Czech women’s national team coach Karel Rada considers the finished European Championship in England to be an excellent presentation of women’s football. The tournament’s audience records did not surprise him, as he remembers the atmosphere on the islands during the Men’s Silver Euro in 1996. Looking back, he still regrets that the Czechs narrowly missed their qualification for the final phase. According to him, interest in women’s football in the Czech Republic is growing, but slowly. In the future, he considers it necessary to become more professional so that women’s representatives remain at the level of the world.
England’s soccer players became European champions for the first time on Sunday – after runners-up in 1984 and 2009. In the final at Wembley in London, they beat the eight-time German champions 2-1 after extra time . Chloe Kelly decided the match in the 110th minute. The match ended 1-1 in regular time after goals from Ella Toone and Lina Magulla. Germany, whose captain and top scorer Alexandra Poppová was injured just before the match, lost for the first time in the final.
“I liked the Euros. It’s of course linked to the atmosphere in the stadiums and everything that surrounds it. I only saw it on TV this time, but there was great atmosphere. Great presentation of women’s football,” Rada said in an interview with ČTK.
A record 574,875 spectators attended the tournament in England. Sunday’s final between England and Germany at Wembley Stadium in London was even played before a record attendance for the men’s and women’s European Championships of 87,192 fans.
“It didn’t surprise me in England. I expected it myself, I know England, I played the European Championship there, so I know how the spectators go there. I assumed that the sightseeing and scenery would be great. Nice playgrounds, lawns, stadiums. It was in the birthplace of football,” Rada said.
He called England’s first-ever Euro triumph a well-deserved one. “In some games England fell apart, they were on the edge, some they managed superbly. Sometimes you need a bit of luck. I think England were very well prepared at home. They deserved the title,” said the 51-year-old former defender.
The Czechs did not qualify for the EC, losing to the Swiss on penalties in the shoot-off. “We were very sad to be so close to progressing. We got this far and were one step away from it. We missed a big event,” the former Dukla, Olomouc, Trabzonspor player said. Slavia, Frankfurt, Teplice and Bohemians 1905.
According to him, the popularity and interest in women’s football is constantly increasing around the world. “The public likes it. The individual and team quality also increases enormously. For example, England invested heavily in it, started to support women’s football enormously, and now their league is becoming completely professional. They want to professionalize everything, which is great. I think the future definitely has it,” Rada said.
He sees a gradual development in the Czech Republic. “The interest and perception of women’s football is growing in our country, but it’s slower. There isn’t the same surge of interest that has erupted in other countries. For example, in the Netherlands , when the European Championship was held there (2017) The Dutch won at home and there was huge public interest, that’s not the case here yet, but little by little the interest is growing But it depends on supporting women’s football, promoting the popularity of women’s football, so that it can be seen, shown and the public can perceive it,” Rada said.
He considers the professionalization of women’s football in the Czech Republic to be essential. “If you want to follow the world in the future, you will have to professionalize it. If the club wants to go somewhere and wants to be seen and you have amateur competition, today you have no chance of chasing someone. or to achieve the slightest success. If women’s football in the world is becoming more professional, it must also be achieved over time,” noted Rada, who has led the national team since 2017.
“You want to get away from something, you have to have prepared players, they have to be placed at a professional level. If we are playing amateur competition, we will hardly want to achieve success at the World or European Championships. is complicated, the players have to go abroad, that they evolve in big professional clubs, so that our national team has chances of success in the future”, declared the author of four goals in 43 matches for the national team.
For example, goalkeeper Barbora Votíková (Paris St. Germain), midfielder Klára Cahynová (Sevilla), Kateřina Svitková (Chelsea) and striker Andrea Stašková (Atlético Madrid) all work at top foreign clubs in the Republic Czech. The female representatives have not yet qualified for the world, European or Olympic championships.
The Czech team’s biggest success at international club level is Slavia’s three appearances in the Champions League quarter-finals. Once, Sparta also finished in the top eight of this competition (under the old name of the UEFA Cup), while the round of 16 was still played in groups.
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