Martin Jiránek (; born 25 May 1979 in

Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

) is a former

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 ...

international

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 ...

. A defender, Jiránek played in the top division of several countries. Jiránek played in a number of international tournaments for his country. In 2002, he was part of the Czech under 21 side which won the

2002 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship UEFA European Under-21 Championship 2002 was the 13th staging of UEFA's European Under-21 Championship. The final tournament was hosted by Switzerland between 16 and 28 May 2002. Czech Republic U-21s won the competition for the first time. Qu ...

in Switzerland. He subsequently travelled with the senior international squad for the

Euro 2004 The 2004 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as Euro 2004, was the 12th edition of the UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial football competition contested by the men's national teams of UEFA member associations. Th ...

and

2006 World Cup The 2006 FIFA World Cup was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to host the event in July 2000. Teams represe ...

tournaments.

Career

Club

Early career

Jiránek started his professional career in 1997 for Bohemians Prague, making 55 appearances, before leaving for

Slovan Liberec FC Slovan Liberec (), commonly referred to as Slovan Liberec or simply Slovan, is a Czech professional association football, football club based in the city of Liberec. The club is one of the most successful in the Czech Republic, having won thr ...

in 1999. He made 32 appearances, and helped Slovan to win the

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 ...

in the 1999/2000 season.

Reggina

In 2001, Jiranek moved to Italian

Serie B The Serie B (), officially known as Serie BKT for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie A. It has been operating for over ninety years since the 1929–30 season. It had b ...

side Reggina. In his time at Reggina, Jiranek would make 100 league appearances, helping Reggina gain promotion to

Serie A The Serie A (), officially known as Serie A Enilive in Italy and Serie A Made in Italy abroad for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Italy and the highest tier of the Italian football league system. Establish ...

in the 2001/02 season.

Spartak Moscow

Spartak Moscow signed Jiránek in 2004 for €4.7m from Reggina.Martin Jiránek - biography, stats, rating, footballer’s profile , Football Top.com
/ref> Jiránek made his debut against

FC Lokomotiv Moscow FC Lokomotiv Moscow (, ) is a Russian professional association football, football club based in Moscow. Lokomotiv have won the Russian Premier League on three occasions; the Soviet Cup twice; and the Russian Cup (football), Russian Cup a record ...

. Jiránek was a regular in the starting line-up for six years. Jiránek was the captain of the team in 2009–2010.

Birmingham City

On 31 August 2010, he moved to English

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

club

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. The team compete in the ...

, signing a one-year deal, having rejected offers from a variety of clubs. Jiránek made his debut in the starting eleven for the League Cup third-round match against

MK Dons Milton Keynes Dons Football Club, usually abbreviated to MK Dons, is a professional association football club based in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, England. The team competes in EFL League Two, the fourth level of the English football leag ...

, and had a good chance to score as Birmingham won 3–1. His second start came in a tidy performance as several first-team regulars were rested for the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

third round tie against

Millwall Millwall is a district on the western and southern side of the Isle of Dogs, in east London, England, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It lies to the immediate south of Canary Wharf and Poplar, north of Greenwich and Deptford, east of ...

which Birmingham won 4–1. After

Scott Dann Scott Dann (born 14 February 1987) is an English professional association football, footballer who plays as a centre back. He began his Football League career with Walsall F.C., Walsall, before moving on to Coventry City F.C., Coventry City an ...

was injured in the first leg of the League Cup semi-final against

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is a professional Association football, football club based in Stratford, London, Stratford, East London, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English f ...

, Jiránek became a regular starter, and he was in the starting eleven as Birmingham beat favourites

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

2–1 in the League Cup Final at

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium, currently branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE Limited, EE for sponsorship reasons, is an association football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Sta ...

. A toe injury that eventually required surgery disrupted the latter part of his season, and following Birmingham's relegation from the Premier League, he rejected the option of another season with the club.

Terek Grozny

In July 2011, Jiránek signed a two-year contract with

Russian Premier League The Russian Premier League (RPL; , ''Rossiyskaya premyer-liga''; РПЛ), also written as Russian Premier Liga, is a professional association football league in Russia and the highest level of the Russian football league system. It was establis ...

club

Terek Grozny Republican Football Club Akhmat (; ), commonly known as Akhmat Grozny, and formerly as Terek Grozny from 1958 to 2017, is a Russian professional football club based in Grozny that plays in the Russian Premier League. History The club was foun ...

. In his second season with the club he scored a goal from 45 yards in the league game against Kuban Krasnodar.

International

Jiránek was part of the Czech side which won the UEFA U-21 Championships in 2002. He made his senior international debut against

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

in 2002. Jiránek's first major international tournament came at

, where he made 4 appearances before being ruled out of the semi-final with a thigh injury. He also was named in the

squad for the

, but despite playing 5 qualifying matches, he did not make an appearance at the finals. He appeared in 5 qualifying matches for

Euro 2008 The 2008 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2008 or simply Euro 2008, was the 13th UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial football tournament contested by the member nations of UEFA (the Union of European ...

, but was not named in the Czech squad due to an ankle injury. His 31st (and as of February 2011, last) appearance was in March 2007, against Germany - after which, he was fined for his involvement in a birthday party with prostitutes.

Career statistics

Club

International

''Statistics accurate as of match played 28 March 2007''

Honours

Slovan Liberec *

: 1999–2000 Birmingham City *

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 ...

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Jiranek, Martin 1979 births Living people Footballers from Prague Men's association football defenders Czech men's footballers Czech Republic men's under-21 international footballers Czech Republic men's international footballers UEFA Euro 2004 players 2006 FIFA World Cup players Bohemians 1905 players FC Slovan Liberec players AS Reggina 1914 players FC Spartak Moscow players Birmingham City F.C. players Czech First League players Serie A players Serie B players Russian Premier League players Premier League players Czech expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Expatriate men's footballers in Russia Expatriate men's footballers in England FC Akhmat Grozny players FC Tom Tomsk players FK Příbram players FK Dukla Prague players 21st-century Czech sportsmen