Zdeněk Ščasný (born 9 August 1957) is 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 and former player. Ščasný has won the Czech league championship five timesthree times as a player and twice as a coachand 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 ...

three timestwice as a player and once as a coach. He is best known for his years with

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 ...

both as a player and a manager. He played as a defender and also in midfield.Ceský a ceskoslovenský fotbal - lexikon osobností a klubu
by Luboš Jeřábek; Grada Publishing; Prague; 2007; ; via

Google Books Google Books (previously known as Google Book Search, Google Print, and by its code-name Project Ocean) is a service from Google that searches the full text of books and magazines that Google has scanned, converted to text using optical charac ...

He has also coached

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

giants Panathinaikos.

Playing career

Early career, Dukla Prague and first title

Zdenek Ščasný in his youth played for Spartak Roudnice nad Labem. At 17 years old he moved to

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 ...

, where he made his

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 ...

debut. Ščasný spent four years with Dukla Prague, and won the Czechoslovak First League in 1976–77.

Sparta Prague and more titles

In 1978 Ščasný moved to

, where he remained until 1985. With Sparta, Ščasný won the

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 ...

in 1979–80, a Czechoslovak League and Cup double in 1983–84, and the league again in 1984–85.

Late career

In 1985 Ščasný joined Bohemians, playing there for four and a half seasons. After Bohemians Ščasný played with Agro Slušovice for a short time and then moved to

Cyprus Cyprus (), officially the Republic of Cyprus, is an island country in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Situated in West Asia, its cultural identity and geopolitical orientation are overwhelmingly Southeast European. Cyprus is the List of isl ...

to play for Anagennisi Dherynia before ending his playing career.

International career

During his career Ščasný earned four caps as a Czechoslovakia national team player, making his debut against

on 27 March 1983. He also made five appearances for the Czechoslovakia national under-21 football team in 1979.

Managerial career

Early career

Ščasný began his coaching career by acting as a player-coach at Anagennisi Dherynia, and he later supervised the youth there. Ščasný returned to his homeland in 1993, and, after working with some smaller clubs, he became an assistant coach at Sparta Prague in 1996.

Sparta Prague

In the middle of the 1997–98 season Ščasný took over as Sparta's head coach and led the team to the 1. Liga championship. The following season Ščasný and Sparta repeated as league champions.

FK Viktoria Žižkov

After his second league championship with Sparta, Ščasný took over

Viktoria Žižkov Viktoria usually refers to Viktoria, a name which is the same as Victoria (name), but may also refer to: Places * FK Viktoria Stadion, stadium of Viktoria Žižkov * Viktoria-Luise-Platz, building in Berlin * Viktoriastadt, now known as Victor ...

in 1999–2000. Ščasný spent three seasons with Žižkov, guiding them to great improvement year after year, as the team finished 9th-place in 1999–2000, 5th-place in 2000–01, and 3rd-placethe club's highest-ever finishin 2001–02. In 2000–01 Ščasný led Žižkov to win the

in 2000–01the club's first title since 1993–94.

Greece: OFI Crete and Panathinaikos

After leaving Žižkov, Ščasný moved to

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

to be the head coach of

OFI Crete OFI Football Club (, ''Heraklion Sportsmen Club 1925 FC''), commonly referred to as OFI, is a Greek professional Association football, football club based in Heraklion, on the island of Crete. It is part of the O.F.I. (sports club), OFI mul ...

. Ščasný led OFI to an 8th-place finish in his first season with the club. Scasny had very poor relations with many of the players at OFI and by the time he left the club the situation between him and many of the players was terrible. His work at OFI led Greek giants Panathinaikos to hire him early in the 2004–05 season to replace Itzhak Shum. Ščasný took over in the middle of Panathinaikos'

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 ...

campaign, and with two impressive draws against

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

, another draw in

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

against Rosenborg and a resounding win over

PSV Eindhoven Philips Sport Vereniging (; ), abbreviated as PSV and internationally known as PSV Eindhoven (), is a Dutch sports club from Eindhoven, Netherlands. It is best known for its professional association football, football department, which has pla ...

Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

, Ščasný guided the Greek side to finish 3rd in a difficult group, thus moving them to 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 ...

. Before Panathinaikos began the UEFA Cup competition later that season though, Ščasný was replaced in favor of Alberto Malesani.

FK SIAD Most

In the middle of the 2005–06 season modest Czech side FK SIAD Most was in its first-ever season in the Czech top flight, and was in danger of being relegated right back to the second division. Most turned to Ščasný during the winter break, Ščasný helped Most stay in the top flight that season, boosting the team to a surprising 10th-place finish. In the 2006–07 Gambrinus liga Ščasný's Most finished 12th and again remained in the first division. However, Ščasný left Most at the end of the season by mutual consent.

Mladá Boleslav

After leaving Most, Ščasný took over at

Mladá Boleslav Mladá Boleslav (; ) is a city in the Central Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 47,000 inhabitants. It lies on the left bank of the Jizera (river), Jizera River. Mladá Boleslav is the second most populated city in the region. I ...

early in the 2007–08 season. Boleslav was competing in the UEFA Cup that season, and in the first round of the competition Ščasný helped Boleslav pull off a stunning elimination of Italian club

Palermo Palermo ( ; ; , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital (political), capital of both the autonomous area, autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan province. The ...

by winning 1–0 in the second leg of the tie in Italy. In the group stage of the competition, Boleslav finished 4th, behind

Villarreal Villarreal (officially, in ) is a city and municipality in the province of Castellón which is part of the Valencian Community in the east of Spain. The town is located at 42 m above sea level, 7 km to the south of the province's capital ( ...

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 ...

and

AEK Athens A.E.K. (; Athlitikí Énosis Konstantinoupόleos, ''Athletic Union of Constantinople'') is a major Greek multi-sport club based in Nea Filadelfeia, Attica. The club is more commonly known in European competitions as A.E.K. Athens. Establishe ...

. Boleslav parted ways with Ščasný before the end of the season.

Return to FK Viktoria Žižkov

In the middle of the 2008–09 season Žižkov were bottom of the table and likely to be relegated. Žižkov turned to Ščasný for help for the final 16 matches of the season, but it was too late - Ščasný could not save the club and they were relegated to the second division.

Debreceni VSC

On 30 December 2010 Ščasný signed a two-year contract with Hungarian champions,

Debreceni VSC Debreceni Vasutas Sport Club is a Hungarian professional football club based in Debrecen that competes in the Nemzeti Bajnokság I, the first tier of Hungarian football. They are best known internationally for reaching the group stages of the U ...

. On 16 April 2011, he left the Hungarian club, after he failed to deliver sufficient wins.

Return to Czech football

In October 2012 Ščasný returned to Czech football after a three-year absence, taking over at

FK Teplice FK Teplice is a Czech professional football club based in the city of Teplice. The club competes in Czech First League, the top tier of Czech football. The club was founded after World War II in 1945. The club advanced to the Czechoslovak First ...

Personal life

Zdenek's son

Michal Michal (; ; ) was, according to the first Book of Samuel, a princess of the United Kingdom of Israel; the younger daughter of King Saul, she was the first wife of David (), who later became king, first of Judah, then of all Israel, maki ...

and daughter Pavlína are both professional footballers.

Managerial statistics

Honours

As player

Dukla Prague *

: 1976–77 Sparta Prague *

: 1983–84, 1984–85 *

: 1979–80, 1983–84

As manager

Sparta Prague * 1. Liga: 1997–98, 1998–99, runner-up 2014-15, runner-up 2015–16 Viktoria Žižkov *

: 2000–01 * 1. Liga: 3rd place 2001–02

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Scasny, Zdenek 1957 births Living people Footballers from Brno Men's association football defenders Men's association football midfielders Czech men's footballers Czech football managers Czech expatriate football managers Czech First League managers Czechoslovak men's footballers Czechoslovakia men's under-21 international footballers Czechoslovakia men's international footballers Cypriot Second Division players Bohemians 1905 players Dukla Prague footballers AC Sparta Prague players Anagennisi Deryneia FC players AC Sparta Prague managers OFI Crete F.C. managers Debreceni VSC managers FK Baník Most 1909 managers FK Mladá Boleslav managers FK Viktoria Žižkov managers FK Teplice managers Expatriate men's footballers in Cyprus Czechoslovak expatriate men's footballers Czechoslovak expatriate sportspeople in Cyprus FK Viagem Ústí nad Labem managers Nemzeti Bajnokság I managers