Jiří Pavlenka (born 14 April 1992) is a 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 plays 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

Super League Greece The Super League Greece 1 (), or Stoiximan Super League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Greece and the highest level of the Greek football league system. The league was formed on 16 July 2006 and repla ...

club

PAOK PAOK (, Πανθεσσαλονίκειος Αθλητικός Όμιλος Κωνσταντινοπολιτών, ''Panthessalonikeios Athlitikós Ómilos Constantinopoliton'', ''Pan-Thessalonian Athletic Club of Constantinopolitans''), commonly ...

and the Czech Republic national team.

Club career

Slavia Prague

Pavlenka joined

Slavia Prague Sportovní klub Slavia Praha – fotbal (Sports Club Slavia Prague – Football, ), commonly known as Slavia Praha or Slavia Prague, is a Czech professional football club in Prague. Founded in 1892, they are the second most successful club in t ...

from

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''. ...

in January 2016 for a transfer fee of €380,000. He won the league title with Slavia Prague in the

2016–17 Czech First League The 2016–17 Czech First League, known as the ePojisteni.cz liga for sponsorship reasons, was the 24th season of the Czech Republic's top-tier football league. Slavia Prague won the league, while defending champions Viktoria Plzeň finished in s ...

season.

Werder Bremen

In June 2017, Pavlenka joined

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 ...

signing a three-year contract with the option of a fourth year. The transfer fee was estimated at €3 million. In August 2018, following a strong debut season in the Bundesliga, Pavlenka agreed a contract extension with the club. After the seventh matchday of the 2023–24 season, Pavlenka was replaced by Michael Zetterer as Bremen's first-choice goalkeeper and did not appear in any more matches for the rest of the season. His contract was not extended, and he left Bremen at the end of the season, after seven years at the club.

PAOK

On 30 September 2024,

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player or manager who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under a contract at present ...

Pavlenka moved to reigning

champions

. He signed a one-year contract with the option of a further year.

International career

Having represented under-21, Pavlenka received his first call-up to the senior

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

side for a friendly against

Slovakia Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's m ...

in March 2015. He debuted for the senior side on 15 November 2016 in a

friendly match An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, scrimmage, demonstration, training match, pre-season game, warmup match, or preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sport, sporting event whose prize money and impact on th ...

against

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

. Along with other Czech players in Bundesliga, Pavlenka was called for the

2022 FIFA World Cup qualification The 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification was the FIFA World Cup qualification, qualifying process which decided the 31 teams that would join hosts Qatar national football team, Qatar, who received an automatic spot, at the 2022 FIFA World Cup. Par ...

in March 2021, and was allegedly only available for the first match against

Estonia Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and to the east by Ru ...

. However, due to

COVID-19 pandemic in Germany The COVID-19 pandemic in Germany has resulted in confirmed cases of COVID-19 and deaths. On 27 January 2020, the first case in Germany was confirmed near Munich, Bavaria. By mid February, the arising cluster of cases had been fully contained ...

, the German government removed the necessity for players to undergo a mandatory two-week quarantine after returning to Germany, which the Bundesliga clubs discouraged. In May 2021, Pavlenka was included in the 23-man Czech squad for the rescheduled

UEFA Euro 2020 The 2020 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2020 or simply Euro 2020, was the 16th UEFA European Championship, the Anniversary#Latin-derived numerical names, quadrennial international men's association footb ...

. He was injured during a match against

, later replaced by Tomáš Koubek and Vaclík.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Slavia Prague *

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 ...

: 2016–17 Czech Republic *

China Cup The China Cup International Football Championship () is an annual association football tournament organized in China by Wanda Sports Holdings. The Championship was inaugurated in 2017 as a single-elimination tournament A single-elimination kn ...

bronze:

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Pavlenka, Jiri 1992 births Living people People from Hlučín Czech men's footballers Footballers from the Moravian-Silesian Region Men's association football goalkeepers Czech Republic men's international footballers Czech Republic men's under-21 international footballers Czech First League players Bundesliga players 2. Bundesliga players FC Baník Ostrava players SK Slavia Prague players SV Werder Bremen players PAOK FC players Czech expatriate men's footballers Czech expatriate sportspeople in Germany Expatriate men's footballers in Germany Czech expatriate sportspeople in Greece Expatriate men's footballers in Greece 21st-century Czech sportsmen