Zdeněk “Bobby” Zlámal (born 5 November 1985) 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 le ...

who played as a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

. He has previously played for Spartak Hulín, Hanácká Slavia Kroměříž,

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 ...

, Tescoma Zlín,

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 domesti ...

Udinese Udinese Calcio, commonly referred to as Udinese, is a professional Italian football club based in Udine, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, that currently plays in Serie A. It was founded on 30 November 1896 as a sports club, and on 5 July 1911 as a fo ...

Cádiz CF Cádiz Club de Fútbol, S.A.D., known simply as Cádiz, is a Spanish professional football club based in Cádiz, Andalusia. Founded in 1910, the club competes in the La Liga, holding home games at Nuevo Mirandilla, with a seating capacity of 20 ...

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 ...

Bari Bari ( , ; nap, label= Barese, Bare ; lat, Barium) is the capital city of the Metropolitan City of Bari and of the Apulia region, on the Adriatic Sea, southern Italy. It is the second most important economic centre of mainland Southern Italy a ...

Sigma Olomouc SK Sigma Olomouc is a Czech football club from the city of Olomouc. The club currently plays in the Czech First League, the first tier of Czech football. The club played in the first tier league for 30 years between 1984 and 2014, winning the Czec ...

Bohemians Bohemian or Bohemians may refer to: *Anything of or relating to Bohemia Beer * National Bohemian, a brand brewed by Pabst * Bohemian, a brand of beer brewed by Molson Coors Culture and arts * Bohemianism, an unconventional lifestyle, origin ...

Alanyaspor Alanyaspor Kulübü is a Turkish professional football club located in the city of Alanya in Antalya Province. Formed in 1948, the club colours are orange and green. Home matches are played at Kırbıyık Holding Stadium. The most recent club man ...

, Fastav Zlín, Heart of Midlothian, St Mirren and

St Johnstone St Johnstone Football Club is a professional association football club in Perth, Scotland which is a member of the Scottish Premiership for the 2022–23 season. The club's name is derived from St John's Toun ''aka'' Saint Johnstoun – an old ...

. Zlámal is a

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 ...

international, having been capped once in 2009.

Club career

Early career

Zlámal began his career with Spartak Hulín at the age of 5. He first started as a goalkeeper for Spartak Hulín when he was 16, he debuted on 14 July 2002 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 ...

game against FC Morkovice. In the 82nd minute he remained unconscious after a collision with an opponent, and was sent to the local hospital. For the 2004–05 season, Zlámal moved to the Czech second division, to play for Hanácká Slavia Kroměříž, where he was immediately a starting player. After 36 starts in the Czech second division Zlámal signed with a team from

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 ...

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 ...

. Despite his signing of the contract with

, Zlámal agreed on a contract with Czech champion

. The young

had to pay a fine for breaking his contract, but in January 2006 Zlámal was finally in Prague ready to play for Sparta. Unfortunately, number one goalkeeper at Sparta Prague was experienced

Jaromír Blažek Jaromír Blažek (; born 29 December 1972) is a Czech former professional football goalkeeper. Club career Born in Brno, Blažek started his career in Slavia Prague, where he got to play his first league games. After two years during which he ...

that time. Zlámal played just a couple of matches for the reserve team. For the 2006–07 season, Zlámal was sent to

FC Tescoma Zlín FC may refer to: Businesses, organisations, and schools * Fergusson College, a science and arts college in Pune, India * Finncomm Airlines (IATA code) * FranklinCovey company, NYSE stock symbol FC * Frontier Corps, a paramilitary force in Pakist ...

. The clubs agreed on a loan lasting one year. There Zlámal regularly started as the goalkeeper. In the summer of 2007, after the transfer of Blažek to

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footba ...

team 1. FC Nürnberg, Zlámal was sent back to Sparta Prague, although in August, just one month later, he was sold on to Slovan Liberec.

Udinese and loans

In August 2009, Zlámal signed a five-year contract with Italian club side

Udinese Calcio Udinese Calcio, commonly referred to as Udinese, is a professional Football in Italy, Italian association football, football club based in Udine, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, that currently plays in Serie A. It was founded on 30 November 1896 as a ...

. Zlámal was sent on a loan to

Cádiz Cádiz (, , ) is a city and port in southwestern Spain. It is the capital of the Province of Cádiz, one of eight that make up the autonomous community of Andalusia. Cádiz, one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in Western Europe, ...

immediately after his transfer to Italy. In September 2010, Zlámal moved on loan to

until the end of the 2010–11 season. In July 2011, Zlámal returned to Italy after two years out on loan, reportedly for a domestic loan to

Bari

On 13 July 2011, he was called-up to Bari's pre-season camp and on 15 July Udinese confirmed Zlámal moved to Bari in co-ownership deal, which

Fernando Forestieri Fernando Martin Forestieri (born 15 January 1990) is a professional footballer who plays as a second striker for Malaysia Super League club Johor Darul Ta'zim. Born in Argentina, he is a former Italy youth international. Club career Born in Rosa ...

also moved from the northern side to the south.

Heart of Midlothian

Zlámal signed a three-year contract with

Scottish Premiership The Scottish Premiership, known as the cinch Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is the top division of the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL), the league competition for men's professional football clubs in Scotland. The Scottish ...

club Heart of Midlothian in May 2018. On 12 September 2020, Zlámal signed for Scottish Premiership club St. Mirren on a seven-day emergency loan. He played in three matches during that week, as cover for two goalkeepers who had tested positive for

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. In May 2021, Zlámal signed for

on an emergency loan, and was an unused substitute in the Scottish Cup semi-final on 8 May. Despite not being selected to start or sit on the bench for the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...

, Zlámal was part of the squad when the ''Saints'' won the Scottish Cup. Zlámal was released from Hearts in May 2021 upon the expiry of his contract. In September 2021, Zlámal announced his retirement from football in an Instagram post.

International career

Zlámal was a member of the Czech Republic U-21 team between 2006 and 2007. He was also part of the squad during the

2007 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship The UEFA European Under-21 Championship 2007 were held from 10 June 2007 to 23 June 2007. It was the 16th staging of UEFA's European Under-21 Championship. Summary For the first time, a host nation was chosen ahead of the competition – the Nethe ...

. Zlámal was nominated by the former Czech Republic national team coach

František Straka František "Franz" Straka (born 28 May 1958) is a Czech former football player and manager of Fotbal Třinec. Biography Playing career Straka played most notably for Sparta Prague. In 1988, he moved to Germany and spent the rest of his playin ...

for the international friendly match against

Malta Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...

in May 2009.

Honours

SK Sigma Olomouc SK Sigma Olomouc is a Czech football club from the city of Olomouc. The club currently plays in the Czech First League, the first tier of Czech football. The club played in the first tier league for 30 years between 1984 and 2014, winning the Czec ...

: 2011–12 *

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 ...

: 2012 St Johnstone *

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

References

External links

* * *
Profile on Sparta.cz

Zdeněk Zlámal profile at cadistas1910.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zlamal, Zdenek 1985 births Living people Sportspeople from Přerov Czech footballers Association football goalkeepers Czech Republic international footballers Czech Republic under-21 international footballers Czech First League players Segunda División players Süper Lig players Scottish Professional Football League players FC Trinity Zlín players FC Slovan Liberec players SK Slavia Prague players SK Sigma Olomouc players Udinese Calcio players S.S.C. Bari players Cádiz CF players Bohemians 1905 players Alanyaspor footballers Heart of Midlothian F.C. players St Mirren F.C. players St Johnstone F.C. players Czech expatriate footballers Czech expatriate sportspeople in Italy Expatriate footballers in Italy Czech expatriate sportspeople in Spain Expatriate footballers in Spain Czech expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Expatriate footballers in Turkey Czech expatriate sportspeople in Scotland Expatriate footballers in Scotland