Čestmír Vycpálek (

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and List of cities in the Czech Republic, largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 milli ...

, 15 May 1921 – Palermo, 5 May 2002) was 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

player Player may refer to: Role or adjective * Player (game), a participant in a game or sport ** Gamer, a player in video and tabletop games ** Athlete, a player in sports ** Player character, a character in a video game or role playing game who ...

and

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities ...

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 ...

. He was an uncle of noted football manager Zdeněk Zeman.

Playing career

A good right winger, Vycpálek moved in 1946 to Juventus from

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 ...

, and in 1947 to Palermo, in

Serie B The Serie B (), currently named Serie BKT for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie A. It has been operating for over ninety years since the 1929–30 season. It had been ...

at the time, leading the team to an immediate promotion to the top division, and playing 143 times, with 23 goals, in five seasons for the ''rosanero''. In the season 1952–1953, Vycpálek then signed for

Parma Parma (; egl, Pärma, ) is a city in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna known for its architecture, music, art, prosciutto (ham), cheese and surrounding countryside. With a population of 198,292 inhabitants, Parma is the second mos ...

, where he played at Serie B and

Serie C The Serie C () is the third-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie B and Serie A. The Lega Italiana Calcio Professionistico (Lega Pro) is the governing body that runs the Serie C. The unification of the Lega Pro ...

level. Vycpálek abandoned his playing career in 1958, at the age of 37.

Coaching career

Before to enjoy some relevant success at the managing level, Vycpálek had several minor experiences, often not particularly lucky. He started his coaching career for Palermo, where he relocated with his family after Czechoslovakia was occupied by the USSR, Soviet Red Army after the Prague Spring. He then coached minor league teams such as A.S. Siracusa Calcio 1924, Siracusa, A.C. Nuova Valdagno, Valdagno and Juve Bagheria. In the early 1970s, however, after having been fired by Sicilian Serie D team G.S. Mazara 1946, Mazara, Vycpálek went back to Juventus, thanks also to his old friend Giampiero Boniperti, who was a board member in that times, and became coach for the youth team. But, in 1971, after the sudden death of Armando Picchi, Vycpálek was named new head coach of Juventus. It was the beginning of a successful period which led the team to two consecutive ''scudetti'', in 1972 and 1973, and to the final of European Cup lost against Ajax. The team was also runner-up in the intercontinental cup taking Ajax's place, due to a 1–0 defeat against sudamerican champions Independiente.After those results, Vycpálek left the club and finished his coaching career.

Honours

Player

Club

;Slavia Prague *Czechoslovak First League: 1939–40 Národní liga, 1939–40, 1941–42 Národní liga, 1941–42, 1942–43 Národní liga, 1942–43 ;Palermo *

: 1947–48 ;Parma *

:1953–54

Manager

Club

;Juventus *Serie A: 1971–72 Serie A, 1971-1972, 1972–73 Serie A, 1972-1973

Death

Vycpálek died on 5 May 2002 in Palermo, the same day of the Juventus' triumph in the 2001–02 Serie A, and exactly thirty years after the death of his son Cestino in the Alitalia Flight 112 crash that happened in 1972.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vycpalek, Cestmir 1921 births 2002 deaths Czech footballers Czechoslovak footballers Czech football managers Czechoslovak football managers SK Slavia Prague players Palermo F.C. players Juventus F.C. players Parma Calcio 1913 players Serie A players Serie B players Italian football managers Palermo F.C. managers Juventus F.C. managers A.S. Siracusa managers Serie A managers Czechoslovak expatriate sportspeople in Italy Expatriate footballers in Italy Czechoslovak expatriate footballers Association football midfielders Association football coaches Czechoslovak refugees Czechoslovak expatriate football managers Footballers from Prague