So you think this is an ice hockey nation? Well, yes and no. Czech Republic is also about football.
The Czech team became World Cup runners-up twice.
Their biggest success was in 1976
when they won the Euros and in 1996, they reached the final again.
They produced stars such as Nedvěd, Rosický, Baroš, Šmicer to name a few.
And they qualified for Euro 2020 again - for the seventh time in a row!
This has only been achieved by a few other nations, but Czechs are not precisely ecstatic about their team.
There's been a bit of a fallout
with the public when it comes to the national team.
is good, but the last generation was better.
What had happened has Czech football fallen from grace or is it a sleeping giant?
I went all across Czech Republic to find out.
Let's start in Prague - the golden city, one of Europe's gems.
Everybody loves it. Not just tourists on the world-famous Charles Bridge.
It has lately also been popular with Italian football fans.
Because Inter played here in the Champions League against Slavia Prague
The stadium was sold out, which is not always the case when the national team play.
I mean we didn't even sell out
the game with England which really wouldn't happen a while back
Football blogger Tomas Danicek says the current lack of euphoria has been growing for over a decade
So basically once all Koller and Baroš and Nedvěd aged out,
there was just no one to lean on. There was no one who would be coming through
so there was a gap like a real gap afterwards after 2008.
Pavel Nedvěd was their superstar and key to Czech Republic success in the past. In 2004 Czech Republic had the potential to win it then...
But the great Greek wall was stronger and snatched the title.
that will be consistently able to deliver
results.
And the man in charge of these youth academies is not quite a stranger.
Do you remember Karel Poborský?
Of course you do!
Who could forget this hair?
And he played with flair and elegance not many had.
And this is Poborský today - what a makeover! He looks like a hippie movie director rescripting Czech football.
Like Belgium or Germany in the past, Czech Republic wants to get back on track by professionalizing youth football.
They want to create a new golden generation like here in the western city of Plzen.
Local club, Viktoria used to be a Champions League participant.
It is the home of former stars such as Petr Cech.
And of today's international such as Vladimir Darida.
The Academy scout young talents all over the country. Their education does not stop on the football pitch.
Coaches, psychologists and physiotherapists take care of the kids
They have to wake up at 6:00 in the morning. They have to be good at school.
They're like literally can't see their families for five days in a week and they are still 13, 14
so they really have to like it
to kind of survive here in the system.
For now, though Czech football fans still help to do well in the past, at the decisive qualifier against Kosovo in Plzen,
it's not down there for the good old days and players like Tomas Rosicky.
Czech Republic won against Kosovo and qualified for the Euro 2020
but we've already seen wilder football parties.
It felt more like people were relieved! After the game, only a few celebrated in style.
Their confidence ran high, but the rest of Plzen had already gone home by then.
Support for the national team has declined. What's it like at club level?
Today a club from the capital is the main force - Slavia Prague, the country's oldest club is back on the scene.
I think Slavia's amazing, against Barcelona, against Dortmund.
They have returned to the Champions League this season after 12 long years of absence.
Slavia has a Chinese investor and that helped.
Much more money here.
Players like Tomáš Souček,
Lukáš Masopust or Jakub Jankto.
They know each other from the club and take their game also to the national team.
But Slavia was the only Czech team to play internationally this season.
There is more money being pumped into the league, but does that mean that the quality has improved?
In the generation we talked about from 90s, the players when moved abroad,
improved, improved and he brought it to the national team and played very well for national team.
Now with the bigger salaries here, the players are not so
motivated to
to go abroad
Former Czech stars played at Juve, Man United or Liverpool.
Today's generation at the likes of
Hoffenheim, Sevilla or Hertha Berlin - good clubs
but not the best of the best.
And if they play at home, the quality is too low, and there are even more serious issues.
Vice-chairman of Czech FA, Roman Berbr
He's a very controversial man, very unpopular among supporters.
He's a former member of secret police,
and he was also former referee. He created net of another referees and they have a
big, big power. So the main feeling is people here in Czech Republic don't trust
to Czech football despite promotion or qualification to Euro
2020.
Most Czech fans don't believe this will change anytime soon.
So does this mean there is no football passion in Czech Republic?
Well, there is.
This is Ostrava, Czech Republic's third-largest city, on the border with Poland and Slovakia, the industrial town which is former steel heart of the country.
Local team Banik Ostrava has some of Czech Republic's most passionate fans.
It is Derby time against neighboring rivals Opava, the tension runs high.
It is the most important game of the year for both.
I met former Bundesliga player and Czech international Vaclav Sverkos.
He's from the region, Banik was his first professional team.
At the Euro 2008,
he scored the opening goal when Czech Republic beat host, Switzerland.
People here don't care too much about the quality of the league or allegations of corruption. They keep the passion for football alive,
no matter what.
Banik is the home of former star, Milan Baroš, and of goalkeeper Jiří Pavlenka.
This is the national team strongest position. Pavlenka, Tomáš Vaclík from Sevilla,
Slavia's Ondřej Kolář and to make it four, Augsburg's Tomáš Koubek.
Patrik Schick is a highly rated talent - probably the biggest asset of the Czech team.
Czech team really need
Patrik Schick to be fully fit, to be ready, to be in form for the European
Championship.
And what about Alex Kral, the Czech hair brother of David Luiz, the defensive midfielder was instrumental for the win against Kosovo.
Finally, there are two Bundesliga players who already played at Euro 2016.
Vladimir Darida from Hertha Berlin, and Pavel Kadeřábek from Hoffenheim.
So what can Czech Republic achieve at Euro 2020?
We hope they'll continue after the group, we hope.
Maybe quarter finals is maximum from my point of view, but not more.
I think they're not gonna be in a final, to be honest.
But I hope we will get from the group to playoffs.
Learning Czech, lesson one. Good luck, Czech Republic!
I'm in it. Ended.