Václav Ježek (1 October 1923 – 27 August 1995) was a Czech

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...

. Ježek is best known for being the serial manager at

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 ...

, one of the Czech Republic's most successful clubs, as well as helming the

Czechoslovakia national football team The Czechoslovakia national football team (, ) represented Czechoslovakia in men's international Association football, football from 1919 to 1993. The team was controlled by the Czechoslovak Football Association, and the team qualified for eight ...

to the 1976 UEFA European Football Championship triumph, the country's sole international title.

Career

Chiefly remembered more as a famous coach than as a player, he became coach of

for the first time in the 1960s, going on to transform the team and win two Czechoslovak titles, in 1965 and 1967. After this success, he left Czechoslovakia and moved to the Netherlands. From 1969 to 1972, he coached

ADO Den Haag Alles Door Oefening Den Haag (), commonly known by the abbreviated name ADO Den Haag (), is a Dutch association football club from the city of The Hague. They play in the Eerste Divisie, the second tier of Dutch football, following relegation ...

, leading them to third place in the Dutch league, before taking over as head coach of Czechoslovakia's national team. He created a new team of talented players including Ivo Viktor, Alexander Vencel, Antonín Panenka,

Ladislav Jurkemik Ladislav Jurkemik (born 20 July 1953) is a former Slovak football player and later a football manager. He played in the Czechoslovak First League for Inter Bratislava and Dukla Banská Bystrica. Jurkemik played internationally for Czechoslova ...

, Zdeněk Nehoda, Anton Ondruš, Jaroslav Pollák and Ján Pivarník. The team won the European Championships in 1976, beating West Germany in a penalty shoot-out in the final, but failed to qualify for the 1978 World Cup Finals. Ježek was replaced as head coach by his assistant Jozef Vengloš. Ježek moved back to the Netherlands in 1978 as coach of

Feyenoord Feyenoord Rotterdam () is a Netherlands, Dutch professional association football, football club based in Rotterdam, which plays in the Eredivisie, the top tier in Dutch football league system, Dutch football. Founded as Wilhelmina in 1908, the ...

. His best league finish with the Rotterdam club was second in 1979. On leaving Feyenoord in 1982, Ježek was twice coach of Sparta Prague again in the next decade, and started a long period of success for the club, winning the Czechoslovak title several times. In 1993, he became the provisional head coach of the joint Czech-Slovak team, formed after the Czech Republic and Slovakia split in November 1992, in the qualifiers for the 1994 World Cup. During the 1990s he also continued as a member of the managerial stuff of Slavia Prague. He also coached

FC Zürich Fussballclub Zürich, commonly abbreviated to FC Zürich or simply FCZ, is a professional football club based in Zurich, Switzerland. The club was founded in 1896 and has won the Swiss Super League thirteen times and the Swiss Cup ten times. ...

. Ježek died in Prague in 1995, at the age of 71.

Honours

Manager

Sparta Prague *

Czechoslovak First League The Czechoslovak First League (, ) was the premier football (soccer), football league in the Czechoslovakia from 1925 to 1993, with the exception of World War II. Czechoslovakia was occupied by German forces who formed Gauliga Sudetenland and Ga ...

: 1964–65, 1966–67, 1983–84, 1986–87, 1987–88, 1990–91 *

Czechoslovak Cup The Czechoslovak Cup () was a football cup competition held in Czechoslovakia. It was officially created in 1960 and folded in 1993 with the split between Czech Republic and Slovakia. The cup was played throughout Czechoslovakia until 1968–69. F ...

: 1983–84, 1987–88 Feyenoord *

KNVB Cup The KNVB Beker (; ), branded as the TOTO KNVB Beker for sponsorship reasons, is a competition in the Netherlands organised by the Royal Dutch Football Association (KNVB) since 1898. It was based on the format of the English FA Cup. Outside the N ...

: 1979–80 Czechoslovakia *

UEFA European Championship The UEFA European Football Championship, less formally the European Championship and informally the Euro or Euros, is the primary association football tournament organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA). The competition ...

1976 Events January * January 2 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 18 – Full diplomatic ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Jezek, Vaclav 1923 births 1995 deaths Slovak football managers Czechoslovak football managers Czechoslovakia national football team managers AC Sparta Prague managers UEFA Euro 1976 managers UEFA European Championship–winning managers ADO Den Haag managers Feyenoord managers FC Zürich managers Sportspeople from Zvolen Expatriate football managers in the Netherlands Expatriate football managers in Switzerland Czech expatriate football managers Czechoslovak expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Czechoslovak expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland