Václav Daněk (born 22 December 1960) 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 forward. He played 22 matches 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 ...

and scored nine goals. At club level in total, Daněk scored 197 league goals in 402 games.

Club career

Daněk scored the first goal on his debut for Baník Ostrava in a 6–0 victory against Orduspor at the

1979–80 UEFA Cup The 1979–80 UEFA Cup was the ninth season of the UEFA Cup, the third-tier club football competition organised by UEFA. The final was played in West Germany over two legs, at the Bökelbergstadion., Mönchengladbach, and at the Waldstadio ...

. This witnessed the golden era in the club's history, contributing to two Czechoslovak First League championships.

International career

After the

1990 FIFA World Cup The 1990 FIFA World Cup was the 14th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial Association football, football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was held from 8 June to 8 July 1990 in Italy, the second country to host the event for a second ...

, Jozef Vengloš was replaced by Milan Máčala, who gave Daněk his full confidence, making him the team's new

standard bearer A standard-bearer, also known as a colour-bearer or flag-bearer, is a person who bears an emblem known as a Standard (flag), standard or Military colours, standards and guidons, military colours, i.e. either a type of flag or an inflexible ...

and first pick-up choice for the attack. A few days prior to the UEFA Euro 1992 qualifying match between

and

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

in 1991, Daněk's infant son was badly injured in an accident and had to be hospitalized, leading Daněk to declare himself unavailable for the match. In the following days, all three other Czech strikers were injured during training or in their league matches, which left Máčala completely without forwards. He called Daněk just hours before the match, to which the latter agreed. Without any previous training or tactical coaching advice, Daněk played the game. With Spain leading 2–1, he scored twice in the second half against Andoni Zubizarreta and was named

Man of the Match In team sport, a player of the match award (also known as man of the match or woman of the match) is often given to the most outstanding player in a particular match. This can be a player from either team, although the player is generally chose ...

Style of play

His strong temper contributed towards him not being picked for the

squad that reached the quarter-finals of the 1990 FIFA World Cup, when he was at the peak of his career in Austria, playing for FC Tirol Innsbruck. Despite this, Daněk was selected Best Player in the Austrian league and finished top scorer three consecutive seasons which allowed him to finish third in the 1991 European Golden Boot contest sponsored by the magazine ''

France Football ''France Football'' is a French monthly magazine containing football news from all over the world. It is considered to be one of the most reputable sports publications in Europe, mostly because of its photographic reports, in-depth and exclus ...

''.

Personal life

Daněk's has two children, including Jan, who played football in the Czech First League in the 2000s. After retiring from professional football, Daněk began construction of an indoor swimming pool in Brušperk in 2015. He lives in Brušperek and occasionally appears on TV as co-host.

References

External links

Hall of Fame
at Dukla Prague {{DEFAULTSORT:Danek, Vaclav 1960 births Living people Footballers from Ostrava Czech men's footballers Czechoslovak men's footballers FC Baník Ostrava players Dukla Prague footballers Le Havre AC players FC Wacker Innsbruck players Ligue 1 players Austrian Football Bundesliga players Czechoslovakia men's international footballers Czech expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in France Expatriate men's footballers in Austria Czech football managers Expatriate football managers in Slovakia FK Dukla Banská Bystrica managers Czechoslovak expatriate men's footballers Czechoslovak expatriate sportspeople in France Czechoslovak expatriate sportspeople in Austria Czech expatriate sportspeople in Austria Czech expatriate sportspeople in Slovakia FK Vítkovice managers 1. FK Drnovice managers Men's association football forwards FC Tirol Innsbruck players FC Swarovski Tirol players