Jaromír Blažek
Czech footballer
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Jaromír Blažek (Czech pronunciation: [ˈjaromiːr ˈblaʒɛk]; born 29 December 1972) is a Czech former professional football goalkeeper. Apart from one season in Germany, he has spent his entire professional career in the Czech Republic. Blažek has also been called up as a reserve goalkeeper to the Czech Republic national football team at three UEFA European Championships and the 2006 FIFA World Cup.
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| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||
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| Full name | Jaromír Blažek[1] | ||||||||||||||||
| Date of birth | 29 December 1972 | ||||||||||||||||
| Place of birth | Brno, Czechoslovakia | ||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.88 m (6 ft 2 in) | ||||||||||||||||
| Position | Goalkeeper | ||||||||||||||||
| Youth career | |||||||||||||||||
| 1980–1982 | Metra Blansko | ||||||||||||||||
| 1982–1990 | Slavia Prague | ||||||||||||||||
| Senior career* | |||||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) | ||||||||||||||
| 1990–1992 | Slavia Prague | 9 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
| 1992–1993 | Dynamo České Budějovice | 29 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
| 1993–1994 | Viktoria Žižkov | 24 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
| 1994–2000 | Bohemians Prague | 117 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
| 1995–1996 | → Slavia Prague (loan) | 7 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
| 2000–2007 | Sparta Prague | 167 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
| 2001–2002 | → Marila Příbram (loan) | 22 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
| 2007–2008 | 1. FC Nürnberg | 25 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
| 2008–2012 | Sparta Prague | 74 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
| 2012–2015 | Vysočina Jihlava | 59 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
| Total | 533 | (0) | |||||||||||||||
| International career | |||||||||||||||||
| 1993 | Czech Republic U-21 | 3 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
| 2000–2008 | Czech Republic | 14 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
Medal record
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| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||||||||||||||||
Club career
Born in Brno, Blažek started his career in Slavia Prague, where he got to play his first league games. After two years during which he was mainly used as a substitute, he moved to Dynamo České Budějovice to become the number one goalkeeper there. That 1992–93 season was to be the last of the Czechoslovak First League, and he decided to spend his first season in the new Gambrinus liga with Viktoria Žižkov, which turned out to be a good choice since he won his first title, the national cup. He left after only one year though, moving across Prague to FC Bohemians. They were relegated that year and Blažek, who did not want to spend a year in the Second League, was loaned for one year to his first club Slavia Prague, where he won the 1995–96 Czech First League.[2] Since Bohemians regained promotion the same year, he returned there and stayed for three and a half years.
However, while his club was not performing very well, Blažek drew the attention of giants Sparta Prague, transferring there in early 2000 and winning back-to-back titles in 2000 and 2001. He went on loan to rivals Marila Příbram in 2001 but returned after one year. After that, he played almost every single game for Sparta Prague, be it league, cup or Champions League games. It was a very successful period for Blažek as he won four more titles and three national cups.
In 2007, he decided to move abroad and was sold to German club 1. FC Nürnberg, who purchased him as a replacement for Raphael Schäfer who had left for VfB Stuttgart over the summer. Blažek was the number one there but fell sick in April and could not play the end of a season that saw Nürnberg being relegated. In June, it was announced that Blažek was returning to Sparta Prague for the following season.[3] However, on 16 December 2011, Sparta Prague announced their decision to terminate Blažek's contract early, releasing him as a free agent. This was confirmed by the player's agent Pavel Paska.[4]
On 22 February 2014, in a league match for Jihlava against Znojmo, Blažek kept his 139th clean sheet, setting a new goalkeeper record for the Czech league.[5]
International career
Blažek made his debut for the national team on 29 March 2000 in a friendly match against Australia that ended up in a 3–1 win. Due to the dominance of Petr Čech as the first-choice national team goalkeeper, Blažek was unable to make regular appearances for his nation. He was part of the Czech squad at Euro 2000, Euro 2004, and the 2006 World Cup, but the only tournament he played at was Euro 2004.[2]
Personal life
He is married and has two children – Jakub and Aneta. Blažek is the cousin of tennis player Radek Štěpánek.[6]
Career statistics
Club
International
Source:[7]
| Czech Republic national team | ||
| Year | Apps | Goals |
|---|---|---|
| 2000 | 2 | 0 |
| 2003 | 1 | 0 |
| 2004 | 2 | 0 |
| 2005 | 2 | 0 |
| 2006 | 2 | 0 |
| 2007 | 1 | 0 |
| 2008 | 1 | 0 |
| Total | 11 | 0 |
Honours
Club
Viktoria Žižkov
Slavia Prague
Bohemians 1905
- Czech Second League: 3rd Place 1997–98
- Czech Second League: 1998–99
Sparta Prague
- Czech First League: 1999–2000, 2000–01, 2002–03, 2004–05, 2006–07
- Czech First League: Runner-up 2003–04, 2008–09, 2010–11
- Czech Cup: 2004, 2006, 2007
- Czech Cup: Runner-up 2001
Vysočina Jihlava
- Czech Second League: Runner-up 2011–12
International
Czech Republic
- UEFA European Championship: Semi-finalist 2004
Individual
- Team of the Year 1999–2000, 2002–03, 2003–04, 2008–09[8]
- Most clean sheets 2002–03, 2006–07, 2009–10, 2010–11
- Best goalkeeper 2012–13[9]
- Second best goalkeeper between the years 1993–2013 by the fans' poll[10]
- Player of the Month: October 2013[11]
- Personality of the League 2005–06
Records
- Czech First League: Oldest player in history of the Czech First League (42 years, 4 months)[12]
- Czech First League: Most clean sheets in history of the Czech First League (157)[13]
- Czech First League: Most played seasons (19)[14]
