Matěj Vydra (, born 1 May 1992) 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 striker for

Viktoria Plzeň Viktoria usually refers to Viktoria, a name which is the same as Victoria (name), but may also refer to: Places * FK Viktoria Stadion, stadium of Viktoria Žižkov * Viktoria-Luise-Platz, building in Berlin * Viktoriastadt, now known as Victor ...

and the Czech Republic national team. Vydra previously played for FC Chotěboř, Vysočina Jihlava,

Baník Ostrava ''Baník'' is a Slovak language, Slovak word meaning "miner". Since the 1950s it has been part of the name of various sports clubs in Czechoslovakia associated mostly with coal mining regions. In Poland, the same practice was conducted with the name ...

Club Brugge (), known simply as Club Brugge (in English also: ''Club Bruges''), is a Belgian professional football club based in Bruges, Belgium. It was founded in 1891 and its home ground is the Jan Breydel Stadium, which has a capacity of 29,062.

, Udinese,

Watford Watford () is a town and Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in Hertfordshire, England, 15 miles northwest of Central London, on the River Colne, Hertfordshire, River Colne. Initially a small market town, the Grand Junction Canal en ...

Derby County Derby County Football Club () is a professional association football club based in Derby, Derbyshire, England. In 2022, it was announced that DCFC was acquired by Clowes Developments (UK) Ltd, a Derbyshire-based property group. Founded in 1884 ...

and

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2001 population of 73,021. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River ...

. He spent two loan spells at Watford.

Club career

Vydra joined

from Vysočina Jihlava in January 2010 at the age of 17 for 20 million CZK (€765,000). He spent six months at Baník Ostrava, where he scored four goals in 14 matches.

Udinese

In June 2010, Vydra moved to

Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Copp ...

side Udinese and was also voted by sports journalists the Czech Revelation of the Year for his performances at

in the 2009–10 season. He joined

on loan in August 2011 but returned to Udinese having played just two games due to an injury.

Watford (loan)

In July 2012, it was confirmed he had been loaned to

for the 2012–13 season. Vydra scored his first goal for Watford when he netted the winner against

Crystal Palace Crystal Palace may refer to: Places Canada * Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick * Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario * Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition buildin ...

on 18 August 2012, in a game which finished 3–2. He scored a goal against

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire in England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of England's football league system, and plays its home matches at Elland Road ...

on 10 November. Vydra then scored goals in successive matches in a 2–0 win against

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is an association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. Nottingham Forest was founded in 1865 and have been playing their home games at the City Ground, on the banks of the River Tren ...

on 22 December 2012 and in a 3–1 away win over

Brighton & Hove Albion Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club (), commonly referred to simply as Brighton, is an English professional football club based in the city of Brighton and Hove. They compete in the Premier League, the top tier of the English football league ...

on 29 December 2012. He scored another brace on 12 January 2013 against

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the a ...

. Vydra carried on his rich vein of form by netting another goal the week after, on 19 January 2013 against

Huddersfield Huddersfield is a market town in the Kirklees district in West Yorkshire, England. It is the administrative centre and largest settlement in the Kirklees district. The town is in the foothills of the Pennines. The River Holme's confluence into t ...

and then netted his third goal in as many games a week later, scoring twice on 26 January 2013 in a 3–0 win away to

. He was in fine form, and netted another goal in his next start against

Bolton Bolton (, locally ) is a large town in Greater Manchester in North West England, formerly a part of Lancashire. A former mill town, Bolton has been a production centre for textiles since Flemish weavers settled in the area in the 14th ce ...

on 2 February 2013. The match eventually finished 2–1 to Watford, with Vydra assisting Almen Abdi's winning goal. After three matches without a goal, Vydra netted his 20th goal of the campaign in a 2–1 win over

on 23 February 2013. On 25 March 2013 it was announced that he had won the 2012–13

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...

Player of the Season award in his first season in English football. Vydra won the award ahead of Glenn Murray of

and

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside resort in Lancashire, England. Located on the northwest coast of England, it is the main settlement within the borough also called Blackpool. The town is by the Irish Sea, between the Ribble and Wyre rivers, and ...

's Thomas Ince. Despite going on a run in which he didn't score in 13 games, he went on to score twice in the semi-final of the end-of-season play-offs in a 3–2 aggregate win over Leicester. Vydra's season at Watford finished in disappointment as his club lost the chance to be promoted to the English top-flight after losing the play-off final against Crystal Palace and he injured his ankle during the match, having to be substituted at half time.

West Bromwich Albion (loan)

Vydra joined

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

club

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club () is an English professional Association football, football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English foo ...

on a season-long loan deal on 13 August 2013. He scored his first goal for the club on 21 December 2013, equalising for West Brom in a 1–1 Premier League draw against

Hull City Hull City Association Football Club is a professional football club based in Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England, that compete in the . They have played home games at the MKM Stadium since moving from Boothferry Park in 2002. The club's ...

. On 22 February 2014, Vydra scored his second goal for West Brom, equalising in a 1–1 draw against

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea. The area faces Wandswo ...

. His third goal for the club came in a 3–3 draw against

Tottenham Tottenham () is a town in North London, England, within the London Borough of Haringey. It is located in the ceremonial county of Greater London. Tottenham is centred north-northeast of Charing Cross, bordering Edmonton to the north, Walthams ...

, with Vydra scoring the game's first goal after 28 seconds.

Return to Watford

On 26 June 2014, Watford announced they had re-signed Vydra on a season-long loan from Udinese, with a view to a permanent move. Vydra made a scoring return as he netted in Watford's 3–0 opening day win over Bolton Wanderers on 9 August 2014. On 25 April, he came on as a substitute to score as Watford beat Brighton & Hove Albion 2–0 at the

Falmer Stadium The Falmer Stadium, known for sponsorship purposes as the American Express Community Stadium and also referred to as the Amex, is a football stadium in the village of Falmer, in the City of Brighton and Hove, East Sussex. With a capacity of 3 ...

thus securing Watford's promotion back to the Premier League, thanks to other results going their way, with Vydra scoring 16 goals in the

to help earn promotion.

Watford

Watford signed Vydra permanently in July 2015 with the player signing a five-year contract. He started the 2015–16 season behind

Odion Ighalo Odion Jude Ighalo (born 16 June 1989) is a Nigerian professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Striker (association football), striker for Saudi Professional League club Al Hilal SFC, Al Hilal and the Nigeria national football ...

and

Troy Deeney Troy Matthew Deeney (born 29 June 1988) is an English professional footballer who plays as a striker for and captains club Birmingham City. Deeney started his professional career at Walsall. He spent a brief spell on loan with Southern Leagu ...

in the pecking order, on 25 August 2015, he played for Watford in a 1-0 loss against Preston in the

League Cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...

Reading (loan)

On 1 September 2015,

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of Letter (alphabet), letters, symbols, etc., especially by Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process invo ...

signed Vydra on a season-long loan for a fee of £2.5 million with an option to sign him permanently for £10 million if promoted to the

in the 2016–17 season. He made his Reading debut on 11 September 2015 in a 5-1 win against

Ipswich Town Ipswich Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Ipswich, Suffolk, England. They play in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The club was founded in 1878 but did not turn professio ...

. He scored his first goal for the club on 31 October in a 1-1 draw against Brighton. On 19 January 2016 in a

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competit ...

Third round replay, he scored a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three wi ...

in a 5–2 comeback victory over

Huddersfield Town Huddersfield Town Association Football Club is a professional football club based in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . The team have played home games at the Kirklees Stadium since moving from Leeds Road in 1994. ...

. In total he scored 9 goals in 36 appearances in all competitions for the club, finishing the club's 2nd top scorer (behind

Nick Blackman Nicholas Alexander Blackman (born 11 November 1989) is a professional footballer who plays as a striker for the Barbados national football team. He can also play as a winger. He last played for Maccabi Tel Aviv. Early life Blackman was born ...

) for the 2015–16 season.

Derby County

On 27 August 2016,

announced that they had signed Watford striker Vydra on a four-year deal, for a fee reported at £8,000,000. He scored his first goal for the club in a 2–1 loss to

Blackburn Rovers Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club, based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second tier of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. T ...

on 24 September 2016. In his first Derby season he scored 5 goals, making 33 appearances in the

EFL Championship The English Football League Championship (often referred to as the Championship for short or the Sky Bet Championship for sponsorship purposes) is the highest division of the English Football League (EFL) and second-highest overall in the E ...

with 13 of those coming as a substitute, with Vydra playing in different positions with the likes of

Tom Ince Thomas Christopher Ince (born 30 January 1992) is an English professional footballer who plays as either an attacking midfielder, winger or forward for EFL Championship club Reading. The son of former England midfielder Paul Ince, Tom Ince be ...

Darren Bent Darren Ashley Bent (born 6 February 1984) is an English former professional footballer who played as a striker. He played in the Premier League and Championship for nine clubs, and at senior international level for the England national team. ...

Johnny Russell John Russell may refer to: Arts and entertainment * John Russell (English painter) (1745–1806), English painter * John Russell (Australian painter) (1858–1930), Australian painter * John Russell (screenwriter) (1885–1956), author and scree ...

and

David Nugent David James Nugent (born 2 May 1985) is an English professional footballer who plays as a striker and is currently a free agent after leaving Preston North End. He started his career in 2002 when he signed his first professional contract with ...

all competing for attacking position roles. Vydra scored his first hat-trick for the club in a 3–0 away win over

on 25 November 2017. After the sale of previous season top scorer

and the acquisitions of Strikers

Sam Winnall Sam Thomas Winnall (born 19 January 1991) is an English professional footballer who plays as a striker for League One club Burton Albion Career Wolverhampton Wanderers Winnall joined the youth ranks of Wolverhampton Wanderers as a teenager, ...

and

Cameron Jerome Cameron Zishan Rana-Jerome (born 14 August 1986), known as Cameron Jerome, is an English professional footballer who plays as a striker for club Luton Town. Jerome began his career as a trainee with Huddersfield Town, Grimsby Town, Sheffield ...

, Vydra found himself playing in his favoured

second striker Forwards (also known as attackers) are outfield positions in an association football team who play the furthest up the pitch and are therefore most responsible for scoring goals as well as assisting them. As with any attacking player, the role ...

position behind a central striker of either Winnall, Jerome,

Chris Martin Christopher Anthony John Martin (born 2 March 1977) is an English singer-songwriter and musician. He is best known as the lead vocalist, pianist, rhythm guitarist and co-founder of the rock band Coldplay. Born in Exeter, Devon, he went to Uni ...

His goals during the 2017–18 season helped Derby reach the playoff semi finals, where they were knocked out over two legs by

. In April 2018, he was named in the PFA Championship Team of the Year and also in the

Team Of The Year. He scored 22 goals in all competitions and received the Sky Bet Championship Golden Boot after scoring 21 goals in the Championship during the 2017–18 season. On 1 May, Vydra won 3 awards at the club's end of season awards ceremony winning the Player Of The Year, Players Player Of The Year and the Jack Stamps Player Of The year awards. In July 2018, Vydra held talks with fellow

side

over a potential move. However, after weeks of negotiations, the move broke down over personal terms.

Burnley

signed Vydra for an undisclosed fee on a three-year deal from Derby on 7 August 2018. On 30 August 2018, he scored on his debut in a 1–1 draw against Olympiakos in the play-off round of the

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. ...

. on 22 September, he scored his first goal in the

in a 4–0 victory over AFC Bournemouth. On 15 February 2020, Vydra netted his first league goal since September 2018 in a 2–1 win against

Southampton Southampton () is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire, S ...

, that goal was later voted as Premier League Goal of the Month for February. After Burnley’s relegation, Vydra left at the end of his contract and returned to his homeland to sign for Victor Plzeň on a free transfer.

International career

Vydra played for five Czech youth national teams between under-16 and under-21 levels. In August 2012 he was called up to the Czech senior team for the first time, for a

World Cup qualifying The FIFA World Cup qualification is a competitive match that a national association football team takes in order to qualify for one of the available berths at the final tournament of the (men's) FIFA World Cup. Qualifying tournaments are h ...

match away to

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark , establishe ...

and a friendly match against

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bo ...

. Vydra played the first 73 minutes against Denmark, in a game that finished as a goalless draw. He scored his first goal, a header, for the national team on 26 March 2013 in a World Cup qualifier against

Armenia Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ...

, to open the scoring in a 3–0 victory. Vydra also scored the second goal of the game, robbing an Armenian defender of the ball before slotting past the keeper.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''As of match played 8 September 2021. Czech Republic score listed first, score column indicates score after each Vydra goal.''

Honours

Watford *

Football League Championship The English Football League Championship (often referred to as the Championship for short or the Sky Bet Championship for sponsorship purposes) is the highest division of the English Football League (EFL) and second-highest overall in the E ...

runner-up: 2014–15 Individual *

PFA Team of the Year The Professional Footballers' Association Team of the Year (often called the PFA Team of the Year, or simply the Team of the Year) is an annual award given to a set of 55 footballers across the top four tiers of men's English football; the Premi ...

: 2012–13 Championship, 2017–18 Championship *

Player of the Year:

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment ...

: Golden Boot 2017–18 *

Team Of The Year 2017–18 *

Player Of The Year 2017–18 *

Players Player Of The Year 2017–18 * Premier League Goal of the Month: February 2020

References

External links

* * * *
Burnley F.C.
profile {{DEFAULTSORT:Vydra, Matej 1992 births Living people People from Chotěboř Czech men's footballers Czech Republic men's international footballers Czech Republic men's under-21 international footballers Czech Republic men's youth international footballers Men's association football forwards FC Vysočina Jihlava players FC Baník Ostrava players Udinese Calcio players Club Brugge KV players Watford F.C. players West Bromwich Albion F.C. players Reading F.C. players Derby County F.C. players Burnley F.C. players Czech First League players Czech National Football League players Serie A players Belgian Pro League players Premier League players English Football League players UEFA Euro 2020 players Czech expatriate men's footballers Czech expatriate sportspeople in Italy Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Czech expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Expatriate men's footballers in Belgium Czech expatriate sportspeople in England Expatriate men's footballers in England Footballers from the Vysočina Region FC Viktoria Plzeň players