Jiří Balcárek (born 29 April 1973) is a Czech

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

manager and former player. He played club football domestically for

Olomouc Olomouc (; ) is a city in the Czech Republic. It has about 103,000 inhabitants, making it the Statutory city (Czech Republic), sixth largest city in the country. It is the administrative centre of the Olomouc Region. Located on the Morava (rive ...

and

RH Cheb RH, Rh, rH, or rh may refer to: Companies * Red Hat, an American software company * Republic Express Airlines (IATA designator), a cargo airline in Indonesia * RH (company), an American furniture chain formerly known as Restoration Hardware Scien ...

, as well as German side

Union Berlin 1. Fußballclub Union Berlin e. V., commonly known as Union Berlin (), is a professional Football in Germany, German football club based in Berlin. The club's origins can be traced to 1906, when its predecessor FC Olympia Oberschöneweide was fo ...

at club level and made two appearances for the Czech Republic under-21 national team.

Playing career

At club level, Balcárek spent six seasons playing for

, as well as competing in the

Czechoslovak First League The Czechoslovak First League (, ) was the premier football (soccer), football league in the Czechoslovakia from 1925 to 1993, with the exception of World War II. Czechoslovakia was occupied by German forces who formed Gauliga Sudetenland and Ga ...

for

, before moving to

in Germany, where he played for five more seasons. Internationally he represented the Czech Republic under-21 national team, making two appearances in 1994.

Managerial career

Balcárek started his coaching career in June 2005 as assistant manager of Sigma Olomouc's B-team. He then had a spell at SK Lipová as manager, before returning to Sigma Olomouc in the summer of 2006 as manager of their B-team. In January 2009, Balcárek signed as manager of Sulko Zábřeh. In April 2010, Balcárek was appointed manager of second-tier side

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 ...

. He resigned in October of the same year due to poor results. In January 2011, he returned to Sulko Zábřeh. He left the position in June 2015. He was then appointed manager of

SK Uničov SK Uničov is a Czech football club located in Uničov, Czech Republic. It currently plays in the Moravian–Silesian Football League The Moravian-Silesian Football League (MSFL) () is one of the third level football leagues in the Czech Repub ...

. After winning the 2016-17

Moravian-Silesian Football League The Moravian-Silesian Football League (MSFL) () is one of the third level football leagues in the Czech Republic (the other is the Bohemian Football League) headquartered in Olomouc. The league comprises teams from the historic regions of Moravia ...

, Balcárek was appointed manager of

Znojmo Znojmo (; ) is a town in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 34,000 inhabitants. Znojmo is the historical and cultural centre of southwestern Moravia and the second most populated town in the South Moravian Region. The hi ...

. However, he was fired on 31 January 2018. In the summer of 2018, Balcárek became manager of

MFK Vítkovice MFK Vítkovice is a football club from Vítkovice, Ostrava, Czech Republic. It was founded in 1919 as FC Vítkovice, announced bankruptcy in 2011 and transformed to MFK Vítkovice. The club won the Czechoslovak First League in the 1985–86 sea ...

. At the end of November 2019, he accepted a job offer from

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 sea ...

and became the club's new manager. He left the club in June 2020. In 2021-2022, Balcárek worked in a different role at

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 ...

, before returning to SK Uničov in September 2022.Trenér Balcárek: Táhlo mě to zpět na střídačku. V Baníku nepokračuje
sumpersky.denik.cz, 15 September 2022

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Balcarek, Jiri 1973 births Living people Czech men's footballers Czech Republic men's under-21 international footballers Men's association football midfielders Czech First League players SK Sigma Olomouc players 1. FC Union Berlin players Expatriate men's footballers in Germany Czech expatriate sportspeople in Germany Czech expatriate men's footballers Czech football managers SFC Opava managers Czech First League managers Czechoslovak First League players