Zdeněk Ščasný

Zdeněk Ščasný (born 9 August 1957) is a Czech football manager and former player.

Ščasný has won the Czech league championship five timesthree times as a player and twice as a coachand the Czech Cup three timestwice as a player and once as a coach.

He is best known for his years with Sparta Pragueboth as a player and a manager. He played as a defender and also in midfield. He has also coached Greek giants Panathinaikos.

Playing career

Early career, Dukla Prague and first title Zdenek Ščasný in his youth played for Spartak Roudnice nad Labem. At 17 years old he moved to Dukla Prague, where he made his Czechoslovak First League debut. Ščasný spent four years with Dukla Prague, and won the Czechoslovak First League in 1976–77.

Sparta Prague and more titles In 1978 Ščasný moved to Sparta Prague, where he remained until 1985. With Sparta, Ščasný won the Czechoslovak Cup in 1979–80, a Czechoslovak League and Cup double in 1983–84, and the league again in 1984–85.

Late career In 1985 Ščasný joined Bohemians, playing there for four and a half seasons. After Bohemians Ščasný played with Agro Slušovice for a short time and then moved to Cyprus to play for Anagennisi Dherynia before ending his playing career.

International career During his career Ščasný earned four caps as a Czechoslovakia national team player, making his debut against Cyprus on 27 March 1983. He also made five appearances for the Czechoslovakia national under-21 football team in 1979.

Mladá Boleslav After leaving Most, Ščasný took over at Mladá Boleslav early in the 2007–08 season. Boleslav was competing in the UEFA Cup that season, and in the first round of the competition Ščasný helped Boleslav pull off a stunning elimination of Italian club Palermo by winning 1–0 in the second leg of the tie in Italy. In the group stage of the competition, Boleslav finished 4th, behind Villarreal, Fiorentina and AEK Athens. Boleslav parted ways with Ščasný before the end of the season.

Return to FK Viktoria Žižkov In the middle of the 2008–09 season Žižkov were bottom of the table and likely to be relegated. Žižkov turned to Ščasný for help for the final 16 matches of the season, but it was too late - Ščasný could not save the club and they were relegated to the second division.

Debreceni VSC On 30 December 2010 Ščasný signed a two-year contract with Hungarian champions, Debreceni VSC. On 16 April 2011, he left the Hungarian club, after he failed to deliver sufficient wins.

Return to Czech football In October 2012 Ščasný returned to Czech football after a three-year absence, taking over at FK Teplice.

Personal life Zdenek's son Michal and daughter Pavlína are both professional footballers.

Managerial statistics

TeamFromToRecord Sparta Prague 8 January 1998 30 June 1999 Viktoria Žižkov 27 September 1999 1 July 2002 Panathinaikos 5 October 2004 5 February 2005 Most 13 December 2005 1 June 2007 Mladá Boleslav 4 September 2007 18 March 2008 Viktoria Žižkov 4 November 2008 2 August 2009 Debreceni VSC 30 December 2010 16 April 2011 Teplice 2 October 2012 16 February 2015 Sparta Prague 16 April 2015 26 September 2016 Sparta Prague 27 July 2018 PresentCareer totals

Honours

As player Dukla Prague Czechoslovak First League: 1976–77

Sparta Prague Czechoslovak First League: 1983–84, 1984–85 Czechoslovak Cup: 1979–80, 1983–84

As manager Sparta Prague 1. Liga: 1997–98, 1998–99, runner-up 2014-15, runner-up 2015–16

Viktoria Žižkov Czech Cup: 2000–01 1. Liga: 3rd place 2001–02