Zdeněk Kroča (born 29 September 1980) 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 plays for

FC Fastav Zlín FC may refer to: Businesses, organisations, and schools * Fergusson College, a science and arts college in Pune, India * Finncomm Airlines (IATA code) * FranklinCovey company, NYSE stock symbol FC * Frontier Corps, a paramilitary force in Paki ...

as a defender.

Career

Born in

Zlín Zlín (in 1949–1989 Gottwaldov; ; ) is a city in the Czech Republic. It has about 75,000 inhabitants. It is the seat of the Zlín Region and it lies on the Dřevnice River. It is known as an industrial centre. The development of the modern city ...

Zlín Region Zlín Region () is an administrative unit () of the Czech Republic, located in the south-eastern part of the historical region of Moravia. It is named after its capital Zlín. Together with the Olomouc Region it forms a cohesion area of Central M ...

, Kroča started his career as a youth player for

FC Tescoma Zlín FC may refer to: Businesses, organisations, and schools * Fergusson College, a science and arts college in Pune, India * Finncomm Airlines (IATA code) * FranklinCovey company, NYSE stock symbol FC * Frontier Corps, a paramilitary force in Paki ...

and was promoted to the senior side in 2000. He started his first game for Zlín in the

2002–03 Gambrinus liga The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

season, and went on to play 104 league games until the end of the 2005–06 season as the club consolidated themselves in 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 ...

. Kroča was linked to a move to then-

Slovak Superliga The Slovak First Football League (), officially known as Niké liga for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Slovakia and the highest level of the Slovak football league system. It was formed in 1993 following th ...

champions Artmedia Bratislava in January 2006. He played on trial in a friendly game, though Artmedia opted against signing him, stating he was too similar to players already at the club. He joined German Regionalliga Süd side

Sportfreunde Siegen Sportfreunde Siegen is a German association football club based in Siegen, North Rhine-Westphalia. After going through insolvency in 2008, the first team was forcibly relegated to the fifth-tier NRW-Liga. Promotion to fourth division Regionallig ...

loan In finance, a loan is the tender of money by one party to another with an agreement to pay it back. The recipient, or borrower, incurs a debt and is usually required to pay interest for the use of the money. The document evidencing the deb ...

for the start of the 2006–07 season, playing in seven matches and scoring once. Kroča signed a new contract with Zlín the next season, once again becoming a regular in the team. Zlín were relegated to the

Czech 2. Liga The Czech National Football League (, ''FNL''), known as Chance Národní Liga due to sponsorship reasons, is the second level professional association football league in the Czech Republic. Before 2013 it was known as 2. liga or Druhá liga. The ...

at the end of the 2008–09 season. He stayed at the club for one more year before his contract ended. He signed for English

Conference Premier The National League, officially known as Vanarama National League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in England. The National League is the first division of the National Leagues and step 1 of the National Le ...

team

Luton Town Luton Town Football Club is a professional association football, football club from Luton, Bedfordshire, England. The club currently competes in EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system. Nicknamed "The Hatters", L ...

on 4 August 2010 on a one-year contract following a successful trial period. He scored on his competitive Luton debut in a 2–1 victory over

Altrincham Altrincham ( , locally ) is a market town in Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, south of the River Mersey. It is southwest of Manchester, southwest of Sale, Greater Manchester, Sale and east of Warrington. At the 2021 United Kingdom ce ...

. He then scored two further goals in the opening weeks of the season against Newport County and

AFC Wimbledon AFC Wimbledon is an English professional association football club based in Wimbledon, London, Wimbledon, London Borough of Merton, London. The team competes in , the third tier of the English football league system. The club was founded in ...

. Kroča signed for

Scottish Premier League The Scottish Premier League (SPL) was the Scottish football league system, top-level league competition for professional Association football, football clubs in Scotland. The league was founded in 1998, when it broke away from the Scottish Foo ...

side

Kilmarnock Kilmarnock ( ; ; , ), meaning "the church of Mernóc", is a town and former burgh in East Ayrshire situated in southwest Scotland. The town has served as the administrative centre of East Ayrshire Council since 1996 and is the region's main ...

when his Luton contract expired on 30 June 2011. Kroča made his SPL debut on Sunday 24 July 2011 in a 1–1 draw against Dundee United at Tannadice Park. Kroča scored his first goal for

in a 3–2 win against Dunfermline Athletic at Rugby Park on 10 September 2011. On 18 March, he played in the 2012 Scottish League Cup Final which Kilmarnock won after beating

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language *Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Foot ...

1–0. Kroča returned home to the Czech Republic and on 2 July 2012 signed a two-year contract with the club he had spent most of his career at, FC Fastav Zlín.

Honours

;Kilmarncock *

Scottish League Cup The Scottish League Cup, also known as the Premier Sports Cup for sponsorship reasons, is a football competition open to all Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) clubs. First held in 1946–47, it is the oldest national League cup in ...

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kroca, Zdenek 1980 births Living people Footballers from Zlín Czech men's footballers Men's association football defenders Expatriate men's footballers in Germany Czech expatriate sportspeople in Germany Czech expatriate sportspeople in England FC Zlín players Sportfreunde Siegen players Luton Town F.C. players Kilmarnock F.C. players National League (English football) players Expatriate men's footballers in Scotland Czech First League players Regionalliga players Scottish Premier League players Czech expatriate men's footballers 21st-century Czech sportsmen