Jan Laštůvka (born 7 July 1982) is a former Czech professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who last played as a

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), 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 i ...

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''. ...

Career

Laštůvka was born in

Havířov Havířov () is a city in Karviná District in the Moravian-Silesian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 69,000 inhabitants, making it the second largest city in the region. Havířov was founded in 1955 and is the youngest Czech city. It is ...

. He started his career at Czech side

FC Karviná 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 Pakis ...

and moved in summer 2000 to

FC Baník Ostrava FC Baník Ostrava is a professional association football, football club from Ostrava in the Czech Republic. The club competes in the Czech First League, the top tier of Czech football. Founded in 1922 as SK Slezská Ostrava, Baník has won the ...

for four years. In 2003, he won the Talent of the Year award at the

Czech Footballer of the Year The Czech Footballer of the Year () 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, coach and Czech First L ...

awards. He won the Czech championship with Baník in the 2003–04 season.

Shakhtar Donetsk

The next step in his career was Ukrainian top club

Shakhtar Donetsk Football Club Shakhtar Donetsk () is a Ukrainian professional Association football, football club that was based in the city of Donetsk until 2014 when, due to the War in Donbas (2014–2022), War in Donbas, the club was forced to move to Lvi ...

. He played a couple of Champions League and UEFA Cup matches this time.

Fulham

Laštůvka joined Fulham on loan on 31 August 2006, just prior to the close of the transfer window. He made his Fulham league debut on 2 December 2006 in a 2–0 loss against

Blackburn Rovers Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second level of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. Th ...

. On 1 January 2007, he came on as a second-half substitute for the injured Antti Niemi against

Watford Watford () is a town and non-metropolitan district with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in Hertfordshire, England, northwest of Central London, on the banks of the River Colne, Hertfordshire, River Colne. Initially a smal ...

, where throughout the game the

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies in a loop on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea, London, Chelsea ...

fans cheered his every kick or save, as they feared he would make a mistake and cost them the game. The game ended 0–0. He left Fulham in May 2007 to return to his parent club.

VfL Bochum

In June 2007 Shakhtar loaned Laštůvka to German side

VfL Bochum Verein für Leibesübungen Bochum 1848 Fußballgemeinschaft, commonly referred to as VfL Bochum (), is a Football in Germany, German professional association football club based in the city of Bochum, North Rhine-Westphalia. They currently play ...

until the end of the 2007–08 season as a replacement for compatriot

Jaroslav Drobný Jaroslav Drobný (; 12 October 1921 – 13 September 2001) was a world No. 1 amateur tennis and ice hockey champion. He left Czechoslovakia in 1949 and travelled as an Egyptian citizen before becoming a citizen of the United Kingdom in 1959, w ...

, who left the club for Hertha BSC Berlin. Laštůvka started the season as first-choice keeper, but after some mistakes his position was threatened by the reserve keepers. After an injury, then third-choice keeper René Renno got his place. Renno started quite well but also made some mistakes before the winter break, so coach Marcel Koller claimed that all three keepers (Laštůvka, Renno and

Philipp Heerwagen Philipp Heerwagen (born 13 April 1983) is a German former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or ...

) started at zero in the preparations for the second season half. After the winter break Laštůvka was first-choice again and started with a very good match against

Werder Bremen Sportverein Werder Bremen von 1899 e. V. (), commonly known as Werder Bremen, Werder or simply Bremen, is a German professional sports club based in Bremen. Founded on 4 February 1899, Werder are best known for their professional association foo ...

, which was rewarded with a nomination in the "Team of the Day" by Germany's leading football magazine kicker. At the end of the season Bochum were interested in signing him, but, due to the €4 million transfer fee, they signed Portuguese keeper Daniel Fernandes from

PAOK F.C. PAOK FC (, ), short for "Pan-Thessalonian Athletic Club of Constantinopolitans" (), and commonly known as PAOK Thessaloniki, PAOK Salonika or simply PAOK, is a Greek professional football club based in Thessaloniki, Macedonia, Greece. PAOK ...

instead.

West Ham United

On 3 August 2008 Laštůvka signed for West Ham on a year-long loan deal. He made his debut for West Ham United in a

Football League Cup The English Football League Cup, often referred to as the League Cup and currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout competition in men's domestic football in England. Orga ...

third round tie away defeat at

on 23 September. On 26 May 2009, it was announced that Laštůvka was returning to Shakhtar Donetsk, having made only one appearance for West Ham.

Dnipro

On 4 August 2009, Laštůvka signed a three-year deal with Ukrainian team

FC Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk Football Club Dnipro (, ) was a Ukrainian football club based in Dnipro. The club played its last season in the 2018–19 Ukrainian Amateur League. The club was owned by Ukrainian businessman Ihor Kolomoyskyi. In 2018, FC Dnipro was forced ...

for €3 million. In the summer of 2016, he left Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk.

Czech First League

He rejoined the newly promoted

MFK Karviná MFK Karviná is a professional football club located in Karviná, Czech Republic. It plays in the Czech First League. The team's colours are green and white. History Karviná as a multi-ethnic city of Cieszyn Silesia was a home to many football ...

in the

Czech First League The Czech First League () also known as the Chance Liga for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in the Czech Republic and the highest level of the Czech Republic football league system. Seasons typically run from A ...

as a free agent in 2016. After one year, he moved to

SK Slavia Prague Sportovní klub Slavia Praha – fotbal (Sports Club Slavia Prague – Football, ), commonly known as Slavia Praha or Slavia Prague, is a Czech professional association football, football football team, club in Prague. Founded in 1892, they are ...

on a free transfer to replace

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany and the highest level of the German football league system. The Bundesliga comprises 18 teams ...

-bound Jiří Pavlenka. After only half year later Laštůvka moved back to his former club Baník Ostrava.

International career

Laštůvka was called up to the

Czech Republic national football team The Czech Republic national football team (), recognised by FIFA as Czechia, represents the Czech Republic in men's international Association football, football. The team is controlled by the Football Association of the Czech Republic (FAČR). H ...

for the first time in May 2010. He made his full debut at

Hampden Park Hampden Park ( ; Scottish Gaelic: ''Pàirc Hampden'') is a association football, football stadium in the Mount Florida area of Glasgow, Scotland, which is the national stadium of football in Scotland and home of the Scotland national football ...

against

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

in a

UEFA Euro 2012 The 2012 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2012 or simply Euro 2012, was the 14th UEFA European Championship, European Championship for List of men's national association football teams#UEFA (Europe), men's ...

qualifier on 3 September 2011. He was part of the Czech squad which reached the quarter-finals of the tournament before elimination by

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

, but did not enter the field of play, with

Petr Čech Petr Čech (; born 20 May 1982) is a Czech former professional Association football, footballer who played as a Goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper and current ice hockey player who plays as a goaltender for Oxford City Stars. He has ...

playing each match in goal.

Career statistics

Honours

Baník Ostrava *

: 2003–04 *

Czech Cup The Czech Cup (), 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 1961. The winner ...

runner-up: 2018–19 Shakhtar Donetsk * Vyshcha Liha: 2004–05, 2005–06 *

Ukrainian Super Cup The Ukrainian Super Cup () is an association football game of the Ukrainian Premier League in traditional super cup format that acts as the grand-opening for every new football (soccer), football competition season in Ukraine. Originally it was s ...

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk *

Ukrainian Premier League The Ukrainian Premier League ( ) or UPL is a professional association football league in Ukraine and the highest level of the Ukrainian football league system. Originally known as the Vyshcha Liha ( , ) it was formed in 1991 during the 1992 in ...

runner-up: 2013–14 *

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (UEL), usually known simply as the Europa League, is an annual association football, football club competition organised since 1971 by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European footb ...

runner-up: 2014–15

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lastuvka, Jan 1982 births Living people Sportspeople from Havířov Czech men's footballers Czech Republic men's youth international footballers Czech Republic men's under-21 international footballers Czech Republic men's international footballers Men's association football goalkeepers MFK Karviná players Czech First League players FC Baník Ostrava players SK Slavia Prague players Ukrainian Premier League players FC Shakhtar Donetsk players Premier League players Fulham F.C. players West Ham United F.C. players Bundesliga players VfL Bochum players FC Dnipro players Czech expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Ukraine Expatriate men's footballers in Germany Expatriate men's footballers in England UEFA Euro 2012 players Czech expatriate sportspeople in Ukraine Czech expatriate sportspeople in Germany Czech expatriate sportspeople in England Footballers from the Moravian-Silesian Region 21st-century Czech sportsmen