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The current ranking of the Top 50 most influential people in Czech football saw the light of day on Tuesday. Adolf Šádek, the owner of Viktoria Plzeň, occupied the first place for the first time, and after celebrating the championship title, this year he had many other opportunities to open a bottle of really selected champagne .
The birth of a daughter and promotion to the Champions League could even disappear in one day. This was followed by the Champions League draw, which gave Victoria attractive opponents, ie Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Inter Milan.
In the podcast Where the Hare Runs, Ondřej Novotný labeled the ranking with Šádek before Křetínský as my provocation. He may be right in one respect, but only partially.
I tried to explain why I preferred the Pilsen squire to the billionaire from Pařížská Street (and the co-owner of Sparta or West Ham to someone) in this text. Along with the mention of some other heroes of the rank with the argumentation of the dynamics of their movement, whether up or down.
The “package” of Top 50 influential people also includes a profile of Adolf Šádek, who tried to find new perspectives on him and find the reasons for his undeniable success in managing Czech football. As well as the outline of a map of his influence.
In the ranking you will find club owners, sponsors, officials, coaches, players, media representatives as well as state authorities.
A special category consists of player agents. “Just one of the top ten? You’re underestimating them,” one of the debaters wrote to me on Twitter. For me, seven agents in the Top 50 is correct.
Pavel Paska maintains a good position among them. In the summer, he realized Adam Hložek’s long-awaited move to Leverkusen, and Patrik Schick and Tomáš Souček remain Christmas’s big assets.
Pask’s relationship with the bosses of both “S” was at the highest level, he even helped Daniel Křetínský mediate his ownership stake in West Ham. Sparta’s sports department is managed by Pask’s long-time client Tomáš Rosický. And after Hložek, Paska collaborated with Sparta on another project called Adam Karabec. This talented player can also be traced to the strong support of the club management for his development.
The second position among agents is held by Viktor Kolář, the head of the large company Sport Invest, which represents not only many football players, but also a number of hockey players and Olympians from other industries . In the wide and high-quality portfolio, we can randomly find representatives of Tomáš Holeš, Tomáš Kalas, Ondřej Lingr, Petr Ševčík and Jindřich Staňek.
He was promoted by agent Jiří Müller, whose specialty is representing coaches. We will see Jindřich Trpišovský in Slavia, David Horejš in Jablonec and Aleš Křeček fresh from the under-20 national team. Add to that Müller’s strong friendship with Pavel Nedvěd (Juventus), Zdenek Grygera (Zlín) or Tomáš Sivok (Sparta). And the map of Müller’s influence begins to appear before your eyes. In addition, he had a very close relationship with the leading global agency of the late Mino Raiola.
Pavel Zíka also jumped up the rankings, which, together with his children, provided a luxurious new relationship for Slovakian goalkeeper Martin Dúbravka. It’s not every day you actually bring a player to Manchester United.
Zdeněk Nehoda, the founding father of the family agency Nehoda Sport, whose star is Tomáš Vaclík, continues to hit the rankings. And the ranking also includes Ondrej Chovanec, who represents, for example, Matěj Vydra or Vladimír Darida.
The newcomer to the ranks is Martin Hrdlička, the son of Teplice functionary legend František Hrdlička. Hrdlička junior combines the work of an agent with the position of chairman of the Ústí Regional Football Association, which is a thorn in the side of many of his competitors. This year, Hrdlička realized the transfer of Daniel Samek to Lecce, his trump cards also include other famous players, such as Lukáš Provod and Daniel Fila, newly loaned from Teplice.
Magician of the Week: Todd Boehly
London Chelsea’s tumultuous season has not calmed down, on the contrary. Todd Boehly, who represents the club’s new ownership consortium and Chelsea’s executive manager, sacked coach Thomas Tuchel on Wednesday.
I admit that few recent football news have surprised me as much as this one. I dare to say that there are no better coaches in the world than Tuchel.
However, they did not follow the same path with Boehly, and the nervousness inside the club, where even key people from the management left after the change of owners, is understandably increasing. And after huge investments in staff, it seems that the American Boehly wants results from the coach immediately, without the patience needed for many already built teams to align and get off to a good start.
Let’s remember that in 2021, Tuchel did the impossible at Chelsea and miracles in three days. Let’s be precise, within four months. In such a short time, he healed the withered team he took over from Frank Lampard, enough to win the Champions League with him. And then the Club World Cup. He played with him in the FA Cup and League Cup finals last year. He is unemployed now. Why?
The invasion of Putin’s troops in Ukraine in February accelerated many processes, including the confiscation of the property of Russian oligarchs in Britain. Roman Abramovich had to sell Chelsea and Boehly’s consortium entered the club.
The people managing the club left for Abramović, first of all club director Marina Granovská and sports advisor Petr Čech. “The relationship with the (new) owners is very intense, very close, which is where it should be, because without Peter and without Marina it is a big change in the daily structure and communication,” said by coach Thomas Tuchel as quoted by the BBC. in the summer.
The new sports management was not established, so apparently Boehly and Tuchel managed the transfers together. And as it slowly bubbled to the surface, they didn’t agree at all.
Christian Falk, Bild’s head of football coverage said on Twitter, that Tuchel resisted the arrival of Cristiano Ronaldo, saying he would destroy the atmosphere in the cabin. Which is a topic that was also mentioned by Pavel Nedvěd, vice president of the Italian club, in the Nosiči vody podcast in relation to Cristiano Ronaldo and Juventus Turin.
Boehly seemed attracted to the possibility of Ronaldo’s involvement, but the coach was not. According to the BBC, Boehly blamed the coach, among other things, for the early dismissal of striker Romelo Lukaku. The Belgian returned in the Abramovich era for a whopping £97.5 million, but his partnership with Chelsea and Tuchel did not work out. Lukaku is now on loan at Inter Milan this summer.
On the contrary, after the arrival of Boehly, reinforcements appeared at Stamford Bridge for 255.3 million pounds. No English club has spent so much money in a transfer window. Sterling, Koulibaly, Cucurella, Fofana, Aubameyang arrived…
The question is whether Tuchel wants them all. What is certain is that rebuilding defenses and other synergies takes time. He didn’t get it. The league record of 3 wins – 1 draw – 2 losses disappointed Boehly, and the loss to Dinamo Zagreb at the start of the Champions League was a blow.
“Magician” Boehly quickly found a new coach, he agreed with “magician” Potter. That is, with Graham Potter, whose release Brighton will allegedly pay 16 million euros. Tuchel will receive 13 million euros as severance pay. Todd Boehly’s personnel policy is therefore quite expensive for the club.
Hits of the week
Jubilant Baník for the first time… Today the famous Ostrava club celebrates its 100th anniversary. Among the well-wishers were the main characters of the Water Bearers podcast. They talked about the club’s glorious past and its current, not exactly convincing, sporting form. Guest Karel Häring also brought some topics and information to the discussion, thanks for that!
Happy Baník for the second time… Colleague Tomáš Svoboda offered a picture of a mining fanatic and archival collector in one.
How to lose millions. The powerful story of the failed business of Adam Petrouš, former Slavia Prague defender, is written by Stanislav Hrabě.
The richest Briton and sport. Sir James Arthur Rattcliffe did not buy either Chelsea or a stake in Manchester United, despite strongly considering both. Today, he can build football clubs in Nice and Lausanne, and he also owns the powerful Ineos cycling team. His profile was written by Petr Pravda.
Tweet of the week
Welcome to the new training complex of the French club AS Monaco. We will know in a few years if they raise another star of the caliber of Kylian Mbappé in this wonderful place.
What they hit elsewhere
Mystic number 68. Jaromír Jágr spoke about Kladno hockey and the afterlife. (radio)
The only Czech in Barcelona. Viktoria Plzeň’s rivalry at Camp Nou is a good reason to remember the name of the Czech footballer who played for Barcelona, Jiří Hanke. (present)
All about the Women’s Football League. Which clubs play in the highest Czech competition, what motivations are in the game, why even watch the women’s league. (Football club)
Munich 1972. One of the most tragic events in world sports remains the terrorist attack on Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympics, which took place 50 years ago. (First half)
Tales of Fallen Giants. Clubs that used to play in the Champions League, but now you can’t find them anymore in the premier league competitions of their countries. Why? (Twitter)
I will update the ranking of influential people again in about a quarter of a year, but my colleagues and I are preparing more for you. For example, the interesting guests of the podcast Nosiči vody, which, by the way, also appear in the aforementioned list. An interesting person from his second ten should appear in the next episode, so hopefully it will work out.