František Cipro (13 April 1947 – 7 February 2023) was a Czech

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 and manager, known mostly for his work in

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

České Budějovice České Budějovice (; ) is a city in the South Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 97,000 inhabitants. The city is located in the valley of the Vltava River, at its confluence with the Malše. České Budějovice is the largest ...

Playing career

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 ...

, Cipro played for

for nine years, making 232 league appearances. He made a total of 285 appearances and scored 16 goals in the

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 ...

, which included time with VCHZ Pardubice and TJ Gottwaldov.

Coaching career

As a coach, he won the

Czech First League The Czech First League () also known as the Chance Liga for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in the Czech Republic and the highest level of the Czech Republic football league system. Seasons typically run from A ...

with

and achieved the semifinals of the

UEFA Cup The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

in 1996. In his first spell as manager of

, Cipro led the club to promotion from the Czech 2. Liga to the Czech First League in 2006. He was appointed a manager with Slavia Prague on 30 March 2010, replacing

Karel Jarolím Karel Jarolím (born 23 August 1956) is a Czech football coach and former player. As a player, he played as a midfielder, making 275 appearances in the Czechoslovak First League. and representing the Czechoslovakia national team internationall ...

. However, on 15 May 2010, following the last league game of the season, Cipro announced he was standing down from the position and returning to his role as chief

scout Scout may refer to: Youth movement *Scout (Scouting), a child, usually 10–18 years of age, participating in the worldwide Scouting movement ** Scouts (The Scout Association), section for 10-14 year olds in the United Kingdom ** Scouts BSA, sect ...

, after just eight league games in charge. Cipro returned to České Budějovice for his second spell in September 2011. He stayed at České Budějovice for a year before he was sacked in September 2012, with the club at the bottom of the league table.

Death

Cipro died from colon cancer on 7 February 2023, at the age of 75.

References

External links

Profile at idnes.cz

SK Dynamo České Budějovice profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cipro, Frantisek 1947 births 2023 deaths Sportspeople from Jihlava Czech men's footballers Footballers from the Vysočina Region Czechoslovak men's footballers Czechoslovak First League players Men's association football midfielders FC Zlín players SK Slavia Prague players Czech football managers Czechoslovak football managers Czech First League managers FC Zbrojovka Brno managers AEL Limassol managers SK Slavia Prague managers FK Teplice managers FC Viktoria Plzeň managers SK Dynamo České Budějovice managers LASK managers FK Chmel Blšany managers FC Tirol Innsbruck managers Deaths from colorectal cancer Czech expatriate football managers Czechoslovak expatriate sportspeople in Cyprus Expatriate football managers in Cyprus Czech expatriate sportspeople in Austria Expatriate football managers in Austria