2. Liga The Czech National Football League ( cs, Fotbalová národní liga, ''FNL''), currently known as Fortuna národní liga due to sponsorship reasons, is the second level professional association football league in the Czech Republic. Before 2013 it ...

in the 2007/08 season, and in July 2008, he signed for 1. FC Slovácko. He later headed to India, where he played for two

giants Kingfisher East Bengal F.C. and Dempo S.C. before returning to Switzerland. In 2009, he signed with Swiss side

FC Gossau FC Gossau is a Swiss football club from the city of Gossau in the canton of St. Gallen. It currently plays in the Challenge League, the second-highest level of Swiss football. History After its foundation in 1906, FC Gossau spent the first 65 ...

and in 2011, he moved to FC Stans. Then he retired on 1 December 2011. He returned in football fields after his retirement and signed with another Swiss 2. Liga Inter outfit FC Amriswil.

International career

Jan has represented

Czech Republic national under-21 football team The Czech Republic national under-21 football team is the national under-21 association football team of the Czech Republic and is controlled by the Football Association of the Czech Republic. The team competes in the UEFA European Under-21 Champ ...

on one occasion in 1997.

Personal life

He is the son of former Czechoslovak international footballer Jan Berger Sr. and is the brother of footballer

Tomáš Tomáš () is a Czech and Slovak given name, equivalent to the name Thomas. It may refer to: * Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk (1850–1937), first President of Czechoslovakia * Tomáš Baťa (1876–1932), Czech footwear entrepreneur * Tomáš Berdych ( ...

, the Czech Republic international midfielder

Patrik Berger Patrik Berger (; born 10 November 1973) is a Czech former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. He started his career in his own country with Slavia Prague and spent a season in Germany playing for Borussia Dortmund. He moved to ...

is his cousin. Berger has a relationship with the Dutch royaltyreporter Sandra Schuurhof, She works for the Dutch TV-station RTL 4.

Honours

East Bengal *

Federation Cup Federation Cup or Fed Cup is the former name of the premier world team competition in women's tennis. Federation Cup may also refer to: * Capital Football Federation Cup, an Australian territory-based association football tournament *Federation Cup ...

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Berger, Jan 1976 births Living people Czech men's footballers Czech Republic men's under-21 international footballers Czech expatriate sportspeople in India Czech expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland Czech expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Switzerland Men's association football midfielders Swiss Super League players Czech First League players Grasshopper Club Zürich players FC Basel players FC Aarau players AC Bellinzona players FC Baden players FC St. Gallen players FK Příbram players FC Sion players CS Chênois players Footballers from Prague