Last week, a bus got stuck at their training ground in Zapopan. The driver took a wrong turn somewhere in the suburbs of Guadalajara, then another, and eventually the players grabbed their bags and walked to where they needed to be. World Cup team, hiking. This is Czechia.
Two days earlier on the morning of March 24, 2026 Czechia As the Republic of Ireland played in the World Cup playoffs in Prague, police arrived at the headquarters of the Czech Football Association at six in the morning. Investigators from the National Center Against Organized Crime, supported by regional units, Europol and Interpol and UEFA’s own anti-match-fixing department.
The operation ranged from the first division to the fourth, to youth competitions, to the city’s mayor, to MFK Carvina co-owner and former Birmingham City defender, Martin Latta, to men who traveled to Vienna to collect money from Asian betting accounts. Forty-seven disciplinary proceedings were initiated that day. The president of the federation called it perhaps the biggest operation in Czech football history.
Three weeks later, Zeke defeated Denmark on penalties in Prague to reach the World Cup for the first time in twenty years.
Autobus české represnatace knepne na horunje blokkogel silnici v Zapopanu. Řidič si najel najel as big vehicle uvízl v észkém vjezdu. Kvólő tomu se közőlő koloná. Players allegedly had to walk část cesty na training on foot.👇🏼
pic.twitter.com/e1st2tiwF5— Denik Sport (@DenikSport) 11 June 2026
Czech football has long been run by men who didn’t seem like it. Roman Berber worked as a secret police agent for the STB, which monitored dissidents, handled interrogations, and maintained the Communist Party’s grip on Czechoslovakia until the collapse of the state in 1989. After the fall, Berber became a football official. He gained through knowledge, kindness, patience. Umpires who cooperated received international appointments. Clubs that resisted were affected. In 2013, four clubs voted against their preferred candidate in the federation elections. The following week, those four clubs were shown ten red cards in four matches.
Rap song
In 2018, FK Teplice midfielder Tomáš Kučera released a rap song whose lyrics refer to Berbr. Five days later, Teplice played their next match. Song released on November 18, 2018; Next match 23 November 2018. The ethics committee fined Kuchera 60,000 Czech crowns for the song. Berbr has never been fined.
Berber boss Miroslav Pelta in the federation was sentenced to five and a half years in prison for manipulating sports subsidies. “I needed his votes to get elected. But his power over referees is dangerous,” Pelta later told Czech media. Two men ran consecutively in Czech football. Both were found guilty in court.
Czech fans learned a certain response during those years. They drank beer and shrugged. Nothing will change. As the Federation ran itself like a protection racket, the golden generation came and went.
Story continues below this ad
At Villa Park in 1996, Karel Poborski took the ball from the right side of the penalty area, looked up and chipped the Portuguese goalkeeper from an angle that should have been ruled a no-go. Manchester United signed him within a week. Pavel Nedved won the Ballon d’Or. Kolar scored fifty-five international goals. They qualified for one World Cup, Germany 2006, and Koller pulled up in the opening half against the United States with a groin injury. Rosicky scored twice. They won 3-0. Then Ghana. Then Italy. Then twenty years passed.
The Faroe Islands defeated them 2–1 in the qualifiers. Ivan Hasek was expelled. Miroslav Kaubek, 74, entering the 43rd year of a coaching career he began in 1983, was hired in December to lead them to the playoffs. “We just have to live with it,” he said in Guadalajara last week, “because that’s what others have planned for us.” His first competitive international match was against Ireland. Zekea was 2-0 down after twenty-three minutes. Shik pulled one back from the spot. Crazy equalized in the sixth century.
They won on penalties. Then Denmark: 2-2 after extra time, 3-1 in shootout. The players threw Koubek into the air. He faced the cameras with teary eyes and later told AFP he had been awake until the morning. “I don’t drink, but I like two or three beers when I get the chance,” he said.
Souchek wins a header and covers ground. Shik throws the ball into the net when he recovers. Krejčí reads the game carefully and gives nothing away. On 12 June against South Korea, he headed home a Vladimir Kaufal throw-in in the 59th minute. South Korea came back to win 2-1.
Story continues below this ad
They will play against South Africa in Atlanta on Thursday. They never progressed beyond the group stage.
Krejčí spread his arms in the perfect manner of Tomas Rosicky, the last Czech to score at the World Cup in Germany in 2006. No one told him so. No one had to.