Jiří Bílek (born 4 November 1983) is a Czech former 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 ...

who played as a centre-back.

Playing career

Born in

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and List of cities in the Czech Republic, largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 milli ...

, Bílek began his career at FK Neratovice–Byškovice before being scouted from

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 ...

in 2003. He played in Blšany three years before being transferred to

FC 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 domestic ...

in 2006. On 7 January 2009, he signed a -year contract with

1. FC Kaiserslautern 1. Fußball-Club Kaiserslautern e. V., also known as 1. FCK, FCK (), FC Kaiserslautern () or colloquially Lautern (), is a German sports club based in Kaiserslautern, Rhineland-Palatinate. In addition to football, the club also operates in sev ...

. He was suspended for unprofessional behaviour on 30 January 2009. He had trials with

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...

side

Ipswich Town Ipswich Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Ipswich, Suffolk, England. They play in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The club was founded in 1878 but did not turn profession ...

, and will also spend time with

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. Sin ...

. In January 2012, he transferred to

Zagłębie Lubin Zagłębie Lubin S.A. () is a Polish professional football club based in Lubin. Founded in 1945 as ''OMTUR Lubin'', the club competes in the Ekstraklasa. History The football team was founded in 1945 as OMTUR Lubin by local members of the ' ...

. After two years in Poland he signed for

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

in July 2014. Despite having played as a defensive midfielder for most of his career, he moved into the centre back position in Slavia. Bílek was handed the captain’s armband when he arrived in Prague after a season of relegation struggle for Slavia, they stayed in the first division only by a point. In his first season in Slavia he helped the team to secure 11th place in the league scoring three goals. After Slavia’s takeover in september 2015 he remained club captain and started the new era under the Chinese ownership with a 5th place finish in the league. In 2016/17 his playing time started to decline as Slavia started to bring in new players, but Bílek still managed to play 17 games and as the captain he lifted the Czech league trophy after what was an incredible season for Slavia, who weren’t favorites to win the league before the start of the season. Bílek was still part of the squad for next season, but he only started in cup games and decided to hang up his boots after the first half of 2017/18 season.

Managerial career

He stayed in Slavia Prague after the end of his player career as an assistant to sports director Jan Nezmar. He learnt alongside the experienced manager and replaced him when he left the club in the summer of 2020. As sports director of Slavia Bílek managed to bring in players such as

Abdallah Sima Abdallah Dipo Sima (born 17 June 2001) is a Senegalese professional footballer who plays as a forward for Ligue 1 club Angers, on loan from Premier League club Brighton & Hove Albion, and the Senegal national team. Club career Early career Si ...

, Alexander Bah, Michael Krmenčík and many more to the red and white shirt. He also negotiated profitable sales of David Zima and

in the summer of 2021.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bilek, Jiri Living people 1983 births Association football defenders Czech footballers Czech Republic youth international footballers Czech Republic under-21 international footballers FK Chmel Blšany players FC Slovan Liberec players 1. FC Kaiserslautern players SK Slavia Prague players Czech First League players Bundesliga players 2. Bundesliga players Czech expatriate footballers Czech expatriate sportspeople in Germany Expatriate footballers in Germany Czech expatriate sportspeople in Poland Expatriate footballers in Poland Footballers from Prague