Václav Daněk (born 22 December 1960 in

Ostrava Ostrava (; pl, Ostrawa; german: Ostrau ) is a city in the north-east of the Czech Republic, and the capital of the Moravian-Silesian Region. It has about 280,000 inhabitants. It lies from the border with Poland, at the confluences of four rive ...

) is a retired

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 Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

player. He played 22 matches for

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

and scored 9 goals. In total, he scored 197 league goals in 402 games (200/99 Ostrava, 41/12 Dukla, 144/83 Innsbruck, 17/3 Le Havre). In his country he played 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''. ...

and witnessed the golden era in the club's history, contributing to two

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 formed ...

championships. His strong temper contributed towards him not being picked for the

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

squad that reached the quarter-finals of the

1990 FIFA World Cup The 1990 FIFA World Cup was the 14th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was held from 8 June to 8 July 1990 in Italy, the second country to host the event for a second time (the first being Me ...

, when he was at the peak of his career in Austria, playing for

FC Tirol Innsbruck FC Tirol Innsbruck was an Austrian association football club from Innsbruck, Tyrol which existed between 1993 and 2002, when bankruptcy was declared. History It was – after the establishment of FC Swarovski Tirol in 1986 – the s ...

because of discrepancies with coach

Jozef Vengloš Jozef Vengloš (18 February 1936 – 26 January 2021) was a Slovak professional football player and manager. He held a doctorate in Physical Education and also specialised in Psychology. He was selected by FIFA on various occasions to lecture ...

who preferred players like Tomáš Skuhravý,

Ivo Knoflíček Ivo Knoflíček (born 23 February 1962) is a Czech football coach and a former player. He played for the Czechoslovakia national team, for which he played 38 matches and scored seven goals. At club level, he played mostly for Slavia Prague ...

and

Stanislav Griga Stanislav Griga (born 4 November 1961) is a Slovak football manager and former player. He played 34 matches for Czechoslovakia and scored eight goals. Career Griga was a participant in the 1990 FIFA World Cup, and had a headed goal controversia ...

. Despite all these, he was selected Best Player in the Austrian league and finished top scorer three years in a row which allowed him to finish third in 1991's

European Golden Boot The European Golden Shoe, also known as European Golden Boot, is an award that is presented each season to the leading goalscorer in league matches from the top division of a European national league. The trophy is a sculpture of a football boot. ...

contest sponsored by the French football magazine "

France Football ''France Football'' is a French weekly magazine containing football news from all over the world. It is considered to be one of the most reputable sports publications in Europe, mostly because of its photographic reports, in-depth and exclusiv ...

". After the World Cup in Italy, where the Czechoslovakian team performed very well, Vengloš was replaced by Milan Máčala who gave Daněk his full confidence, making him the team's new

standard bearer A standard-bearer, also known as a flag-bearer is a person (soldier or civilian) who bears an emblem known as a standard or military colours, i.e. either a type of flag or an inflexible but mobile image, which is used (and often honoured) as a f ...

and first pick-up choice for the attack. Maybe his best achievement with

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

took place during the

UEFA Euro 1992 The 1992 UEFA European Football Championship was hosted by Sweden between 10 and 26 June 1992. It was the ninth UEFA European Championship, which is held every four years and supported by UEFA. Denmark won the 1992 championship, having qualifi ...

qualifying match against

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

in 1991. A few days prior to this crucial match Daněk's baby son was badly injured in an accident and had to be hospitalized, which made Daněk declare himself unavailable for the match. The following days, all other three Czech strikers were injured during training or in their league matches, which left Macala completely forward-less. The coach decided to call Daněk just hours before the match, and he received a "YES" from the forward. Without any previous training and/or tactical coaching advice, Daněk played the game. With Spain leading 2–1, he scored twice in the second half against

Andoni Zubizarreta Andoni Zubizarreta Urreta (, ; born 23 October 1961) is a Spanish former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. The all-time most capped player for the Spain national team for several years, he played with individual and team succ ...

and was the

Man of the Match In team sport, a player of the match or man of the match or woman of the match award is often given to the most outstanding player in a particular match. This can be a player from either team, although the player is generally chosen from the winn ...

of an amazing comeback and victory of his nation. When asked why he did finally play the game, despite his son being in hospital, he declared "My country and my coach needed me and here I am". Daněk's son, Jan Daněk, played football in the Czech First League in the 2000s.

References

External links

Hall of Fame Dukla Praha profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Danek, Vaclav 1960 births Living people Footballers from Ostrava Czech men's footballers Czechoslovak men's footballers FC Baník Ostrava players Dukla Prague footballers Le Havre AC players FC Wacker Innsbruck players Ligue 1 players Austrian Football Bundesliga players Czechoslovakia men's international footballers Czech expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in France Expatriate men's footballers in Austria Czech football managers Expatriate football managers in Slovakia FK Dukla Banská Bystrica managers Czechoslovak expatriate men's footballers Czechoslovak expatriate sportspeople in France Czechoslovak expatriate sportspeople in Austria Czech expatriate sportspeople in Austria Czech expatriate sportspeople in Slovakia FK Vítkovice managers 1. FK Drnovice managers Men's association football forwards FC Tirol Innsbruck players FC Swarovski Tirol players