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.

Career

Sobotka played for Czechoslovakia national football team (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,

Hajduk Split Hrvatski nogometni klub Hajduk Split, commonly referred to as Hajduk Split () or simply Hajduk, is a Croatian professional football club based in Split, that competes in the Croatian First League, the top tier in Croatian football. Since 1979, t ...

(winning the

Banovina of Croatia The Banovina of Croatia or Banate of Croatia ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Banovina Hrvatska, Бановина Хрватска) was an autonomous province ( banovina) of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia between 1939 and 1941. It was formed by a merg ...

first league) and FC La Chaux-de-Fonds. 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. After his playing career, he coached numerous clubs in Switzerland and won 6 Swiss cups. He also coached

Charleroi Charleroi ( , , ; wa, Tchålerwè ) is a city and a municipality of Wallonia, located in the province of Hainaut, Belgium. By 1 January 2008, the total population of Charleroi was 201,593.

in Belgium UE Sant Andreu in Spain, and

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 ...

national team.

Curiosity

A well-documented curiosity was the fact that during the winter break of their 1963–64 season FC Basel travelled on a world tour. This saw them visit

British Hong Kong Hong Kong was a colony and later a dependent territory of the British Empire from 1841 to 1997, apart from a period of occupation under the Japanese Empire from 1941 to 1945 during the Pacific War. The colonial period began with the Briti ...

, Malaysia, Singapore,

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

, New Zealand,

French Polynesia )Territorial motto: ( en, "Great Tahiti of the Golden Haze") , anthem = , song_type = Regional anthem , song = " Ia Ora 'O Tahiti Nui" , image_map = French Polynesia on the globe (French Polynesia centered).svg , map_alt = Location of Frenc ...

, Mexico and the United States. 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 Walter Baumann (born 21 July 1942) is a Swiss former footballer who played in the 1960s. He played mainly as a forward, but also as a defender. Football career Baumann joined Basel's first team during their 1962–63 season under trainer Jiř ...

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: 1932–33, 1933–34, 1934–35, 1936–37 Hajduk Split * Croatian First League: 1940–41 Czechoslovakia * FIFA World Cup 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 1934 Nepal–Bihar earthquake, Nepal–Bihar earthquake strik ...

As a manager

Chaux-de-Fonds * Swiss Championship: 1953–54, 1954–55 *

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 ...

: 1947–48, 1950–51, 1953–54, 1954–55, 1956–57 Feyenoord : Eredivisie: 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