Tomáš Řepka (born 2 January 1974) is a Czech former 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 played as a

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

for Baník Ostrava,

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 ...

Fiorentina ACF Fiorentina, commonly referred to as Fiorentina (), is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football clubs in Italy, club based in Florence, Tuscany. The original team was founded by a merger in August 1926, while ...

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 ...

and

České Budějovice České Budějovice (; ) is a city in the South Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 97,000 inhabitants. The city is located in the valley of the Vltava River, at its confluence with the Malše. České Budějovice is the largest ...

, and the Czech national team. Currently, Řepka is playing amateur football for Sokol Červené Janovice.

Club career

Řepka began his career with Baník Ostrava, where he played from 1990 to 1995. He then joined

, where he spent almost three years, before moving to Italian

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 ...

club

. He joined

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

early in Glenn Roeder's tenure as manager, for a then club record fee of £5.5 million in September 2001. Řepka was sent off on his West Ham debut for two bookable offences, missed a match through suspension, and was sent off again in the third match he played for the club. He went on to form a central defensive partnership with Christian Dailly before the club's

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to the second-tier

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, although he gained a reputation for his disciplinary record, and received ten yellow cards that first season. After relegation at the end of the 2002–03 season, the appointment of Alan Pardew as manager saw Řepka move to right-back. In the summer of 2005, after the club had regained their Premier League status, he was re-signed by Pardew on a two-year contract, albeit on reduced terms, but left the club in January 2006 to return to the Czech Republic to be with his family. He played his final match for West Ham on 23 January against

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies in a loop on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea, London, Chelsea ...

. In 2006, Řepka returned to Sparta Prague. In 2009, he won the Personality of the League award at the Czech Footballer of the Year awards. In December 2011, Řepka left Sparta Prague following a mutually agreed early termination of his contract. After the termination of his contract with Sparta Prague, he signed with Dynamo České Budějovice, becoming a stable member of the first team and helped his team to avoid relegation in the 2011–12 season. However, his contract was terminated by his team in November 2012. After negotiations with 1. FK Příbram had broken down, he accepted a non-player role with Baník Most. After three months, Řepka quit his manager role due to disagreements with new club leaders. In the summer of 2018, Řepka returned to football, joining Czech amateur club Panthers Čelákovice. Řepka captained the side on his debut, attracting 300 spectators for the side's 2–1 loss against Záluží. In March 2019, Řepka joined Hostivař. In August 2020, Řepka signed for Sokol Červené Janovice. In January 2021, Řepka's son, Tomasso, joined him at Červené Janovice.

International career

After making his international debut for

Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...

in June 1993 against the

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, Řepka played 45 times for the

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 ...

between 1994 and 2001. He missed

UEFA Euro 1996 The 1996 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as Euro 96, was the 10th UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial Association football, football tournament contested by European nations and organised by UEFA. It took place in ...

due to a two-match suspension for a red card. However, he played for his country at

Euro 2000 The 2000 UEFA European Football Championship, also known as Euro 2000, was the 11th UEFA European Championship, a football tournament held every four years and organised by UEFA, the sport's governing body in Europe. The finals tournament was ...

, where the Czech Republic was eliminated in the group stage.

Disciplinary problems

Řepka is notorious for his lack of self-control, aggression and disciplinary problems. During his professional career, he received twenty red cards (see table below). One scandal included attacking game officials and a TV cameraman in September 2007.

Personal life

Řepka was married for 16 years to Renáta Řepková, with whom he has a daughter Veronika and a son Tomasso. In May 2012, they divorced. In December 2011, he became engaged to a model Vlaďka Erbová. Their son Markus was born on 19 May 2012. The pair married in July 2013, but divorced in 2016. In August 2018, Řepka received a six-month jail sentence for advertising sexual services on the internet in the name of his ex-wife. The sentence was later reduced to a community order. In February 2019, Řepka was sentenced to 15 months in jail for fraud, pending appeal, after a Prague court heard how he sold a luxury rental car which he did not own. Two weeks later, Řepka was sentenced to nine months in jail after two previous suspended sentences for driving under the influence were converted into jail terms due to his other convictions.

Honours

Sparta 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 ...

: 1996–97, 1997–98, 2006–07, 2009–10 *

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 ...

: 1995–96, 2006–07, 2007–08 Fiorentina *

Coppa Italia Coppa Italia () is the annual domestic cup of Italian football. The knockout competition was organized by the DDS and the Lega Calcio until the 2009–10 season and by Lega Serie A ever since. Juventus is the competition's most successf ...

: 2000–01 West Ham United * Football League Championship play-offs:

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

Czech Republic *

Kirin Cup The is an association football tournament organised in Japan by the Kirin Brewery Company. The host, Japan national football team, Japan, is a participant in every edition. The tournament was founded in 1978 then known as Japan Cup (Internatio ...

: 1998 Individual *

Personality of the Year 2008–09 * Was chosen as a member of All stars team

during the years 1980–2010 by the Fans poll * Seventh-best Czech footballer of the decade (2000–10) by the Fans poll * Czech First League Second-best Defender between the Years 1993–2013 by the Fans poll

References

External links

Official page
*
Tomáš Řepka
at

Tomáš Řepka. Wild man.
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Repka, Tomas 1974 births Living people People from Slavičín Czech men's footballers Footballers from the Zlín Region Men's association football central defenders Czech Republic men's international footballers Czech Republic men's under-21 international footballers UEFA Euro 2000 players Czech First League players Serie A players Premier League players English Football League players ACF Fiorentina players FC Baník Ostrava players AC Sparta Prague players SK Dynamo České Budějovice players West Ham United F.C. players Czech expatriate men's footballers Czech expatriate sportspeople in Italy Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Czech expatriate sportspeople in England Expatriate men's footballers in England People convicted of fraud People convicted of cybercrime Czech fraudsters Czech prisoners and detainees Czech sportspeople convicted of crimes