Tomáš Galásek (; born 15 January 1973) is a Czech former football player and current manager. He was a holding midfielder who was also strong as a centre-back.

Club career

Galásek started his career with Banik Ostrava in 1991, before moving to

Willem II Tilburg Willem II (), also known as Willem II Tilburg, is a Dutch football club based in Tilburg, Netherlands. They play in the Eerste Divisie, the second tier of Dutch football, following relegation from the Eredivisie in the 2021–22 season. The club ...

in 1997. With Willem II, he reached an historic fifth place in

Eredivisie The Eredivisie (; ''"Honour Division"'' or ''"Premier Division"'') is the highest level of professional football in the Netherlands. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start of professional football in the Netherlands. It is c ...

, which meant

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 solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, clay ...

qualification for the first time in 30 years. Since then, he played four

matches. In 1998–99, Willem II exceeded the previous year's performance, finishing second in the league. For the first time in history, Willem II qualified for the

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 competi ...

. In that competition, Galásek played five matches for Willem II. Galásek moved to

Ajax Ajax may refer to: Greek mythology and tragedy * Ajax the Great, a Greek mythological hero, son of King Telamon and Periboea * Ajax the Lesser, a Greek mythological hero, son of Oileus, the king of Locris * ''Ajax'' (play), by the ancient Gree ...

in the summer of 2000. With Ajax, he won the national championship twice and the national cup once and played 26 times in the Champions League. From 2006, he played for 1. FC Nürnberg in the

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footba ...

, after signing a two-year deal with German club. On 15 August 2008, he returned to Banik Ostrava. On 19 December, he signed a contract with Borussia Mönchengladbach. In July 2009, he retired from professional football but made a comeback in the

Bayernliga The Bayernliga (English: Bavarian league) is the highest amateur football league and the second highest football league (under the Regionalliga Bayern) in the state of Bavaria (german: Bayern) and the Bavarian football league system. It is one o ...

on 31 August 2009 when he signed for FSV Erlangen-Bruck.

International career

Galásek made his debut for the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

in 1995 and was part of the team that reached the semifinals of

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 ...

. He took part in 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 ...

as captain of the Czech team. In June 2008, after a loss to Turkey at

UEFA 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 European ...

, he left the national team and ended his international career. He made 69 appearances scoring once.

Managerial career

In the season of 2011–12, Galásek trained the U15 team in FSV Erlangen-Bruck, where his son played. The following year, he was the assistant manager of the Czech national team. In the 2013–14 season, he was assistant manager of 1. FC Schweinfurt 05. In the summer of 2015, he became the head coach of

SpVgg SV Weiden SpVgg SV Weiden, formerly just SpVgg Weiden, is a German association football club from the city of Weiden, Bavaria. Playing in the tier-four Regionalliga Süd in 2010–11, the club had to declare insolvency after being more than Euro 1 milli ...

Personal life

Galásek was born on 15 January 1973 in Frydek-Mistek to Czech parents. In 1994, he married his wife Sylvie. Together, they have two children Denisa (age 26) and Tom (age 21). Currently, he has settled with his family in the suburbs of

Nuremberg Nuremberg ( ; german: link=no, Nürnberg ; in the local East Franconian dialect: ''Nämberch'' ) is the second-largest city of the German state of Bavaria after its capital Munich, and its 518,370 (2019) inhabitants make it the 14th-largest ...

, Germany.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Ajax *

: 2001–02, 2003–04 * KNVB Cup: 2001–02, 2005–06 * Dutch Super Cup: 2002, 2005 1. FC Nürnberg *

DFB-Pokal The DFB-Pokal ( is a German knockout football cup competition held annually by the German Football Association (DFB). Sixty-four teams participate in the competition, including all clubs from the Bundesliga and the 2. Bundesliga. It is considered ...

: 2006–07

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Galasek, Tomas 1973 births Living people People from Frýdek-Místek Association football midfielders Czech footballers FC Baník Ostrava players Willem II (football club) players AFC Ajax players 1. FC Nürnberg players Borussia Mönchengladbach players Czech First League players Eredivisie players Bundesliga players Czech Republic under-21 international footballers Czech Republic international footballers UEFA Euro 2004 players 2006 FIFA World Cup players UEFA Euro 2008 players Czech expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in the Netherlands Czech expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Expatriate footballers in Germany Czech expatriate sportspeople in Germany Czech football managers Czech expatriate football managers FC Baník Ostrava managers Sportspeople from the Moravian-Silesian Region