Matěj Pulkrab (born 23 May 1997) is a Czech professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

who plays as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

for

Mladá Boleslav Mladá Boleslav (; german: Jungbunzlau) is a city in the Central Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 42,000 inhabitants. Mladá Boleslav is the second most populated city in the region and a major centre of the Czech automotive ind ...

Club career

Sparta Prague

Pulkrab is an academy graduate of

Sparta Prague ) but refer to Spartans as "''Rudí''" ( en, The Dark Reds/The Maroons).'' Letenští'' , ground = Generali Česká pojišťovna Arena , capacity = 19,416 , clubname = Sparta Prague , image = Sparta Praha logo.png , image_size = 160px , fu ...

and captained the club at U-19 level. In 2015, he was named "Player of the Tournament" in the

CEE Cup The Central & Eastern European Youth Football Tournament, known as the CEE Cup is an annual invitational under-19 Association football, football tournament, which takes place in Czech Republic. The tournament has taken place 10 times, initially re ...

Loan to Slovan Liberec

On 13 January 2016 Pulkrab completed a

loan In finance, a loan is the lending of money by one or more individuals, organizations, or other entities to other individuals, organizations, etc. The recipient (i.e., the borrower) incurs a debt and is usually liable to pay interest on that ...

move to

Slovan Liberec FC Slovan Liberec (), commonly referred to as Slovan Liberec or simply Slovan, is a Czech football club based in the city of Liberec. The club is one of the most successful in the Czech Republic, having won three league titles and the domestic c ...

from parent club Sparta Prague in a deal that saw Josef Šural complete a permanent move in the opposite direction. He made his debut for the club on 12 March, coming on as a 92nd-minute substitute for Marek Bakoš in a 1–0 win over

Příbram Příbram (; german: Freiberg in Böhmen, ''Przibram'', or ''Pribram'', in 1939–1945 ''Pibrans'') is a town in the Central Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 32,000 inhabitants. It is well known for its mining history, and more ...

. Pulkrab scored four goals in the final three games of the season, including one on the final day which earned Liberec a third-place finish in the

Czech First League The Czech First League, known as the Fortuna liga for sponsorship reasons, is a Czech professional league for football clubs. At the top of the Czech football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. Seasons typically r ...

Return to Sparta Prague

Pulkrab returned to Sparta Prague for the 2016–17 season and made his debut on 18 August, coming off the bench in a 0–0

Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. ...

draw with

SønderjyskE SønderjyskE is a Danish sport corporation. They have a football team ( SønderjyskE Fodbold, based in Haderslev), two handball teams ( SønderjyskE Håndbold, one male based in Sønderborg, one female based in Aabenraa) and an ice hockey t ...

. He scored his first goal for the club three days later, netting his team's second in a 3–0 Czech Liga win over Jablonec. He made his Cup debut on 12 October and scored in a 2-1 win over

České Budějovice České Budějovice (; german: Budweis ) is a city in the South Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 93,000 inhabitants. It is located in the valley of the Vltava River, at its confluence with the Malše. České Budějovice is ...

. On 20 October, Pulkrab scored his first ever European goal, scoring the only goal of the match in a 1–0 Europa League win over

Hapoel Be'er Sheva Hapoel Be'er Sheva Football Club ( he, מועדון הכדורגל הפועל באר שבע, ''Moadon HaKaduregel Hapoel Be'er Sheva'') is an Israeli football club from the city of Be'er Sheva, that competes in the Israeli Premier League. The c ...

. He ultimately made 24 appearances for the season, and scored seven goals across all competitions.

Second loan to Slovan Liberec

On 3 July 2017, Pulkrab returned to Slovan Liberec on a season-long loan. He made his second debut for the club on 30 July and marked the occasion by scoring the only goal in a 1–0 win over

Zlín Zlín (in 1949–1989 Gottwaldov; ; german: Zlin) is a city in the Czech Republic. It has about 73,000 inhabitants. It is the seat of the Zlín Region and it lies on the Dřevnice river. It is known as an industrial centre. The development of th ...

. Having not scored again since his opening goal, Pulkrab scored seven goals in five matches across February and March 2018. Included in the run was his fifteenth career goal in the Czech First League; a milestone he reached faster than any other player in the competition, including

international International is an adjective (also used as a noun) meaning "between nations". International may also refer to: Music Albums * ''International'' (Kevin Michael album), 2011 * ''International'' (New Order album), 2002 * ''International'' (The T ...

counterparts,

Milan Baroš Milan Baroš (; born 28 October 1981) is a Czech footballer who plays as a striker. He currently plays for FK Vigantice at amateur level. In 2005, he was part of the Liverpool team which won the UEFA Champions League. He went on to win Ligue ...

and

Václav Kadlec Václav Kadlec (born 20 May 1992) is a Czech professional footballer who plays as a forward for Viktoria Žižkov. Club career Kadlec made his debut in the Czech First League on 25 October 2008 for AC Sparta Prague against 1. FK Příbram. He ...

. He ultimately scored 10 goals for the season before returning to Sparta Prague upon the expiration of his loan.

Second return to Sparta Prague

Following his loan spell, Pulkrab once again returned to Sparta and played a prominent role during the 2018–19 campaign, where he scored four goals in 18 appearances before being sidelined by an

Achilles tendon The Achilles tendon or heel cord, also known as the calcaneal tendon, is a tendon at the back of the lower leg, and is the thickest in the human body. It serves to attach the plantaris, gastrocnemius (calf) and soleus muscles to the calcane ...

injury in March 2019.

Mladá Boleslav

On 30 June 2023 Pulkrab signed with

a two-year contract.

Personal life

Outside of football, Pulkrab is an avid

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected string ...

player and admitted to being self-taught. During his time with Slovan Liberec, he would often play the instrument with teammate Zdeněk Folprecht.

Career statistics

Club

References

External links

Matěj Pulkrab
at Sparta Prague * {{DEFAULTSORT:Pulkrab, Matej 1997 births Living people Czech men's footballers Footballers from Prague Men's association football forwards Czech Republic men's youth international footballers Czech Republic men's under-21 international footballers Czech First League players 2. Bundesliga players FC Slovan Liberec players AC Sparta Prague players Bohemians 1905 players SV Sandhausen players Czech expatriate men's footballers Czech expatriate sportspeople in Germany Expatriate men's footballers in Germany FK Mladá Boleslav players