Czech Republic's European Championships Record
Formerly part of Czechoslovakia, which had a lot of success in the past, Czech Republic split from Slovakia, and formed its own national football team. Czech Republic played their first game on the 23rd February 1994 against Turkey, a game which the team won 4-1. Czech Republic continued being a very successful club after their split from Czechoslovakia. Although they have qualified for only World Cup 2006 and failed to qualify for the 1998 and 2002 World Cups, Czech Republic has to date never failed to qualify for a European Championship. They have appeared in 3 tournaments, the 1996, 2000 and 2004. In the Euro 1996, they were runners-up in the competition, losing 2-1 to Germany in the final. In Euro 2000 they failed to make the quarter finals and were eliminated at the group stage. Euro 2004 was another successful competition for the Czech team, having gone as far as the semi-finals.
Karel Bruckner is the head coach of the Czech national team, while the captain is Tomas Rosicky of Arsenal. Czech Republic play their home games in a red shirt, while their away matches are played in white shirts. Home games are played in the AXA Arena. Currently (February 2008), the team ranks in the 6th place in the FIFA rankings beating bigger teams like France, England, Netherlands and Portugal. Well-known players playing for Czech Republic are Petr Cech (Chelsea), Marek Jankulovski (Milan), Tomas Ujfalusi (Fiorentina), Jan Koller (FC Nurnberg) and Milan Baros (Portsmouth).
