Vendula Strnadová (born 20 November 1989) is a Czech former

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 played as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

and made six appearances for the Czech Republic women's national team.

Career

Youth and college

Strnadová attended

Las Cruces High School Las Cruces High School is a public high school in Las Cruces, New Mexico, United States. LCHS opened in 1954 and is the oldest public high school in Las Cruces. As of the 2016–17 school year, it serves 1,661 students from grades 9–12. It is a p ...

from 2003 to 2007, where she played for the Bulldawgs. She was New Mexico's top scorer in high school women's football in 2004, and a two-time first team all-state selection, helping the team to win state championships in 2003 and 2005. She was also selected to the Olympic Development Program national pool, and led her club team to four state cup championships. In college, Strnadová played for the Tigers of the

University of Memphis } The University of Memphis (UofM) is a public university, public research university in Memphis, Tennessee. Founded in 1912, the university has an enrollment of more than 22,000 students. The university maintains the Herff College of Engineering ...

from 2007 to 2010, helping the team to win four consecutive

Conference USA Conference USA (C-USA or CUSA) is an intercollegiate athletic conference whose current member institutions are located within the Southern United States. The conference participates in the NCAA's Division I in all sports. C-USA's offices are l ...

titles. She scored 23 goals and recorded 17 assists in 88 appearances for the team. She holds the school record for the most matches played, and is eleventh all-time in goals and twelfth all-time in assists for the school (she was fifth in both after finishing her last season). She is also tied for eleventh at the school for points (sixth after finishing her last season). She was included in the

NSCAA The United Soccer Coaches (formerly known as the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA)) is an organization of American soccer coaches founded in 1941. It is the largest soccer coaches organization in the world, with more than 30 ...

All-America The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed upon an amateur sports person from the United States who is considered to be one of the best amateurs in their sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an All-Am ...

n third team in 2010, the NSCAA All-Central team in all four years (second team in 2007, first team from 2008 to 2010), the

CoSIDA College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) is an organization that focuses on professional development and support for sports information directors at all levels. It offers awards, scholarships, and grants in support of SIDs and pros ...

Academic All-America team in 2009 (third) and 2010 (second), and the

/Adidas Scholar All-America team in 2009 (second) and 2010 (first). She also won a number of conference awards, including the Conference USA Freshman of the Year in 2007, Offensive Player of the Year in 2008 and Scholar Athlete of the Year in 2011, and was included in the All-Conference team in all four years and the Academic All-Conference first team from 2008 to 2010.

Club

After finishing her college career with the Tigers, Strnadová signed as a

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

with Atlanta Beat of Women's Professional Soccer for the 2011 season. She made her professional debut for Atlanta in the opening match of the season on 9 April 2011, coming on as an 81st-minute substitute for

India Trotter India Ashlei Trotter (born March 10, 1985) is an American former professional soccer player. She played for Saint Louis Athletica, Sky Blue FC, and the Atlanta Beat of Women's Professional Soccer (WPS) and the United States women's national so ...

in the 4–1 home loss against the Boston Breakers. She made one more appearance for the Beat the following month, before being released by the team. She subsequently signed with Orange County Waves of the Women's Premier Soccer League. The following year, Strnadová joined Icelandic club Afturelding of the Úrvalsdeild kvenna. She made 18 league appearances for the team, scoring 2 goals, while also making two appearances in the

Icelandic Women's Football Cup The Icelandic Women's Football Cup ( is, Bikarkeppni kvenna í knattspyrnu) is the national women's football cup competition in Iceland. The first edition of the cup was played out in 1981. List of finals The list of finals: By team See al ...

. In 2013, she was invited to train with

FC Kansas City FC Kansas City was an American professional women's soccer club based in Kansas City, Missouri. The team was one of the eight founding clubs of the National Women's Soccer League in 2012, and began play in 2013. They were two-time NWSL champions ...

of the

NWSL The National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) is a professional women's soccer league at the top of the United States league system. It is owned by the teams and, until 2020, was under a management contract with the United States Soccer Federatio ...

after open tryouts, and was a reserve player for the team. However, she did not appear in the NWSL. From 2014 to 2019, Strnadová played for Czech club Slovácko in the

Czech Women's First League The Czech Women's First League () is the top level women's football league of the Czech Republic. The league is dominated by teams of Prague. Slavia Prague won the last championships, Sparta Prague was runner-up. The winning team, runners-up and t ...

, before retiring from football.

National team

Strnadová played for the Czech Republic under-19 team from 2006 to 2008, including qualification matches for the UEFA Women's Under-19 Championship. She made fifteen appearances and scored two goals for the under-19 team. She made her senior international debut for the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

on 29 May 2009 in a

friendly Friendly may refer to: Places * Friendly, West Yorkshire, a settlement in Calderdale, West Yorkshire, England * Friendly, Maryland, an unincorporated community in the United States * Friendly, Eugene, Oregon, a neighborhood in the United States * ...

match against

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

, coming on as a substitute in the 53rd minute for Pavlína Nepokojová. The home match finished as a 2–1 win for the Czech Republic. In total, she made six appearances for the Czech Republic, earning her final cap on 8 March 2017 in the

2017 Cyprus Women's Cup The 2017 Cyprus Women's Cup was the tenth edition of the Cyprus Women's Cup, an invitational women's football tournament held annually in Cyprus. Format The tournament consisted of a group stage, held over three match days followed by a single d ...

match against

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

, which finished as a 6–2 loss.

Personal life

Strnadová was born in

Liberec Liberec (; german: Reichenberg ) is a city in the Czech Republic. It has about 103,000 inhabitants and it is the fifth-largest city in the country. It lies on the Lusatian Neisse, in a basin surrounded by mountains. The city centre is well preser ...

to Jana and Ivan Strnadová. However, she grew up in Las Cruces, New Mexico after moving with her family to the United States at the age of 5, as her father got a job at New Mexico State University. She graduated from the

in 2011 with a degree in

exercise physiology Exercise physiology is the physiology of physical exercise. It is one of the allied health professions, and involves the study of the acute responses and chronic adaptations to exercise. Exercise physiologists are the highest qualified exercise ...

. Her sisters also were footballers, with her older sibling Veronika playing for the New Mexico Lobos and was capped for the Czech Republic national team, while the younger sister Alena, a Czech youth international, also played at Memphis, including alongside Vendula during the 2010 season.

Career statistics

International

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Strnadova, Vendula 1989 births Living people Sportspeople from Liberec Footballers from the Liberec Region Sportspeople from Las Cruces, New Mexico Soccer players from New Mexico Czech women's footballers Czech Republic women's international footballers American women's soccer players Women's association football midfielders Memphis Tigers women's soccer players Atlanta Beat (WPS) players Orange County Waves players Afturelding women's football players FC Kansas City players 1. FC Slovácko (women) players Women's Professional Soccer players Women's Premier Soccer League players Besta deild kvenna players Czech Women's First League players Czech expatriate women's footballers American expatriate women's soccer players Czech expatriate sportspeople in Iceland American expatriate sportspeople in Iceland Expatriate women's footballers in Iceland