Petr Čech
| Petr Cech | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Petr Čech | ||
| Height | 6'5½" / 1.97 m | ||
| Position(s) | Goalkeeper | ||
| Team information | |||
Current team | Chelsea F.C. | ||
| Number | 1 | ||
| ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of June 22, 2006 | |||
Petr Čech (born May 20, 1982 in Plzeň, Czechoslovakia) is a Czech international footballer who is currently a goalkeeper for Chelsea F.C.
He has earlier played for Viktoria Plzeň, Chmel Blšany, Sparta Prague, and Rennes. In 2005, Cech was voted best Goalkeeper in the UEFA Champions League tournament of 2004/2005 and was in the FIFPro and Champions League 2005/2006 team of the season. .
Club Career
FC Viktoria Plzeň 1989-1999
Čech started out as a midfielder for the youth team, occasionally taking the goalkeeping position in games. When he broke his leg at age 10, he opted to become the team's goalkeeper instead.
Blšany 1999-2001
Čech made his senior-level debut as a 17-year-old for FK Chmel Blšany in 1999.
Sparta Prague 2001-2002
Čech really came of age in the 2001/02 campaign following a €700,000 transfer to AC Sparta Praha. The young custodian won a first-team place four matches into the Czech season, and proceeded to set a national record by going 855 minutes without conceding a goal. Just for good measure, he began Sparta's UEFA Champions League campaign by shutting out holders FC Bayern München, and was not beaten until Matchday 5.
Rennes 2002-2004
After just one season at the Letná, Čech joined Stade Rennais FC in July 2002 for a reported fee of €5m. Not one of France’s glamour clubs, the Czech was virtually ever-present as Rennes preserved their Ligue 1 status and reached the Coupe de France semi-finals in 2003. He played all but five of Rennes' games as they finished ninth in the team's 2003-04 Ligue 1 season.
Chelsea 2004-Present
In January 2004, he agreed a summer move to Chelsea for £7m (€10.3m), signing a five-year contract.
When he arrived at Chelsea, there was uncertainty over whether he would be the first choice goalkeeper as Chelsea already had Carlo Cudicini, who many considered to be one of the best goalkeepers in the English League. Once the season started, he became the first choice goalkeeper at Chelsea, and has been solid between the posts for the club, because in preseason Cudicini made several mistakes that took him out of the first team.
On 5th March 2005 Čech set a new Premiership record of 1025 minutes without letting in a goal. He was finally beaten by Leon McKenzie of Norwich City. He had kept a clean sheet in the league since 12th December 2004 when Thierry Henry scored for Arsenal. Čech was given a special award by the Premier League for the new record, and he was also awarded the Golden Gloves at the end of the 2004-05 season for keeping a record 21 clean sheets. Chelsea retained the Premiership title in 2005-06, with Čech playing in all but two games in the League.
He signed a new contract on 1 February 2006 which will keep him at the club until 2010.
Čech underwent minor shoulder surgery on 27 June 2006 to repair a long-standing injury stemming from the previous English Premiership season. [1] [2] He recently returned to action on 27 August 2006 during Chelsea's Premier League match versus Blackburn, keeping a clean sheet, and pulling off several fantastic reaction saves.[3].
Statistics
| Club | Season | Apps. | Goals | Yellow Cards |
Red Cards |
Clean Sheets |
| Chelsea | 2006-2007** | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Chelsea | 2005-2006* | 34 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 21 |
| Chelsea | 2004-2005 | 37 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 21 |
| Rennes | 2003-2004 | 33 | 0 | 1 | 12 | |
| Rennes | 2002-2003 | 37 | 0 | 12 | ||
| Sparta Prague | 2001-2002 | 27 | 0 | 17 | ||
| Blšany | 2000-2001 | 26 | 0 | 7 | ||
| Blšany | 1999-2000 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
League games only. *Correct as of 7 August 2006 , **Correct as of 1 September 2006
International Career - Czech Republic
Čech has had 44 international appearances for the Czech Republic.
He was part of the Czech 2004 European Football Championship team, who finished top of their group in the pre-tournament phase, qualified from their group in the first round of the tournament, defeated Denmark in the quarter finals, before losing to Greece in the semi-finals on the silver goal rule.
The Czech Republic qualified for the 2006 Football World Cup, held in Germany, and were placed in Group E, alongside Ghana, Italy and the United States. The Czech Republic was placed third by the end of the group stages, and with one win against the United States, winning by 3-0, and two losses against Ghana and Italy, the score 2-0 in both games, the Czech Republic did not advance to the second round. Italy later went on to win the Cup.
External links
- Official pages (in Czech)
