Football: Slavia Prague players dominate Czech squad for Euro 2024

PRAGUE (Reuters) – New Czech coach Ivan Hasek named his 26-man squad on Tuesday for the European championship starting in June, led by eight Slavia Prague players along with West Ham’s Tomas Soucek and a fit Patrik Schick who may hold the key to the team’s attacking chances.

Hasek also called up West Ham defender Vladimir Coufal and Sparta Prague forward Jan Kuchta who he omitted for his first match in charge after the pair were photographed outside a nightclub two nights before the last qualifier.

There were no big surprises in the squad for the Czechs, who finished as quarter-finalists in the last European championship, though Hasek added 23-year old newcomer Lukas Cerv, who plies his club trade for Viktoria Plzen.

Slavia’s Jindrich Stanek will likely hold down the top spot between the posts while Schick’s Bayern Leverkusen teammate Adam Hlozek may also feature in attack along with Kuchta and Slavia’s Mojmir Chytil.

The Czechs face Portugal, Turkey and Georgia in Group F at Euro 2024 and will need to rediscover the bite they lost towards the end of their qualifying campaign, when they lost to Albania 3-0 and scraped by the Faroe Islands 1-0 at home.

Czech Squad:

Goalkeepers: Vitezslav Jaros (Sturm Graz), Matej Kovar (Bayer Leverkusen), Jindrich Stanek (Slavia Prague)

Defenders: Vladimir Coufal (West Ham), David Doudera (Slavia Prague), Tomas Holes (Slavia Prague), Robin Hranac (Viktoria Plzen), David Jurasek (TSG Hoffenheim), Ladislav Krejci (Sparta Prague), Martin Vitik (Sparta Prague), Tomas Vlcek (Slavia Prague), David Zima (Slavia Prague)

Midfielders: Antonin Barak (Fiorentina), Vaclav Cerny (Wolfsburg), Lukas Cerv (Viktoria Plzen), Matej Jurasek (Slavia Prague), Ondrej Lingr (Feyenoord), Lukas Provod (Slavia Prague), Michal Sadilek (FC Twente), Tomas Soucek (West Ham), Pavel Sulc(Viktoria Plzen)

Forwards: Adam Hlozek (Sparta Prague), Tomas Chory (Viktoria Plzen), Mojmir Chytil (Slavia Prague), Jan Kuchta (Sparta Prague), Patrik Schick (Sparta Prague)

(Reporting by Michael Kahn, Editing by)