Václav Svěrkoš

Football player infobox
playername = Václav Svěrkoš


height = height|m=1.84
nickname = Svěrki
dateofbirth = birth date and age|1983|11|1
cityofbirth = Třinec
countryofbirth = Czechoslovakia
currentclub = FC Baník Ostrava
clubnumber = 25
position = Striker
youthyears = 1990–1998
1998–2001
youthclubs = VP Frýdek-Místek
Baník Ostrava
years = 2001–2003
2003–2005
2005–2006
2006–2007
2007
2007–
clubs = FC Baník Ostrava
Borussia Mönchengladbach
Hertha BSC Berlin
Borussia Mönchengladbach
FK Austria Wien
FC Baník Ostrava
caps(goals) = 26 (14)
70 (17)
10 0(0)
06 0(0)
07 0(0)
24 (15)
nationalyears = 2008–
nationalteam = Czech Republic
nationalcaps(goals) = 03 0(1)
pcupdate = June 07, 2008

Václav Svěrkoš (pronounced /IPA|ˈvatslaf ˈsfjɛrkoʃ/, born November 1, 1983 in Třinec) is a Czech footballer who is playing for FC Baník Ostrava and the opening scorer in the Euro 2008 tournament.

Career

Club career

Gambrinus liga

He started his career at VP Frýdek-Místek. At the age of fourteen he switched to Baník Ostrava, playing on U15 international for the Czech Republic already. Still eligible to feature for Baník's U19, Svěrkoš enjoyed his breakthrough in the Gambrinus liga, the best Czech division, for the Silesian city outfit after the departure of Milan Baroš. His record of 14 goals in just 26 first-team appearances for Ostrava and similar performances in the Czech Republic national under-21 football team got German club Borussia Mönchengladbach interested. Mönchengladbach had been unable to extend the half-a-season loan of Chelsea's Mikael Forssell, the team's top scorer in 2002-2003, in those times and regarded Svěrkoš a potential long-term replacement for the Finland international.

Bundesliga

A stuttering start to life in Bundesliga under Ewald Lienen, Svěrkoš took advantage of a change of manager at the club and he was able to end up the teams topscorer in 2003-2004 with nine goals in 31 Bundesliga matches. His most notable contribution came half-way through that campaign when he netted a hat-trick in Mönchengladbach's win over Champions League participant VfB Stuttgart (4-2) in the last 16 of the German Cup competition.

A year later, Mönchengladbach only just avoided relegation in a season in which Svěrkoš netted seven goals for them, his ongoing presence in the youth ranks for the Czech Republic awarded him the captaincy of the Czech U21. However, his third season under contract in German football turned out to be extremely problematic. Problems in his private life, followed by poor form, took the ground from under his feet and made him long for a change. Initially planning to go on loan to MSV Duisburg, UEFA Cup participants Hertha BSC Berlin became his interim club for the remainder of the season in December 2005.

Even this change of environment didn't work for Svěrkoš and though he was facing uncertain times with Hertha BSC Berlin unwilling to buy him and Mönchengladbach, to whom he had to return to at the end of the season, seemingly willing to finally sell him to another club. Mönchengladbach's decision to part with manager Horst Köppel at the same time proved to be fortunate as one of the first decisions of Köppel's successor Jupp Heynckes was allowing him to stay on and make a fresh start at the club.

Return to Ostrava

In the summer of 2007 Svěrkoš returned to Baník Ostrava. He found his form again after the winter break, scoring eleven goals in thirteen matches during the spring part of Gambrinus liga. He was the top scorer of the Czech Championship 2007-2008, with 15 goals, 3 more than the runner-up Miroslav Slepička from Sparta Prague. This caused Belgian club Anderlecht to be interested in signing him after UEFA Euro 2008 [cite web |url=http://sporza.be/cm/sporza.be/voetbal/eersteklasse/Anderlecht/080617_jacobs_spitsen |title="I would like to sign one more forward"|publisher=sporza.be |date=June 17 2008 |language=dutch] . At Anderlecht, he would join three of his teammates at UEFA Euro 2008, namely Jan Polák, Stanislav Vlček and Daniel Zítka.----

International career

Svěrkoš was recently called up to the Czech Republic national football team and made his debut in the friendly match against Lithuania on May 27. On May 14 2008, it was announced that he would be part of the Czech squad for Euro 2008.

Euro 2008

At Euro 2008 in Basel, Svěrkoš scored his first goal for his national side against Switzerland in the 71st minute of the opening match of the tournament on June 7 2008. It also turned out as the first goal of the tournament as the Czech Republic won the match 1-0. [cite web |url=http://en.euro2008.uefa.com/tournament/matches/match=300682/report=rp.html|title=Switzerland 0-1 Czech Republic|publisher=UEFA|date=June 7 2008]

Czech Republic Goals

References

* [http://www.fcb.cz/tymy.php?player=19&tym=1&sezona=18 Baník Ostrava profile]