Jaromír Blažek (; born 29 December 1972) is a Czech former professional football

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 ...

Club career

Born in Brno, Blažek started his career in

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 ...

, where he got to play his first league games. After two years during which he was mainly used as a substitute, he moved to

Dynamo České Budějovice "Dynamo Electric Machine" (end view, partly section, ) A dynamo is an electrical generator that creates direct current using a commutator. Dynamos were the first electrical generators capable of delivering power for industry, and the foundat ...

to become the number one goalkeeper there. That 1992–93 season was to be the last of the

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 forme ...

, and he decided to spend his first season in the new

Gambrinus liga 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 ...

with

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 ...

, which turned out to be a good choice since he won his first title, the

national cup The English National Cup is an annual basketball knock-out competition held between professional, semi-professional and amateur teams from the various divisions of the National Basketball League. For most of the competition's history, the draw has ...

. He left after only one year though, moving across

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 ...

to FC Bohemians. They were relegated that year and Blažek, who did not want to spend a year in the Second League, was loaned for one year to his first club Slavia Prague, where again he was a substitute. Since Bohemians regained promotion the same year, he returned there and stayed for three and a half years. However, while his club was not performing very well, Blažek drew the attention of giants

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 ...

, transferring there in early 2000 and winning back-to-back titles in 2000 and 2001. He went on loan to rivals

Marila Příbram ''Marila'' is a plant genus in the family (biology), family Calophyllaceae.Stephens, P.F. (2001 onwards). Angiosperm Phylogeny Website. Version 9, June 2008. http://www.mobot.org/MOBOT/Research/APweb/ The genus comprises about 20 species, occurr ...

in 2001 but returned after one year. After that, he played almost every single game for Sparta Prague, be it league, cup or Champions League games. It was a very successful period for Blažek as he won four more titles and three national cups. In 2007, he decided to move abroad and was sold to German club 1. FC Nürnberg, who purchased him as a replacement for Raphael Schäfer who had left for

VfB Stuttgart Verein für Bewegungsspiele Stuttgart 1893 e. V., commonly known as VfB Stuttgart (), is a German sports club based in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg. The club's football team is currently part of Germany's first division, the Bundesliga. VfB S ...

over the summer. Blažek was the number one there but fell sick in April and could not play the end of a season that saw Nürnberg being relegated. In June, it was announced that Blažek was returning to Sparta Prague for the following season. However, on 16 December 2011, Sparta Prague announced their decision to terminate Blažek's contract early, releasing him as a free agent. This was confirmed by the player's agent Pavel Paska. On 22 February 2014, in a league match for Jihlava against

Znojmo Znojmo (; german: Znaim) is a town in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 33,000 inhabitants. Znojmo is the historical and cultural centre of southwestern Moravia and the second most populated town in the South Moravian ...

, Blažek kept his 139th clean sheet, setting a new goalkeeper record for the Czech league.

International career

Blažek made his debut for the national team on 29 March 2000 in a

friendly match An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, a scrimmage, a demonstration, a preseason game, a warmup match, or a preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sporting event whose prize money and impact on the player's or ...

against Australia that ended up in a 3–1 win. Due to the dominance of

Petr Čech Petr Čech (; born 20 May 1982) is a Czech former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He also plays semi-professional ice hockey as a goaltender for Chelmsford Chieftains. Described by numerous players, pundits and managers as ...

as the first-choice national team goalkeeper, Blažek was unable to make regular appearances for his nation. He was part of the

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, ...

squad at both

Euro 2000 The 2000 UEFA European Football Championship, also known as Euro 2000, was the 11th UEFA European Championship, a football tournament held every four years and organised by UEFA, the sport's governing body in Europe. The finals tournament was ...

and

Euro 2004 The 2004 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as Euro 2004, was the 12th edition of the UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial football competition contested by the men's national teams of UEFA member associations. The ...

, but only played in one match during the two tournaments combined. He was also named in the Czech squad for the

2006 World Cup The 2006 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Germany 2006, was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to host the ...

Personal life

He is married and has two children – Jakub and Aneta. Blažek is the cousin of tennis player

Radek Štěpánek Radek Štěpánek (; born 27 November 1978) is a Czech former professional tennis player. His career-high singles ranking was world No. 8 and best doubles ranking was world No. 4. Štěpánek's biggest achievements are reaching two Masters 1000 ...

Career statistics

Club

International

Source:

Honours

Club

Viktoria Žižkov *

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 ...

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which sank in the Baltic Sea; Nelson ...

Slavia Prague *

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 ...

: 1995–96 Bohemians 1905 * Czech Second League: 3rd Place 1997–98 * Czech Second League: 1998–99 Sparta Prague *

: 1999–2000, 2000–01, 2002–03, 2004–05, 2006–07 *

: Runner-up 2003–04, 2008–09,

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. ...

: 2004, 2006, 2007 *

: Runner-up 2001 Vysočina Jihlava * Czech Second League: Runner-up 2011–12

International

Czech Republic *

UEFA European Championship The UEFA European Football Championship, less formally the European Championship and informally the Euro, is the primary association football tournament organised by the Union of European Football Associations ( UEFA). The competition is conte ...

: Semi-finalist 2004

Individual

* Team of the Year 1999–2000, 2002–03, 2003–04, 2008–09 * Most clean sheets 2002–03, 2006–07, 2009–10,

* Best goalkeeper

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 ...

* Second best goalkeeper between the years 1993–2013 by the fans' poll * Player of the Month: October 2013

Czech Footballer of the Year The Czech Footballer of the Year ( cs, Fotbalista roku) is awarded in the Czech Republic by the Football Association of the Czech Republic (FA ČR). Eligibility extends to Czech players in the Czech Republic and abroad. Awards for young player, coa ...

* Personality of the League 2005–06

Records

: Oldest player in history of the

(42 years, 4 months) *

: Most clean sheets in history of the

(157) *

: Most played seasons (19)

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Blazek, Jaromir 1972 births Living people Footballers from Brno Association football goalkeepers Czech footballers SK Slavia Prague players FK Viktoria Žižkov players AC Sparta Prague players 1. FK Příbram players SK Dynamo České Budějovice players 1. FC Nürnberg players FC Vysočina Jihlava players Czech First League players Bundesliga players Czech Republic international footballers Czech Republic under-21 international footballers UEFA Euro 2000 players UEFA Euro 2004 players 2006 FIFA World Cup players UEFA Euro 2008 players Czech expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Germany