Zdeněk Ščasný (born 9 August 1957) is a 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. Ščasný has won the Czech league championship five timesthree times as a player and twice as a coachand 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 ...

three timestwice as a player and once as a coach. He is best known for his years with

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 ...

both as a player and a manager. He played as a defender and also in midfield.Ceský a ceskoslovenský fotbal - lexikon osobností a klubu
by Luboš Jeřábek; Grada Publishing; Prague; 2007; ; via

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He has also coached

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

giants

Panathinaikos Panathinaikos Athlitikos Omilos ( el, Παναθηναϊκός Αθλητικός Όμιλος, literally in English: "Panathenaic Athletic Club" or Panathinaikos A.C.), also known simply as Panathinaikós , is a major Greek multi-sport club ba ...

Playing career

Early career, Dukla Prague and first title

Zdenek Ščasný in his youth played for Spartak Roudnice nad Labem. At 17 years old he moved to

Dukla Prague Dukla Prague ( cz, Dukla Praha) was a Czech football club from the city of Prague. Established in 1948 as ATK Praha, the club won a total of 11 Czechoslovak league titles and eight Czechoslovak Cups, and in the 1966–67 season, reached the semi ...

, where he made his

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 formed ...

debut. Ščasný spent four years with Dukla Prague, and won the Czechoslovak First League in 1976-77.

Sparta Prague and more titles

In 1978 Ščasný moved to

, where he remained until 1985. With Sparta, Ščasný won the

Czechoslovak Cup The Czechoslovak Cup () was a football cup competition held in Czechoslovakia. It was officially created in 1960 and folded in 1993 with the split between Czech Republic and Slovakia. The cup was played throughout Czechoslovakia until 1968–69. Fr ...

in 1979–80, a Czechoslovak League and Cup double in 1983-84, and the league again in 1984-85.

Late career

In 1985 Ščasný joined Bohemians, playing there for four and a half seasons. After Bohemians Ščasný played with Agro Slušovice for a short time and then moved to

Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is geo ...

to play for

Anagennisi Dherynia Anagennisi Deryneia ( el, Αναγέννηση Δερύνειας) is Cypriot football team based in Deryneia, Famagusta. The club was founded in 1920 and they joined the Cyprus Football Association in 1972. The team played in the Cypriot First ...

before ending his playing career.

International career

During his career Ščasný earned four caps as a Czechoslovakia national team player, making his debut against

on 27 March 1983. He also made five appearances for the

Czechoslovakia national under-21 football team The Czechoslovakia national under-21 football team was the national football team for the under-21s of Czechoslovakia, before the country split into the Czech Republic and Slovakia (''For information about the national teams of the two countries, ...

in 1979.

Managerial career

Early career

Ščasný began his coaching career by acting as a player-coach at Anagennisi Dherynia, and he later supervised the youth there. Ščasný returned to his homeland in 1993, and, after working with some smaller clubs, he became an assistant coach at Sparta Prague in 1996.

Sparta Prague

In the middle of the 1997–98 season Ščasný took over as Sparta's head coach and led the team to the 1. Liga championship. The following season Ščasný and Sparta repeated as league champions.

FK Viktoria Žižkov

After his second league championship with Sparta, Ščasný took over

Viktoria Žižkov Viktoria usually refers to Viktoria, a name which is the same as Victoria (name), but may also refer to: Places * FK Viktoria Stadion, stadium of Viktoria Žižkov * Viktoria-Luise-Platz, building in Berlin * Viktoriastadt, now known as Victoria ...

in 1999–2000. Ščasný spent three seasons with Žižkov, guiding them to great improvement year after year, as the team finished 9th-place in 1999–2000, 5th-place in 2000–01, and 3rd-placethe club's highest-ever finishin 2001–02. In 2000–01 Ščasný led Žižkov to win the

in 2000–01the club's first title since 1993–94.

Greece: OFI Crete and Panathinaikos

After leaving Žižkov, Ščasný moved to

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

to be the head coach of

OFI Crete OFI may refer to: * Overseas Filipino Investors, Filipino expatriates who contribute to the economy of the Philippines through remittances, buying property, and creating businesses * OFI Crete, a Greek association football club based on the island ...

. Ščasný led OFI to an 8th-place finish in his first season with the club. Scasny had very poor relations with many of the players at OFI and by the time he left the club the situation between him and many of the players was terrible. His work at OFI led Greek giants

to hire him early in the 2004–05 season to replace

Itzhak Shum Itzhak Shum ( he, יצחק שום; born 1 September 1948 in Kishinev, Moldavian SSR) is a retired Israeli football player and manager, and currently the owner of Hapoel Kfar Saba. Playing career He played 78 times and scored 10 goals for Is ...

. Ščasný took over in the middle of Panathinaikos'

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

campaign, and with two impressive draws against

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

, another draw in

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

against Rosenborg and a resounding win over

PSV Eindhoven Philips Sport Vereniging (; en, Philips Sports Association ), abbreviated as PSV and internationally known as PSV Eindhoven (), is a Dutch sports club from Eindhoven, Netherlands. It is best known for its professional football department, whi ...

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

, Ščasný guided the Greek side to finish 3rd in a difficult group, thus moving them to the

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store Solid, solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, porcela ...

. Before Panathinaikos began the UEFA Cup competition later that season though, Ščasný was replaced in favor of

Alberto Malesani Alberto Malesani (; born 5 June 1954) is an Italian football manager and former player. As a manager, he is mostly remembered for his successful spell with Parma during the late 1990s, where he won the Coppa Italia, the UEFA Cup, and the Superc ...

FK SIAD Most

In the middle of the 2005–06 season modest Czech side

FK SIAD Most FK or fk may refer to: In arts and entertainment: * Flyer Killer, fictional automated robots in the ''Terminator'' film franchise. * Fox Kids, a former American children's television programming block. * Funky Kong, a video game character. Place: ...

was in its first-ever season in the Czech top flight, and was in danger of being relegated right back to the second division. Most turned to Ščasný during the winter break, Ščasný helped Most stay in the top flight that season, boosting the team to a surprising 10th-place finish. In the 2006–07 Gambrinus liga Ščasný's Most finished 12th and again remained in the first division. However, Ščasný left Most at the end of the season by mutual consent.

Mladá Boleslav

After leaving Most, Ščasný took over at

Mladá Boleslav Mladá Boleslav (; german: Jungbunzlau) is a city in the Central Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 42,000 inhabitants. Mladá Boleslav is the second most populated city in the region and a major centre of the Czech automotive ind ...

early in the 2007–08 season. Boleslav was competing in the UEFA Cup that season, and in the first round of the competition Ščasný helped Boleslav pull off a stunning elimination of Italian club

Palermo Palermo ( , ; scn, Palermu , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital (political), capital of both the autonomous area, autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan ...

by winning 1–0 in the second leg of the tie in Italy. In the group stage of the competition, Boleslav finished 4th, behind

Villarreal Villarreal ( ca-valencia , Vila-real) is a city and municipality in the province of Castellón which is part of the Valencian Community in the east of Spain. The town is located at 42 m above sea level, 7 km to the south of the province's ...

Fiorentina ACF Fiorentina, commonly referred to as Fiorentina (), is an Italian professional football club based in Florence, Tuscany, Italy. The original team was founded by a merger in August 1926, while the actual club was refounded in August 2002 fo ...

and

AEK Athens A.E.K ( el, AEK , formally Αθλητική Ένωσις Κωνσταντινουπόλεως; Athlitikí Énosis Konstantinoupόleos, ''Athletic Union of Constantinople''), known as A.E.K, is a major Greece, Greek multi-sport club based in Nea ...

. Boleslav parted ways with Ščasný before the end of the season.

Return to FK Viktoria Žižkov

In the middle of the 2008–09 season Žižkov were bottom of the table and likely to be relegated. Žižkov turned to Ščasný for help for the final 16 matches of the season, but it was too late - Ščasný could not save the club and they were relegated to the second division.

Debreceni VSC

On 30 December 2010 Ščasný signed a two-year contract with Hungarian champions,

Debreceni VSC Debreceni Vasutas Sport Club is a professional football club, based in Debrecen, Hungary, that competes in the Nemzeti Bajnokság I, the first tier of Hungarian football. They are best known internationally for reaching the group stages of the ...

. On 16 April 2011, he left the Hungarian club, after he failed to deliver sufficient wins.

Return to Czech football

In October 2012 Ščasný returned to Czech football after a three-year absence, taking over at

FK Teplice FK Teplice is a Czech football club based in the city of Teplice. The club currently plays in the Czech First League. The club was founded after World War II in 1945. The club advanced to the Czechoslovak First League in just three years after ...

Personal life

Zdenek's son

Michal Michal (; he, מיכל , gr, Μιχάλ) was, according to the first Book of Samuel, a princess of the United Kingdom of Israel; the younger daughter of King Saul, she was the first wife of David (), who later became king, first of Judah, ...

and daughter Pavlína are both professional footballers.

Managerial statistics

Honours

As player

Dukla Prague *

: 1976–77 Sparta Prague *

: 1983–84, 1984–85 *

: 1979–80, 1983–84

As manager

Sparta Prague * 1. Liga: 1997–98, 1998–99, runner-up 2014-15, runner-up 2015–16 Viktoria Žižkov *

: 2000–01 * 1. Liga: 3rd place 2001–02

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Scasny, Zdenek 1957 births Living people Footballers from Brno Association football defenders Association football midfielders Czech footballers Czech football managers Czech expatriate football managers Czech First League managers Czechoslovak footballers Czechoslovakia under-21 international footballers Czechoslovakia international footballers Cypriot Second Division players Bohemians 1905 players Dukla Prague footballers AC Sparta Prague players Anagennisi Deryneia FC players AC Sparta Prague managers OFI Crete F.C. managers Debreceni VSC managers FK Baník Most managers FK Mladá Boleslav managers FK Viktoria Žižkov managers FK Teplice managers Expatriate footballers in Cyprus Czechoslovak expatriate footballers Czechoslovak expatriate sportspeople in Cyprus FK Ústí nad Labem managers Nemzeti Bajnokság I managers