Michal Pospíšil (born 3 May 1979) is 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 ...

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 currently plays for UMF Grindavík.

Career

Pospíšil began his career as a youth player with Slavoj Zbraslav and

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 ...

before joining

Sparta Prague Athletic Club Sparta Praha (), commonly known as Sparta Prague and Sparta Praha, is a professional football club based in Prague. It is the most successful club in the Czech Republic and one of the most successful in central Europe, winning t ...

in 1992. He eventually made the senior squad and played in the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by List of top-division football clubs in UEFA countries, top-divisio ...

before spending two years on loan at

FK Chmel Blšany FK Chmel Blšany was a Czech football club based in the village of Blšany. The club played in the Czech First League between 1998 and 2006 and was the first professional club of goalkeeper Petr Čech. The club disbanded in 2016 after resigning f ...

(1998–2000). He then moved on to

FK Viktoria Žižkov FK Viktoria Žižkov is a Czech professional football club from the district of Žižkov in Prague. The club competes in the Czech National Football League, the second tier of football in the country. It won the Czechoslovak First League title ...

in July 2000 and in addition to playing in the

UEFA Cup The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

, he helped Viktoria 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 July 2001, with a 2–1 victory over

. The following season he was part of the Viktoria side that achieved a third-place finish in the league. After the championships Pospíšil returned to Sparta Prague, where he once again played in the

and immediately helped his club win the

Gambrinus liga 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 ...

. In July 2003 he was recruited by

FC 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 ...

where he scored 16 goals in 52 games and helped his club finish in the top half of the league in the two seasons he was there. In August 2005 Pospíšil became

George Burley George Elder Burley (born 3 June 1956) is a Scottish former football player and manager. He had a professional career spanning 21 years as a player, making 628 league appearances and earning 11 Scotland caps. His most successful spell came whi ...

's fourth signing for Heart of Midlothian, joining the

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

side for a fee of £300,000. He made his Hearts debut as a substitute in a 3–0 victory at

Dundee United Dundee United Football Club is a Scotland, Scottish professional association football, football club based in the city of Dundee. Formed in 1909, originally as Dundee Hibernian, the club changed to the present name in 1923. United are nickname ...

on 14 August 2006 and scored his first goal for the club the next week, a spectacular effort against

Aberdeen Aberdeen ( ; ; ) is a port city in North East Scotland, and is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, third most populous Cities of Scotland, Scottish city. Historically, Aberdeen was within the historic county of Aberdeensh ...

. He was predominantly deployed as a substitute over the course of the 2005-06 season yet managed to score 7 league goals. He also scored the crucial fourth penalty in the

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,penalty shootout The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pe ...

victory over Gretna. After an injury-disrupted start to the 2006-07 season, Pospíšil scored on his return to the first team on 2 January 2007 to give Hearts victory over

Dunfermline Athletic Dunfermline Athletic Football Club is a Scottish professional football club based in the city of Dunfermline, Fife. Founded in 1885, the club currently compete in the after winning the 2022–23 Scottish League One title. Dunfermline play at ...

. He was the subject of a £100,000 bid from

Bristol City Bristol City Football Club is a professional football club based in Bristol, England. The team compete in the , the second level of the English football league system. Founded in 1894, the club competed in the Southern League and Western L ...

in January 2007, however, while agreement was reached between the clubs, Pospíšil could not agree personal terms with the ''Robins'' and decided to remain in Edinburgh. On 19 January 2008 he was transferred to

K. Sint-Truidense V.V. Koninklijke Sint-Truidense Voetbalvereniging (), commonly known as Sint-Truiden or STVV () or by their nickname De Kanaries (), is a Belgian professional football club located in the city of Sint-Truiden in Limburg. Sint-Truiden plays in the Bel ...

(373) in Belgium. He returned to

one year later, making his debut on 22 February 2009. After a short spell playing for

Střížkov Střížkov () is a cadastral area of Prague, Czech Republic, divided between the districts of Prague 8 and Prague 9. Střížkov has 15,705 inhabitants as of 2021. Demographics Transport Střížkov station on the Prague Metro's Line C ser ...

, he signed for Icelandic club UMF Grindavík.

International career

In May 2002 he was selected in Czech Republic under-21 team for the

UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship The UEFA European Under-21 Championship, the UEFA Under-21 Championship or simply the Euro Under-21, is a biennial football competition contested by the European men's under-21 national teams of the UEFA member associations. Since 1992, the comp ...

. This side won the tournament, defeating France under-21s 3–1 on penalties in the final, with Pospíšil scoring the first penalty in the

penalty shootout The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pe ...

in which former Hearts teammate Rudolf Skácel also netted. He remains the only one the 14 Czech players who played that day to not receive a full international cap. In total he made 21 appearances at under 21 level.

References

External links

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Appearances
at londonhearts.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Pospisil, Michal 1979 births Living people Czech men's footballers Czech Republic men's youth international footballers Czech Republic men's under-21 international footballers Scottish Premier League players Czech First League players AC Sparta Prague players FK Chmel Blšany players FK Viktoria Žižkov players FC Slovan Liberec players FK Bohemians Prague (Střížkov) players Heart of Midlothian F.C. players Sint-Truidense V.V. players Czech expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Scotland Expatriate men's footballers in Belgium Men's association football forwards Grindavík (men's football) players Footballers from Prague