Vlastimil Petržela

Vlastimil Petržela
Personal information
Date of birth (1953-07-20) 20 July 1953
Place of birth Prostějov, Czechoslovakia
Position Forward
Youth career
1960–1970 Sokol Kralice na Hané
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1970–1974 SK Prostějov
1974–1976 Zbrojovka Brno 13 (0)
1976–1978 SK Prostějov
1978–1980 SK Sigma Olomouc
1980–1981 RH Cheb 28 (14)
1981–1985 Slavia Prague 75 (22)
1985–2001 TJ Sokol Cholupice
International career
1982–1983 Czechoslovakia 2 (0)
Managerial career
1986 Slavia Prague (assistant)
1986–1987 Slavia Prague
1987–1990 Slavia Prague (assistant)
1990–1992 Slavia Prague
1992–1995 FC Slovan Liberec
1996 Sparta Prague
1996–2002 Bohemians Prague
2002 FK Mladá Boleslav
2002–2006 FC Zenit
2006–2007 SK Sigma Olomouc
2007–2008 Neftchi Baku
2009–2010 FK Viktoria Žižkov
2010–2012 MFK Zemplín Michalovce
2014–2015 FC Sellier & Bellot Vlašim
2016–2017 FC Baník Ostrava
2017–2018 FC Baník Ostrava (advisor)
2018 FC Fastav Zlín
2019– FC Sellier & Bellot Vlašim (youth)
* Club domestic league appearances and goals

Vlastimil Petržela (born 20 July 1953 in Prostějov) is a Czech football coach and former player. He worked with Zenit Saint Petersburg from 2003 to 2006, winning the silver medals of Russian Premier League in 2003 and reaching the quarterfinal stage of the 2005–06 UEFA Cup. Before Zenit he managed SK Slavia Prague, Sparta Prague and Bohemians Prague.

As a player, he appeared for Czechoslovakia at the 1982 FIFA World Cup as a substitute against Kuwait. He ended his career because of the serious achilles tendon rupture in 1985, although he continued to play at lower divisions. Shortly after, he became an assistant manager in SK Slavia Prague, where he obtained a manager status during the years. He then moved to FC Slovan Liberec, AC Sparta Prague or FC Bohemians Prague.

There were speculations in 2001, after the Czech republic failed to qualify for a FIFA World Cup 2002, that Petržela could be a new national team manager. Petržela himself said, that the speculations were true, as he was one of the three finalists for the position,[1] but Karel Brückner was eventually appointed as a manager of Czech National Team instead of Petržela.

Petržela signed a three-year contract as manager of FK Mladá Boleslav in 2002,[2] however before the end of the calendar year it was announced that he was heading to Russia to be the new manager of Zenit St. Petersburg.[3] He became the first non-Russian, or non-Soviet manager in the history of FC Zenit. He also became the second non-Russian coach in the Russian Premier League.

In the 2006/2007 season he coached Sigma Olomouc. Petržela was appointed manager of Neftchi Baku in the summer of 2007, and was sacked six-months later on 5 January 2008.[4]

In the season 2009/10 he coached FK Viktoria Žižkov in the Czech 2. Liga and in the season 2010/11 he became the new coach of MFK Zemplín Michalovce in the Slovak 2. liga.[5][6] He joined Vlašim in January 2014.[7]

In 2016–2017 Petržela helped Baník Ostrava to qualify to the Czech First League. Shortly afterwards, he became manager of FC Zlín for a short period. He currently works as a youth coach in Vlašim.[8]

Playing style

His former coach Milan Máčala from SK Sigma Olomouc and SK Slavia Prague, who once was a manager of national team of Czechoslovakia (1990-1993) described Petržela as a personality on and off the pitch, hard working striker with good endurance. He also claimed, that Petržela was a good header who had the decent orientation in the penalty area. Máčala compared Petržela's playing abilities to Václav Daněk, who was one the most prolific Czechoslovak goalscorers in his era, or to Brazilian striker Hulk.[9]

Style of management

As a manager, Petržela was known for his tough demands on players in a terms of physical fitness. In his own words, he was a pioneer of a hard working pre-season training camp in the 1980s and 1990s in the Czech Republic. Also he was known as a manager, who was trying to give a chance to young talent. In many cases, Petržela was successful as he was able to developed careers of many future Czech internationals, for example Radek Bejbl, Jiří Jarošík, Vladimír Šmicer, Antonín Barák, Jan Suchopárek, Radek Šírl, Patrik Berger or Roman Bednář. He also admitted, that sometimes he was rough, vulgar and that he had to slap some of his players to force them for a better performance.[10]

Among his favourite players he had coached, Petržela named the striker Pavel Kuka, forward Pavel Řehák,[11] who is, since 2018, the assistant manager of Slavia Prague, and the Czech defender Tomáš Řepka.[12]

Honours

Club

TJ Zbrojovka Brno

TJ Železárny Prostějov

  • Moravian-Silesian Division – Group D (third tier) second place: 1977-1978

TJ Sigma ZTS Olomouc

  • Czech National Football League group B (second tier) third place: 1978-1979, 1979–1980

FK Hvězda Cheb

SK Slavia Praha Czechoslovak First League third place: 1984-1985

Individual

Czechoslovak First League third best goalscorer: 1981-1982[13]

Manager

SK Slavia Prague
  • Czech Cup runner-up: 1986–1987, 1988–1989 (as an assistant manager)
AC Sparta Prague
Bohemians Prague
Zenit Saint Petersburg
Baník Ostrava

Individual

Footnotes

  1. ↑ PETRŽELA, Vlastimil a SMUTNÝ, Roman. Vlastimil Petržela: vzlety a pády. Praha: XYZ, 2017. ISBN 978-80-7505-663-4, pp. 141–142
  2. ↑ "Petržela má dovést Mladou Boleslav do ligy" (in Czech). idnes.cz. 11 June 2002. Retrieved 20 January 2013.
  3. ↑ "Nejde mi o peníze, tvrdí Petržela" (in Czech). idnes.cz. 29 November 2002. Retrieved 20 January 2013.
  4. ↑ "Demyanenko returns with Neftchi". UEFA. 5 January 2008. Archived from the original on 9 January 2008. Retrieved 7 January 2014.
  5. ↑ "denník šport - Petržela trénerom MFK Zemplín Michalovce". Denniksport.sk. Archived from the original on 5 October 2011. Retrieved 24 August 2026.
  6. ↑ a.s, Petit Press. "Kontroverzný Petržela prichádza trénovať Michalovce". Korzar.sme.sk. Retrieved 24 August 2026.
  7. ↑ "Fotbalisty Vlašimi bude v druhé lize zachraňovat trenér Petržela". idnes.cz (in Czech). 25 December 2013. Retrieved 10 May 2014.
  8. ↑ Paýr, Jiří. "FC Sellier&Bellot Vlašim, a.s. » Vlastimil Petržela oslavil 70 let". Fcsbvlasim.cz. Retrieved 24 August 2026.
  9. ↑ PETRŽELA, Vlastimil a SMUTNÝ, Roman. Vlastimil Petržela: vzlety a pády. Praha: XYZ, 2017. ISBN 978-80-7505-663-4, p. 60
  10. ↑ PETRŽELA, Vlastimil a SMUTNÝ, Roman. Vlastimil Petržela: vzlety a pády. Praha: XYZ, 2017. ISBN 978-80-7505-663-4, p. 98
  11. ↑ PETRŽELA, Vlastimil a SMUTNÝ, Roman. Vlastimil Petržela: vzlety a pády. Praha: XYZ, 2017. ISBN 978-80-7505-663-4, p. 76
  12. ↑ PETRŽELA, Vlastimil a SMUTNÝ, Roman. Vlastimil Petržela: vzlety a pády. Praha: XYZ, 2017. ISBN 978-80-7505-663-4, p. 114
  13. ↑ "fotbalová liga 1981/1982". Statistiky1ligy.fotbal.cz. Retrieved 24 August 2026.
  14. ↑ "Fotbalový král roku: Radek Drulák". Hn.cz. 28 December 1995. Retrieved 24 August 2026.
  15. ↑ "Fotbalista roku: podle očekávání Nedvěd". Idnes.cz. 16 February 2004. Retrieved 24 August 2026.
  16. ↑ "Hráč a Trenér měsíce: Oceněnými za srpen jsou Zdeněk Křížek a Vlastimil Petržela". Chance Národní Liga. Retrieved 24 August 2026.

References

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