Jan Kuchta (born 8 January 1997) is a Czech professional

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 plays as a

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for Czech club Sparta Prague and the Czech Republic national team.

Club career

Slavia Prague

Kuchta made his Czech First League debut for Slavia Prague on 8 November 2015 in a game against

Bohemians Bohemian or Bohemians may refer to: *Anything of or relating to Bohemia Beer * National Bohemian, a brand brewed by Pabst * Bohemian, a brand of beer brewed by Molson Coors Culture and arts * Bohemianism, an unconventional lifestyle, origin ...

. In January 2019, he joined

Teplice Teplice () (until 1948 Teplice-Šanov; german: Teplitz-Schönau or ''Teplitz'') is a city in the Ústí nad Labem Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 49,000 inhabitants. It is the second largest Czech spa town, after Karlovy Vary. The his ...

on loan until June 2020. In February 2020, Kuchta signed for

Slovan Liberec FC Slovan Liberec (), commonly referred to as Slovan Liberec or simply Slovan, is a Czech football club based in the city of Liberec. The club is one of the most successful in the Czech Republic, having won three league titles and the domesti ...

on a permanent deal, following a loan move at the club. In July 2020, Kuchta re-signed for Slavia Prague. Kuchta finished the

2020–21 Czech First League The 2020–21 Czech First League, known as the Fortuna liga for sponsorship reasons, was the 28th season of the Czech Republic's top-tier football for professional clubs since its establishment in 1993. Slavia Prague have won their twenty-first ...

as joint top scorer, alongside Adam Hložek with 15 goals. In the final match of the season on 29 May 2021, Kuchta scored his side's winning goal against

Dynamo České Budějovice "Dynamo Electric Machine" (end view, partly section, ) A dynamo is an electrical generator that creates direct current using a commutator. Dynamos were the first electrical generators capable of delivering power for industry, and the foundat ...

which confirmed an undefeated league season for Slavia, the first time a Czech club reached this milestone since rivals Sparta Prague did so in 2009–10.

Lokomotiv Moscow

On 12 January 2022, Kuchta signed a contract with Russian Premier League club Lokomotiv Moscow until 2026. He made his league debut for Lokomotiv on 6 March 2022 against

FC Khimki FC Khimki (russian: ФК Химки) is a Russian professional football club based in Khimki. The club returned to the Russian Premier League in the 2020–21 season. History The team was formed in 1996 by merging two amateur clubs from Khimki, ...

and scored the winning goal in a 3–2 victory. However, he never served a disqualification that he received for getting sent off in his last game for Slavia, and, according to FIFA regulations, was not eligible to play, FC Khimki filed a protest. The protest was denied on 10 March 2022, according to

Russian Football Union The Russian Football Union (russian: Российский Футбольный Союз, ''Rossiyskiy Futbolnyy Soyuz'' or RFS) is the official governing body of association football in the Russian Federation. With headquarters in Moscow, it org ...

, Kuchta should have been disqualified for the Russian Cup game Lokomotiv played against Yenisey Krasnoyarsk on 3 March and lost 4–0, as Czech regulations extend disqualifications to Cup games, even though Russian regulations do not, so he was technically disqualified for "one league or Cup game" as opposed to "one league game". Lokomotiv did not provide the document detailing the disqualification to the league, the club claimed they did not receive it during the transfer, and he was allowed by the RFU to play in the Cup game. His disqualification is considered served after that game, even though he actually played in it, as per FIFA regulations. Khimki considered lodging an appeal.

Sparta Prague

In June 2022, Kuchta joined Sparta Prague on a one-year long loan with an option for a permanent transfer. In his first match for Sparta Prague in the Czech First League (2–1 home loss against

) he stepped on Liberec goalkeeper Olivier Vliegen's head and received a yellow card, which the referee changed to a red card after he saw video footage. Kuchta was banned for five league matches by LFA Disciplinary Commission. The club with Kuchta appealed against his ban, but the appeal was rejected by Appeals Committee on 11 August 2022. Kuchta helped the club to win its first championship title since 2014. In June 2023, Sparta exercised the option to buy in the loan contract, signing a multi-year contract with Kuchta.

International career

Kuchta made his debut for the Czech Republic national team on 8 October 2021 in a 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifier against

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

. On 19 November 2023, Kuchta with

Vladimír Coufal Vladimír Coufal (; born 22 August 1992) is a Czech professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Defender (association football), defender for Premier League club West Ham United F.C., West Ham United and the Czech Republic nation ...

and Jakub Brabec have been kicked out of the Czech Republic's national team camp after they allegedly went out clubbing two days before the Euro 2024 qualifier match against

Moldova Moldova ( , ; ), officially the Republic of Moldova ( ro, Republica Moldova), is a Landlocked country, landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Romania to the west and Ukraine to the north, east, and south. The List of states ...

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list Czech Republic's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Kuchta goal.''

Honours

Slavia Prague * Czech First League:

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

* Czech Cup:

Sparta Prague * Czech First League:

2022–23 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

Individual * Czech First League Player of the Month:

January 2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October 2021 coup in Sudan; Crowd shortly after ...

* Czech First League Top goalscorer:

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kuchta, Jan 1997 births Living people Sportspeople from Liberec Footballers from the Liberec Region Czech men's footballers Men's association football forwards Czech Republic men's international footballers Czech Republic men's under-21 international footballers Czech Republic men's youth international footballers Czech First League players Czech National Football League players Russian Premier League players SK Slavia Prague players Bohemians 1905 players FK Viktoria Žižkov players 1. FC Slovácko players FK Teplice players FC Slovan Liberec players FC Lokomotiv Moscow players AC Sparta Prague players Czech expatriate men's footballers Czech expatriate sportspeople in Russia Expatriate men's footballers in Russia