Jiří Sobotka (also known as Georges Sobotka; 6 June 1911 – 20 May 1994) was a Czech football player and manager. He played internationally for

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

Career

Sobotka played for

Czechoslovakia national football team The Czechoslovakia national football team ( cs, Československá fotbalová reprezentace, sk, Česko-slovenské národné futbalové mužstvo) was the national football team of Czechoslovakia from 1920 to 1993. The team was controlled by the Cze ...

(23 caps, 8 goals) and participated at the

1934 FIFA World Cup The 1934 FIFA World Cup was the second edition of the FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football championship for senior men's national teams. It took place in Italy from 27 May to 10 June 1934. The 1934 World Cup was the first in w ...

when Czechoslovakia came in second. He played for

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 ...

, Hajduk Split (winning the Banovina of Croatia first league) and

FC La Chaux-de-Fonds FC La Chaux-de-Fonds is a Swiss football club based in La Chaux-de-Fonds. It was founded in 1894 and used to play at the Stade Charrière. History F.C. La Chaux-de-Fonds was founded on July 4, 1894, and won the Swiss first division in the ...

. During his period in Split, he played 36 league matches scoring 17 goals in the 1939-40 and 1940-41 seasons. Before arriving to Yugoslavia, he had been a player-coach in Switzerland with

FC Winterthur FC Winterthur is a Swiss football club based in Winterthur, Canton of Zürich. They play in the Swiss Super League, the first tier of Swiss football, and appeared regularly in the Nationalliga A during the 20th century. Their home is the Stadi ...

. After his playing career, he coached numerous clubs in Switzerland and won 6 Swiss cups. He also coached Charleroi in Belgium

UE Sant Andreu Unió Esportiva Sant Andreu () is a Spanish football team based in the city of Barcelona in the district of Sant Andreu, in the autonomous community of Catalonia. Founded in 1909, it plays in Tercera División RFEF – Group 5, holding home ma ...

in Spain, and Switzerland national team.

Curiosity

A well-documented curiosity was the fact that during the winter break of their 1963–64 season

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, a ...

travelled on a world tour. This saw them visit British Hong Kong,

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...

, Australia,

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

, French Polynesia,

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

and the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

. As first team manager Sobotka was together with 16 players and 15 members of staff, supporters and journalists participated in this world tour from 10 January to 10 February 1964. Team captain Bruno Michaud filmed the events with his super-8 camara. The voyage around the world included 19 flights and numerous bus and train journeys. Club chairman, Lucien Schmidlin, led the group, but as they arrived in the hotel in Bangkok, he realised that 250,000 Swiss Francs were missing. The suitcase that he had filled with the various currencies was not with them. He had left it at home, but fortunately Swiss Air were able to deliver this to him within just a few days. During the tour a total of ten friendly/test games were played, these are listed in their 1963–64 season. Five wins, three draws, two defeats, but also three major injuries resulted from these test matches. A broken leg for Peter Füri, an eye injury for Walter Baumann and a knee injury for Bruno Michaud soon reduced the number of players to just 13.

Honours

As a player

Slavia Prague *

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 forme ...

: 1932–33, 1933–34, 1934–35, 1936–37 Hajduk Split *

Croatian First League The Hrvatska nogometna liga () ( en, Croatian football league), also known as HNL or for sponsorship reasons the SuperSport HNL, is the top Croatian professional football (soccer), football league competition, established in 1992. Previously, i ...

: 1940–41 Czechoslovakia *

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament ha ...

runner-up:

1934 Events January–February * January 1 – The International Telecommunication Union, a specialist agency of the League of Nations, is established. * January 15 – The 8.0 Nepal–Bihar earthquake strikes Nepal and Bihar with a maxi ...

As a manager

Chaux-de-Fonds * Swiss Championship: 1953–54, 1954–55 * Swiss Cup: 1947–48, 1950–51, 1953–54, 1954–55, 1956–57 Feyenoord :

Eredivisie The Eredivisie (; ''"Honour Division"'' or ''"Premier Division"'') is the highest level of professional football in the Netherlands. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start of professional football in the Netherlands. It is c ...

: 1960–61 FC Basel * Swiss Cup: 1962–63

References

External links

Profile at CMFS
*
Career story
at Hajduk Split official website. {{DEFAULTSORT:Sobotka, Jiri 1911 births 1994 deaths Czechoslovak footballers Czechoslovakia men's international footballers Czech footballers SK Slavia Prague players FC Trinity Zlín players HNK Hajduk Split players FC Aarau managers 1934 FIFA World Cup players Czechoslovak football managers Czech football managers FC La Chaux-de-Fonds managers Feyenoord managers FC Basel managers HNK Hajduk Split managers AC Bellinzona managers UE Sant Andreu managers FC Biel-Bienne managers R. Charleroi S.C. managers Czechoslovak expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland Expatriate football managers in Yugoslavia Expatriate footballers in Yugoslavia Yugoslav First League players Czechoslovak expatriate sportspeople in Yugoslavia Czechoslovak expatriate sportspeople in Italy Czechoslovak expatriate sportspeople in Spain Footballers from Prague Eredivisie managers Expatriate football managers in Belgium Expatriate football managers in the Netherlands Expatriate football managers in Spain Expatriate football managers in Switzerland Czechoslovak expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Czechoslovak expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Czechoslovak expatriate footballers Men's association football forwards Czech expatriate football managers People from the Kingdom of Bohemia