Vratislav Lokvenc facts for kids

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Vratislav Lokvenc

Lokvenc in 2013
Personal information
Date of birth	(1973-09-27) 27 September 1973 (age 51)
Place of birth	Náchod, Czechoslovakia
Height	1.96 m
Playing position	Forward
Youth career
1980–1986	Náchod
1986–1992	Hradec Králové
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
1992–1994	Hradec Králové	55	(8)
1994–2000	Sparta Prague	163	(74)
2000–2004	1. FC Kaiserslautern	116	(36)
2004–2005	VfL Bochum	32	(10)
2005–2008	Red Bull Salzburg	45	(8)
2008	→ FC Basel (loan)	6	(0)
2008–2009	FC Ingolstadt	23	(6)
Total		440	(142)
National team
1993–1996	Czech Republic U21	13	(7)
1995–2006	Czech Republic	74	(14)
Honours Men's football Representing  Czech Republic UEFA European Championship Bronze 2004 Portugal
Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (Goals).

Vratislav Lokvenc (born 27 September 1973) is a former professional footballer from the Czech Republic. He played as a forward, which means he was a player who mainly tried to score goals.

Vratislav started playing football in youth teams for Náchod and Hradec Králové. He then began his adult club career with Hradec Králové. Later, he moved to Sparta Prague, where he had a lot of success. He helped them win five league titles and one cup. He was also the top scorer in the league in the 1999–2000 season.

After his time in the Czech Republic, Vratislav played for clubs in other countries. He played in Germany for 1. FC Kaiserslautern and VfL Bochum. He also played in Austria for Red Bull Salzburg and in Switzerland for FC Basel. His last club was FC Ingolstadt 04 in Germany. He stopped playing professional football in 2009.

Vratislav also played for the Czech Republic national team. He played in the 1997 FIFA Confederations Cup. He also took part in three big tournaments: Euro 2000, Euro 2004, and the 2006 World Cup. He stopped playing for his country in 2006.

Club Career

Early Success in Czech Republic

Vratislav Lokvenc came from a football family. His father, who was also named Vratislav Lokvenc, played football for other clubs in Czechoslovakia.

Vratislav started his professional career in the 1992–93 season with Hradec Králové. In October 1994, he joined Sparta Prague. He played in the 1995–96 UEFA Cup for Sparta. He scored a goal and helped with another in a 2–1 win against a Danish club called Silkeborg IF. This win helped Sparta move to the next round. He also scored a goal in the 1996–97 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup against an Austrian team, Sturm Graz.

Vratislav played for Sparta Prague for six seasons. During this time, he helped the team win the league title five times. They also won the Czech Cup in 1996. In March 2000, Vratislav scored four goals in one game against České Budějovice. This was a big achievement, as only two other players had done this in the Czech league. In May 2000, he scored two goals in a big game against Slavia Prague. Sparta won 5–1 and secured the league title. Vratislav was the top scorer in the Czech First League in the 1999–2000 season with 22 goals. This was a league record at the time.

Playing in Germany

In 2000, Vratislav moved to Germany to play for 1. FC Kaiserslautern in the Bundesliga. Before the season started, he scored six goals in a friendly match. In December 2000, he scored a goal in the UEFA Cup against Rangers. This helped his team reach the last 16 of the competition. In the next round, Kaiserslautern played against Slavia Prague. Vratislav scored the only goal in the second game, which helped his team win.

In 2003, he scored three goals in a cup game against Bochum. Kaiserslautern won the game after a penalty shoot-out. Vratislav played in the final of this cup competition in May 2003. However, his team lost 3–1 to Bayern Munich.

In April 2004, Kaiserslautern decided to sell Vratislav. He then joined VfL Bochum in the summer of 2004. Bochum was later moved down to a lower league after 33 games of the season. Vratislav scored his tenth goal of the season in a 2–0 win against Stuttgart.

Later Career

In the summer of 2005, Vratislav signed with Red Bull Salzburg in Austria. He said this move was "the best transfer of my life." He joined at the same time as other famous players. In his first season, he only played four league games because he needed surgery on his right knee. He returned to play in May 2006. His team finished second in the league that season.

Vratislav scored his first league goal of the 2006–07 Austrian Football Bundesliga season in December. His team went on to win the league title in April 2007.

In October 2007, Vratislav scored the only goal in Salzburg's 1–0 win against AEK Athens in the UEFA Cup. However, this was not enough for his team to move forward in the competition. Vratislav played less for Salzburg in the 2007–08 season. Because of this, he joined Swiss Super League team Basel on loan in February 2008. He scored in Basel's 1–0 win in the semi-final of the Swiss Cup. Basel went on to win both the league championship and the Swiss Cup in 2008.

Vratislav returned to Germany in the summer of 2008. He joined Ingolstadt in the 2. Bundesliga, which is the second division of German football. On 17 August 2008, he played his first game for Ingolstadt. He scored his first two goals on 5 October 2008 in a 4–2 win. Vratislav played in 23 games and scored six goals for Ingolstadt. However, the team was moved down to a lower league at the end of the season. After this, Vratislav left the club and stopped playing professional football.

After Playing Football

After his professional playing career, Vratislav Lokvenc worked as a scout for his old team, Basel. He looked for new talented players in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. He also played football in an amateur league for Union Čelákovice. Vratislav continued to stay active. He took part in the 2010 Prague Half Marathon with his former teammate Pavel Nedvěd. He also participated in the Prague Half Marathon in 2015 as part of a relay team.

International Career

Vratislav Lokvenc played for his country's under-21 team. He scored seven goals in 13 matches between 1993 and 1995.

He first played for the senior Czech national team in 1995. Vratislav was part of the Czech Republic team at the 1997 FIFA Confederations Cup in Saudi Arabia. He played in a group game and started the third-place match against Uruguay. The Czech Republic won this game and finished third in the tournament.

Euro 2000

At Euro 2000, Vratislav came on as a substitute in the Czech Republic's first game against the Netherlands. He also played as a substitute in the second game against France. In the third group game against Denmark, he came on as a substitute again. Even though the Czech Republic won this game, they could not move to the next round because they had lost their previous matches.

Euro 2004

Vratislav scored two goals as a substitute in a qualification game against Moldova in June 2003. He scored both goals with his head in a 5–0 win.

He played in one game at Euro 2004. He started the group game against Germany. The Czech Republic won this game 2–1.

2006 World Cup

During the qualification games for the 2006 World Cup, Vratislav scored five goals for his country. In November 2004, he came into a game against Macedonia when the score was 0–0. He scored the first goal with his head, and his team won 2–0. In March 2005, Vratislav scored the winning goal against Finland. The score was 3–3, but Vratislav scored to make it 4–3 with only three minutes left. Four days later, he scored another goal against Andorra in a 4–0 win. In June of the same year, Vratislav scored the first and last goals in an 8–1 home win, also against Andorra.

At the 2006 World Cup, Vratislav came on as a substitute in the first group game against the USA. He received a yellow card, and his team won 3–0. He started the second group game against Ghana. He received another yellow card in this game, which Ghana won 2–0. Because he had two yellow cards, he could not play in his country's final group game against Italy. The Czech Republic lost to Italy and did not move to the next stage of the competition. Vratislav announced that he was stopping his international football career in September 2006. He finished his international career with 14 goals in 74 matches.

Style of Play

Vratislav Lokvenc was known for being very tall. People often called him a "towering forward." He was very good at heading the ball, similar to his teammate Jan Koller. His strength was also a big advantage in his game.

Career Statistics

Club

International

Scores and results list the Czech Republic's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Lokvenc goal.

List of international goals scored by Vratislav Lokvenc

No.	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	27 May 1998		South Korea		2–2	Friendly
2	28 April 1999		Poland		1–2	Friendly
3	15 August 2001		South Korea		5–0	Friendly
4	5 September 2001		Malta		3–2	2002 FIFA World Cup qualification
5	6 October 2001		Bulgaria		6–0	2002 FIFA World Cup qualification
6	13 February 2002		Cyprus		4–3	Friendly
7	11 June 2003		Moldova		5–0	UEFA Euro 2004 qualification
8
9	17 November 2004		Macedonia		2–0	2006 FIFA World Cup qualification
10	26 March 2005		Finland		4–3	2006 FIFA World Cup qualification
11	30 March 2005		Andorra		4–0	2006 FIFA World Cup qualification
12	4 June 2005		Andorra		8–1	2006 FIFA World Cup qualification
13
14	30 May 2006		Costa Rica		1–0	Friendly

Honours

Sparta Prague

• Czech First League: 1994–95, 1996–97, 1997–98, 1998–99, 1999–2000
• Czech Cup: 1996

1. FC Kaiserslautern

• DFB-Pokal runner-up: 2002–03

Red Bull Salzburg

• Austrian Football Bundesliga: 2006–07; runner-up: 2005–06

FC Basel

• Swiss Super League: 2007–08
• Swiss Cup: 2007–08

Czech Republic

• FIFA Confederations Cup third place: 1997

Individual

• Czech First League top scorer: 1999–2000

See also

In Spanish: Vratislav Lokvenc para niños