Radoslav Kováč (; born 27 November 1979) 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, ...

football manager and former player. Kováč played both in

midfield Midfield is the part of a sports field that lies approximately in the center. In American football, association football (soccer) and field hockey, it is the area in and around the center circle, as well as the players who occupy that region. In ...

and in

defence Defense or defence may refer to: Tactical, martial, and political acts or groups * Defense (military), forces primarily intended for warfare * Civil defense, the organizing of civilians to deal with emergencies or enemy attacks * Defense indus ...

for Sigma Olomouc,

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 ...

Spartak Moscow Spartak Moscow may refer to the following teams based or formerly based in Moscow, Russia: * FC Spartak Moscow, an association football club * HC Spartak Moscow, a professional ice hockey team * Spartak GM Moscow, a semi-professional rugby club * WB ...

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium, hav ...

FC Basel Fussball Club Basel 1893, widely known as FC Basel, FCB, or just Basel, is a Swiss football club based in Basel, in the Canton of Basel-Stadt. Formed in 1893, the club has been Swiss national champions 20 times, Swiss Cup winners 13 times, a ...

and

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 ...

. At international level, he represented the Czech Republic's U-21 and senior team.

Club career

Early career

Having come through the ranks of Sigma Olomouc, Kováč joined

in 2004. In July 2005, he moved to Russia, where he signed for

. During a Moscow derby against

Lokomotiv Moscow FC Lokomotiv Moscow (''FC Lokomotiv Moskva'', russian: link=no, Футбольный клуб "Локомотив" Москва, ) is a Russian professional football club based in Moscow. Lokomotiv have won the Russian Premier League on three oc ...

on 20 July 2008, Kováč received a yellow card for tackling a fan who invaded the pitch.

West Ham United

On 30 January 2009, he moved on loan to

for the remainder of the 2008–09 season. He made his debut for West Ham on 25 February 2009 in a 2–0

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

defeat to

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the a ...

. His first goal for West Ham came in their 3–1 away defeat to Everton on 16 May 2009. Kováč signed a permanent contract with West Ham United on 11 August 2009 on a three-year contract. He scored his first goal of the 2009–10 season against

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most dens ...

in the 89th minute on 26 December, playing 90 minutes in a 2–0 win at Upton Park. At the end of the 2010–11 season, with twelve months left on his contract and after 62 league and cup appearances, Kováč left West Ham United.

Basel

In July 2011 Kováč joined reigning Swiss Super League champions

for an undisclosed fee on a two-year contract. He joined Basel's first team during their 2011–12 season under head coach

Thorsten Fink Thorsten Fink (born 29 October 1967) is a German football coach and a former footballer, currently works as manager of Riga FC. Career Fink began his career with Borussia Dortmund's reserve squad before moving to SG Wattenscheid 09, where he hel ...

. To the beginning of their 2011–12 season season Kováč was member of the Basel team that won the 2011 Uhrencup, beating both

Hertha Berlin Hertha, Berliner Sport-Club e. V., commonly known as Hertha BSC (), and sometimes referred to as Hertha Berlin, Hertha BSC Berlin, or simply Hertha, is a German professional football club based in the locality of Westend of the borough of Charlo ...

3–0 and

2–1 to lead the table on goal difference above Young Boys. After playing in six test games Kováč played his domestic league debut for the club in the away game in the Stade de Suisse, Wankdorf on 16 July 2011 as Basel played a 1–1 draw with BSC Young Boys. At the end of the 2011–12 season he won the

Double A double is a look-alike or doppelgänger; one person or being that resembles another. Double, The Double or Dubble may also refer to: Film and television * Double (filmmaking), someone who substitutes for the credited actor of a character * ...

with his new club. They won the

League League or The League may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Leagues'' (band), an American rock band * ''The League'', an American sitcom broadcast on FX and FXX about fantasy football Sports * Sports league * Rugby league, full contact footba ...

Championship title with 20 points advantage. The team won the Swiss Cup, winning the final 4–2 in a penalty shootout against Luzern. Kováč scored his first goal for the club on 4 August 2012 in the away game in the Stade Tourbillon as Basel played a 1–1 draw with

Sion Sion may refer to * an alternative transliteration of Zion People * Sion (name) or Siôn, a Welsh and other given name and surname, including a list of people and fictional characters with the name * Shion or Sion, a Japanese given name Pl ...

. On 21 December 2012 it was announced that Kováč would leave the club and had signed for

. Basel and Kováč agreed to prematurely terminate the contract, because he had achieved only 5 appearences up until that date. Therefore he could sign for Liberec on a free transfer. During his 18 months with the club Kováč played a total of 52 games for Basel scoring a total of two goals. 20 of these games were in the Swiss Super League, five in the Swiss Cup, two in the UEFA competitions (Champions League and Europa League) and 25 were friendly games. He scored one goal in the domestic league and the other was scored during the test games.

International career

Kováč was part of the Czech side which won the UEFA U-21 Championships in 2002. Kováč made his debut on 9 October 2004 in a 1–0 friendly win against

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, and ...

. Kováč appeared for his nation in 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 ...

and

Euro 2008 The 2008 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2008 or simply Euro 2008, was the 13th UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial football tournament contested by the member nations of UEFA (the Union of Europea ...

. With the Czech Republic failing to qualify for the

2010 World Cup , image = 2010 FIFA World Cup.svg , size = 200px , caption = ''Ke Nako. (Tswana and Sotho for "It's time") Celebrate Africa's Humanity'It's time. Celebrate Africa's Humanity'' (English)''Dis tyd. Vier Afrika se mensd ...

, Kováč announced his retirement from international football in January 2010, in order to focus on his club career.

International goals

:''Scores and results list Czech Republic's goal tally first.''

Coaching career

From 2016 to 2019 Kováč worked as an assistant manager at

AC Sparta Praha ) 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 ...

. In June 2020 he was hired as

SFC Opava Slezský FC Opava is a professional football club based in Opava, Czech Republic. The club plays in the Czech National Football League, the second of Czech football after being relegated from the Czech First League at the end of the 2020–21 seas ...

football manager replacing sacked Jiří Balcárek. In June 2022 he was hired as

FC MAS Táborsko 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 Paki ...

football manager replacing Sergejs Golubevs. On 13 September 2022, Kováč was named as new head coach of

FK Pardubice FK Pardubice is a Czech football club located in the city of Pardubice. It currently plays in the Czech First League. The club is the successor of TJ Tesla Pardubice, which merged with FC Loko Pardubice in 2008. History The club advanced to t ...

Honours

Basel * Swiss Super League:

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gat ...

* Swiss Cup:

References

External links

*
Premier League profile
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kovac, Radoslav 1979 births Living people People from Šumperk Czech footballers Association football central defenders Association football midfielders Czech Republic youth international footballers Czech Republic under-21 international footballers Czech Republic international footballers Olympic footballers of the Czech Republic Footballers at the 2000 Summer Olympics 2006 FIFA World Cup players UEFA Euro 2008 players Russian Premier League players Premier League players Czech First League players Swiss Super League players SK Sigma Olomouc players AC Sparta Prague players FC Spartak Moscow players West Ham United F.C. players FC Basel players FC Slovan Liberec players Czech football managers Czech First League managers SFC Opava managers Czech expatriate footballers Czech expatriate sportspeople in Russia Expatriate footballers in Russia Czech expatriate sportspeople in England Expatriate footballers in England Czech expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland Expatriate footballers in Switzerland Sportspeople from the Olomouc Region FC Silon Táborsko managers Czech National Football League managers FK Pardubice managers