Karel Brückner (; born 13 November 1939,

Olomouc Olomouc (, , ; german: Olmütz; pl, Ołomuniec ; la, Olomucium or ''Iuliomontium'') is a city in the Czech Republic. It has about 99,000 inhabitants, and its larger urban zone has a population of about 384,000 inhabitants (2019). Located on t ...

) is 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, ...

retired football coach.

Playing career

Brückner played as a forward in the lower leagues for MŽ Olomouc, at levels between the Regional Championship and the Second League. He made two appearances for

Baník Ostrava ''Baník'' is a Slovak word meaning "miner". Since the 1950s it has been part of the name of various sports clubs in Czechoslovakia associated mostly with coal mining regions. In Poland, the same practice was conducted with the name ''górnik''. ...

in 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 ...

during the 1970–71 season.

Coaching career

Brückner began his coaching career in 1973 with his home club

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 Cz ...

, before moving to

FC Zbrojovka Brno FC Zbrojovka Brno is a professional football club based in the city of Brno, South Moravia, Czech Republic and named after Zbrojovka Brno, a firearms manufacturer. Founded in 1913 as SK Židenice, the club later became known as Zbrojovka Brno. Br ...

, who he led in the Czechoslovak First League in the 1981–82 and 1982–83 seasons. He later went on to coach

Inter Bratislava FK Inter Bratislava () is a football club based in Bratislava, Slovakia, temporarily playing its home matches in Stupava. History Inter Bratislava was founded in 1940 by the Apollo refinery (later renamed Slovnaft). Following the end of World Wa ...

with which he won the Slovakia Cup in 1985. He was appointed coach of the

Czech Republic national under-21 football team The Czech Republic national under-21 football team is the national under-21 association football team of the Czech Republic and is controlled by the Football Association of the Czech Republic. The team competes in the UEFA European Under-21 Champ ...

in 1997 and the side finished second at the

2000 UEFA European Under-21 Championship The 2000 UEFA European Under-21 Championship was the 12th staging of UEFA's European Under-21 Championship. The final tournament was hosted by Slovakia from 27 May to 4 June 2000. The tournament had 47 entrants. Northern Ireland competed for th ...

. At

UEFA 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 wa ...

he was assistant manager of the Czech Republic national side. Brückner became the national team manager in 2001, following the Czech Republic's unsuccessful qualifying campaign for the

2002 FIFA World Cup The 2002 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Korea Japan 2002, was the 17th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial football world championship for men's national teams organized by FIFA. It was held from 31 May to 30 June 2002 at sites in South Korea an ...

. In the time up to March 2004, the Czech Republic played twenty matches without defeat under his leadership, winning seven of eight qualifying matches for the Euro 2004 tournament and drawing the other one. In the tournament's group match against the Netherlands, the Czech Republic conceded two goals within the first 20 minutes. Although Jan Koller scored a goal to make the score 2–1, Brückner responded by taking the unusual step of making a tactical substitution during the first half of the match, sending on midfielder

Vladimír Šmicer Vladimír Šmicer (, born 24 May 1973) is a Czech former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. He started his senior career at Slavia Prague, the only Czech club he ever played for. In 1999, Šmicer moved to England where he play ...

to replace defender

Zdeněk Grygera Zdeněk Grygera (; born 14 May 1980) is a Czech former professional footballer who played as a defender. Club career Early career Grygera began his career at Petra Drnovice before moving to Sparta Prague. Ajax In July 2003, he was signed ...

after just 25 minutes. The Czech Republic scored twice more, with Šmicer scoring the winner two minutes before the end, as Brückner's team completed a comeback. The team went on to reach the semi-finals of

UEFA 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 ...

. The team qualified for the

2006 FIFA 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 th ...

but did not progress past the group stage. Brückner extended his contract for a further two-year period after the competition. The Czech Republic qualified for Euro 2008. Prior to the tournament, Brückner announced his intention to leave his position at the end of the competition. The Czech Republic failed to progress beyond the group stage of the tournament. In spite of announcing his retirement, Brückner did not remain unemployed for long. In July 2008, the national team of Austria named him as their new manager. On 2 March 2009, the

Austrian Football Association The Austrian Football Association (german: Österreichischer Fußball-Bund; ÖFB) is the governing body of football in Austria. It organises the football league, Austrian Bundesliga, the Austrian Cup and the Austria national football team, as well ...

announced that Brückner had left his position as Austria's coach by mutual consent after having led the team to just one win in seven matches. On 8 July 2009, Bruckner was named Advisor to

Ivan Hašek Ivan Hašek (born 6 September 1963) is a Czech professional football coach and former player. Hašek played as a central midfielder, and spent 11 years of his career with Sparta Prague, appearing in more than 300 official games with the club, ...

of the

Football Association of the Czech Republic The Football Association of the Czech Republic ( cs, Fotbalová asociace České republiky; FAČR) or colloquially the ''Czech Football Association'' is the governing body of association football in the Czech Republic based in Prague. It organiz ...

Honours

Inter Bratislava *

Slovak Cup The Slovak Cup () is the main knockout cup competition in Slovak football. The winner qualifies for the UEFA Europa Conference League. History The competition was first contested in 1969. Until 1993, the winner of the Slovak Cup would face the w ...

: 1994–95

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bruckner, Karel 1939 births Sportspeople from Olomouc Living people Czech footballers Czechoslovak footballers Czech people of German descent Association football forwards SK Sigma Olomouc players FC Baník Ostrava players Czech football managers Czechoslovak football managers FK Inter Bratislava managers MŠK Žilina managers SK Sigma Olomouc managers FC Zbrojovka Brno managers UEFA Euro 2004 managers 2006 FIFA World Cup managers UEFA Euro 2008 managers Czech Republic national football team managers Austria national football team managers Expatriate football managers in Austria Expatriate football managers in Slovakia Czech expatriates in Austria Czech expatriates in Slovakia FK Vítkovice managers Recipients of Medal of Merit (Czech Republic) Czech expatriate football managers