Čestmír Vycpálek (15 May 1921 – 5 May 2002) was a

Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus *Czech (surnam ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

player Player may refer to: Role or adjective * Player (game), a participant in a game or sport ** Gamer, a player in video and tabletop games ** Athlete, a player in sports ** Player character, a character in a video game or role playing game who i ...

and

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...

who played as a

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

. He was an uncle of noted football manager Zdeněk Zeman.

Playing career

A good right winger, Vycpálek moved in 1946 to

Juventus Juventus Football Club (; from , ), commonly known as Juventus or colloquially as Juve (), is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football clubs in Italy, club based in Turin, Piedmont, who compete in Serie A, the ...

from

Slavia Prague Sportovní klub Slavia Praha – fotbal (Sports Club Slavia Prague – Football, ), commonly known as Slavia Praha or Slavia Prague, is a Czech professional football club in Prague. Founded in 1892, they are the second most successful club in t ...

, and in 1947 to

Palermo Palermo ( ; ; , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital (political), capital of both the autonomous area, autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan province. The ...

, in

Serie B The Serie B (), officially known as Serie BKT for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie A. It has been operating for over ninety years since the 1929–30 season. It had b ...

at the time, leading the team to an immediate promotion to the top division, and playing 143 times, with 23 goals, in five seasons for the ''rosanero''. In the season 1952–1953, Vycpálek then signed for

Parma Parma (; ) is a city in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna known for its architecture, Giuseppe Verdi, music, art, prosciutto (ham), Parmesan, cheese and surrounding countryside. With a population of 198,986 inhabitants as of 2025, ...

, where he played at Serie B and

Serie C The Serie C (), officially known as Serie C NOW for sponsorship purposes, is the third-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie B and Serie A. The Lega Italiana Calcio Professionistico (Lega Pro) is the governing ...

level. Vycpálek abandoned his playing career in 1958, at the age of 37.

Coaching career

Before to enjoy some relevant success at the managing level, Vycpálek had several minor experiences, often not particularly lucky. He started his coaching career for Palermo, where he relocated with his family after Czechoslovakia was occupied by the

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...

after the

Prague Spring The Prague Spring (; ) was a period of liberalization, political liberalization and mass protest in the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic. It began on 5 January 1968, when reformist Alexander Dubček was elected Secretary (title), First Secre ...

. He then coached minor league teams such as Siracusa,

Valdagno Valdagno is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Vicenza, north-eastern Italy. The town was the birthplace of the textile manufacturing company Marzotto, and home to the Italian hotel chain "Jolly Hotels". Etymology The word "Valdagno" is th ...

and Juve Bagheria. In the early 1970s, however, after having been fired by Sicilian

Serie D The Serie D () is the highest level of semi-professional football in Italy, and the fourth tier of the Italian national league system. It sits beneath the third and lowest fully professional league, Serie C, and feeds in to it through promotion ...

team Mazara, Vycpálek went back to Juventus, thanks also to his old friend Giampiero Boniperti, who was a board member in that times, and became coach for the youth team. But, in 1971, after the sudden death of Armando Picchi, Vycpálek was named new head coach of Juventus. It was the beginning of a successful period which led the team to two consecutive ''scudetti'', in 1972 and 1973, and to the final of European Cup lost against Ajax. The team was also runner-up in the intercontinental cup taking Ajax's place, due to a 1–0 defeat against sudamerican champions Independiente. After those results, Vycpálek left the club and finished his coaching career.

Honours

Player

Club

;Slavia Prague *

Czechoslovak First League The Czechoslovak First League (, ) was the premier football (soccer), football league in the Czechoslovakia from 1925 to 1993, with the exception of World War II. Czechoslovakia was occupied by German forces who formed Gauliga Sudetenland and Ga ...

: 1939–40, 1941–42, 1942–43 ;Palermo *

: 1947–48 ;Parma *

:1953–54

Manager

Club

;Juventus *

Serie A The Serie A (), officially known as Serie A Enilive in Italy and Serie A Made in Italy abroad for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Italy and the highest tier of the Italian football league system. Establish ...

: 1971–72, 1972–73

Death

Vycpálek died on 5 May 2002 in Palermo, the same day of the Juventus' triumph in the

2001–02 Serie A The 2001–02 Serie A (known as the Serie A TIM for sponsorship reasons) was the 100th season of top-tier Italian football, the 70th in a round-robin tournament. It was composed by 18 teams, for the 14th consecutive time from season 1988–89. T ...

, and exactly thirty years after the death of his son Cestino in the

Alitalia Flight 112 Alitalia Flight 112 was a scheduled flight from Leonardo da Vinci Airport, in Rome, Italy, to Palermo International Airport in Palermo, Italy, with 115 on board. On 5 May 1972, it crashed into Mount Longa, about southwest of Palermo while on ...

crash that happened in 1972.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vycpalek, Cestmir 1921 births 2002 deaths Czech men's footballers Czechoslovak men's footballers Czech football managers Czechoslovak football managers SK Slavia Prague players Palermo FC players Juventus FC players Parma Calcio 1913 players Serie A players Serie B players Italian football managers Palermo FC managers Juventus FC managers AS Siracusa managers Serie A managers Czechoslovak expatriate sportspeople in Italy Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Czechoslovak expatriate men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Czech football coaches Czechoslovak refugees Czechoslovak expatriate football managers Footballers from Prague