Pavel Vrba (born 6 December 1963) 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, ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

manager and former player. He is known for applying an offensive football philosophy in the teams he coaches. As a player, Vrba played for several clubs including Baník Ostrava. As a coach, he led several Czech and Slovak clubs, including a

Czech First League 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 r ...

record of five seasons in charge of

FC Viktoria Plzeň Football Club Viktoria Plzeň () is a Czech professional football club based in Plzeň. They play in the Czech First League, the top division of football in the country. As runners-up in the 1970–71 Czechoslovak Cup, the club gained the right ...

, whom he led to two league titles, one cup title, and three consecutive seasons of participation in the

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. It ...

knockout stage – a record for any Czech club.

Managerial career

Early career

Having been assistant to manager Erich Cviertna, Vrba took charge of

FC Baník Ostrava FC Baník Ostrava is a football club from the Silesian part of the city of Ostrava, Czech Republic. Founded in 1922 as ''SK Slezská Ostrava'', Baník has won numerous national and international trophies. History Formation and history to 1 ...

for a short time towards the end of the

2002–03 Czech First League The 2002–03 Czech First League, known as the Gambrinus liga for sponsorship reasons, was the tenth season of top-tier football in the Czech Republic. Stadia and locations League table Results Top goalscorers See also * 2002–03 Czech ...

after Cviertna's departure. His first match in charge resulted in a 7–0 loss for Ostrava away to

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 th ...

. He won the Slovak Superleague with

MŠK Žilina MŠK Žilina () is a Slovak football club based in the town of Žilina, that is playing in the Slovak Superliga. Since the league inception in 1993, the club has won 7 titles and comes second in All-time table that makes them one of the most s ...

in the 2006–07 season and led the team to second place the following season.

Viktoria Plzeň

In 2010, he led Viktoria Plzeň to the victory in the

Czech Cup The Czech Cup ( cs, Pohár FAČR), officially known as the MOL Cup for sponsorship reasons, is the major men's football cup competition in the Czech Republic. It is organised by the Czech Football Association. The Czech Cup was first held in 19 ...

for the first time in the club history. He was voted the Czech Coach of the Year for 2010. In the 2010–11 season of the

, he won the league with Viktoria Plzeň for the first time in the club history. Vrba was awarded the title "Czech Coach of the Year" for 2012, symbolising the third consecutive year he had won the award. He led Plzeň to a second league title in 2013. In October 2013 Vrba led Plzen for a 152nd consecutive top-flight match, setting a league record. Despite having a contract with Plzeň until June 2015, the

Czech Football Association The Football Association of the Czech Republic ( cs, Fotbalová asociace České republiky; FAČR) or colloquially the ''Czech Football Association'' is the governing body of association football in the Czech Republic based in Prague. It organiz ...

activated a buy-out clause, paying his club 8 million

Czech koruna The koruna, or crown, (sign: Kč; code: CZK, cs, koruna česká) has been the currency of the Czech Republic since 1993. The koruna is one of the European Union's 9 currencies, and the Czech Republic is legally bound to adopt the euro currenc ...

and he was announced as the new manager of the

Czech Republic national football team The Czech Republic national football team ( cs, Česká fotbalová reprezentace), recognised by FIFA as Czechia, represents the Czech Republic in international football. The team is controlled by the Football Association of the Czech Republic ...

in November 2013. His last game in charge of the club was the

2013–14 UEFA Champions League The 2013–14 UEFA Champions League was the 59th season of Europe's premier club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 22nd season since it was renamed from the European Champion Clubs' Cup to the UEFA Champions League. The final was ...

group stage tie against

CSKA Moscow CSKA Moscow (russian: ЦСКА Москва) is a Russian sports club based in Moscow. It was created in 1911 in the Russian Empire on base of OLLS (Skiing Society, founded 1901). Later, during the Soviet Union, Soviet era, it was a central piece ...

which Plzeň won 2–1 with a last-minute goal from

Tomáš Wágner Tomáš Wágner (born 6 March 1990) is a Czech professional footballer who plays as a forward for Příbram. He was the top-goalscorer of the Czech National Football League in the 2022–23 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a l ...

, thus earning them a place in the

Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. It ...

knockout stage. At the end of the match, the fans unfurled a banner reading "always remember that it wasn't wasted time".

Ludogorets Razgrad

On 16 December 2019, Vrba became manager of Bulgarian Ludogorets Razgrad.

Sparta Prague

On 3 February 2021, Vrba became manager of

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 ...

Trinity Zlín

On 28 November 2022, Vrba became manager of Trinity Zlín.

Honours

Managerial

Žilina *

Slovak Super Liga The Slovak Super Liga is the top level football league in Slovakia, currently known as the Fortuna Liga due to a sponsorship arrangement. It was formed in 1993 following the dissolution of Czechoslovakia. The record for most titles is eleven, he ...

: 2006–07 *

Slovak Super Cup The Slovak Super Cup (''Slovenský Superpohár'' in Slovak), in the past named as ''Matičný pohár'' or ''Pribinov pohár'', was a football match between the champion of the Corgoň Liga and winner of the Slovak Cup. The cup was played annually ...

: 2007 Viktoria Plzeň *

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

, 2017–18 *

: 2009–10 *

Czech Supercup The Czech Supercup () was an annual football match between the winners of the Czech First League and the Czech Cup, organised by the Czech Football Association. It was last sponsored by Synot Tip and was therefore officially known as the Synot Tip ...

: 2011 Ludogorets Razgrad *

First Professional Football League (Bulgaria) The First Professional Football League ( bg, Първа професионална футболна лига, Parva Profesionalna Futbolna Liga), also known as the Bulgarian First League or Parva Liga, currently known as the efbet League for spon ...

: 2019–20

Individual

* Czech Coach of the Year (8): 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2018

Managerial statistics

References

External links

Profile at Viktoria Plzeň website

Profile at www.Fotbal24.cz website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Vrba, Pavel 1963 births Living people Czech footballers Czechoslovak footballers FK Hvězda Cheb players FC Baník Ostrava players Czech football managers Czech Republic national football team managers Czech First League managers MŠK Žilina managers Slovak Super Liga managers FC Baník Ostrava managers FC Viktoria Plzeň managers MŠK Púchov managers Expatriate football managers in Slovakia UEFA Euro 2016 managers FC Anzhi Makhachkala managers Expatriate football managers in Russia Czech expatriates in Slovakia Czech expatriates in Russia Russian Premier League managers Association football midfielders PFC Ludogorets Razgrad managers Expatriate football managers in Bulgaria Czech expatriates in Bulgaria Czech expatriate football managers AC Sparta Prague managers Sportspeople from Přerov 1. SK Prostějov players FC Fastav Zlín managers