Jiří Lopata (22 December 1936 – 20 April 2021) was 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 *Czech (surnam ...

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 ...

player and manager. He played two seasons 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 ...

, scoring 27 goals in 51 games for Spartak Plzeň. He spent more time in the league as a manager, mainly at

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 ...

, where he remained for five years. He later went on to manage Plastika Nitra,

Dukla Prague Dukla Prague () was a Czech football club from the city of Prague. Established in 1948 as ATK Praha, the club won a total of 11 Czechoslovak league titles and eight Czechoslovak Cups, and in the 1966–67 season, reached the semi-finals of the ...

and Bohemians Prague in the same league. In 1985, he also took charge of the Czechoslovakia under-21 side. Lopata died in 2021 after a long illness.

Playing career

As a player, Lopata scored 16 goals in the 1961–62 season for Spartak Plzeň, a record which had still not been surpassed in 2006. He scored another 11 the following season, but his club were relegated and he never played in the First League again. During his time in the first league he scored two

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three Wick ...

s, the first coming in a 5–0 home win against Tatran Prešov. Later in his career, he played for Škoda České Budějovice in the third league, before finishing his playing career in 1967.

Management career

As a manager, Lopata joined

in 1978. He celebrated promotion with them and continued in the First League before leaving in the 1983–84 season in order to take over at Plastika Nitra. Lopata took charge of

for two seasons as manager. He led the club to third place in the

1985–86 Czechoslovak First League Statistics of Czechoslovak First League in the 1985–86 season. The season began on 27 August 1985 and concluded on 19 June 1986. Overview It was contested by 16 teams, and FC Vítkovice won the championship. Stanislav Griga was the league's top ...

,Pivoda 2013, p. 36. a season which included the club securing a record win of 10–0 against opponents

Dynamo České Budějovice "Dynamo Electric Machine" (end view, partly section, ) A dynamo is an electrical generator that creates direct current using a commutator. Dynamos employed electromagnets for self-starting by using residual magnetic field left in the iron cores ...

.Pivoda 2013, p. 28. The following year was less successful as the club finished the 1986–87 season in ninth place. The last First League club Lopata managed was Bohemians Prague, where his engagement ran out in 1993.

References

Bibliography

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lopata, Jiri 1936 births 2021 deaths Footballers from Plzeň Czech men's footballers Czechoslovak men's footballers Men's association football forwards FC Viktoria Plzeň players Czech football managers Czechoslovak football managers FK Hvězda Cheb managers FC Nitra managers Dukla Prague managers Bohemians 1905 managers