Radoslav Kováč (; born 27 November 1979) is 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 ...

manager and former player. He is the manager of

Slovan Liberec FC Slovan Liberec (), commonly referred to as Slovan Liberec or simply Slovan, is a Czech professional association football, football club based in the city of Liberec. The club is one of the most successful in the Czech Republic, having won thr ...

. Kováč played both in

midfield In many sports, midfield is the part of a sports field that is near the line that is equally far from the end lines. That is, in American football it is the part of the field near the 50-yard line; in association football (soccer) and field hoc ...

and in

defence Defense or defence may refer to: Tactical, martial, and political acts or groups * Defense (military), forces primarily intended for warfare * Civil defense, the organizing of civilians to deal with emergencies or enemy attacks * Defense indust ...

for

Sigma Olomouc SK Sigma Olomouc is a Czech professional football club based in the city of Olomouc. The club currently competes in the Czech First League, the first tier of Czech football. The club played in the first tier league for 30 years between 1984 and 2 ...

Sparta Prague Athletic Club Sparta Praha (), commonly known as Sparta Prague and Sparta Praha, is a professional football club based in Prague. It is the most successful club in the Czech Republic and one of the most successful in central Europe, winning t ...

Spartak Moscow Spartak Moscow may refer to the following teams based or formerly based in Moscow, Russia: * FC Spartak Moscow, an association football club * HC Spartak Moscow, a professional ice hockey team * Spartak GM Moscow, a semi-professional rugby club * ...

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is a professional Association football, football club based in Stratford, London, Stratford, East London, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English f ...

FC Basel Fussball Club Basel 1893, widely known as FC Basel, FCB, or just Basel, is a Swiss professional Association football, football club based in Basel, in the Basel-Stadt, Canton of Basel-Stadt. Formed in 1893, the club has been List of Swiss footba ...

and

. At international level, he represented the Czech Republic's U-21 and senior team.

Club career

Early career

Having come through the ranks of

, Kováč joined

in 2004. In July 2005, he moved to Russia, where he signed for

. During a Moscow derby against

Lokomotiv Moscow FC Lokomotiv Moscow (, ) is a Russian professional association football, football club based in Moscow. Lokomotiv have won the Russian Premier League on three occasions; the Soviet Cup twice; and the Russian Cup (football), Russian Cup a record ...

on 20 July 2008, Kováč received a yellow card for tackling a fan who invaded the pitch.

West Ham United

On 30 January 2009, he moved on loan to

for the remainder of the 2008–09 season. He made his debut for West Ham on 25 February 2009 in a 2–0

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

defeat to

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ), colloquially known as Boro, is a port town in the Borough of Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire, England. Lying to the south of the River Tees, Middlesbrough forms part of the Teesside Built up area, built-up area and the Tees Va ...

. His first goal for West Ham came in their 3–1 away defeat to Everton on 16 May 2009. Kováč signed a permanent contract with West Ham United on 11 August 2009 on a three-year contract. He scored his first goal of the 2009–10 season against

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. Most of Portsmouth is located on Portsea Island, off the south coast of England in the Solent, making Portsmouth the only city in En ...

in the 89th minute on 26 December, playing 90 minutes in a 2–0 win at Upton Park. At the end of the 2010–11 season, with twelve months left on his contract and after 62 league and cup appearances, Kováč left West Ham United.

Basel

In July 2011 Kováč joined reigning

Swiss Super League The Super League (also known as the Credit Suisse Super League for sponsorship reasons) is a professional association football league in Switzerland and the highest level of the Swiss football league system. It has been played in its current fo ...

champions

for an undisclosed fee on a two-year contract. He joined Basel's first team during their 2011–12 season under head coach

Thorsten Fink Thorsten Fink (born 29 October 1967) is a German football coach and a former footballer, who is the head coach of Belgian Pro League club KRC Genk. Playing career Fink began his career with Borussia Dortmund's reserve squad before moving to S ...

. To the beginning of their 2011–12 season Kováč was a member of the Basel team that won the 2011 Uhrencup, beating both

Hertha Berlin Hertha, Berliner Sport-Club e. V., commonly known as Hertha BSC () or Hertha Berlin, is a German professional football club based in Berlin. Hertha BSC plays in the 2. Bundesliga, the second tier of German football, following relegation from t ...

3–0 and

2–1 to lead the table on goal difference above Young Boys. After playing in six test games Kováč played his domestic league debut for the club in the away game in the

Stade de Suisse, Wankdorf Wankdorf Stadium () is a football stadium in Bern, Switzerland. The second largest all-seater football stadium in Switzerland, it is the home ground of BSC Young Boys. It was also one of the venues for UEFA Euro 2008. History The present-da ...

on 16 July 2011 as Basel played a 1–1 draw with

BSC Young Boys Berner Sport Club Young Boys (YB by short abbreviation, ) is a Swiss professional sports club based in Bern, Switzerland. Its first team has won 17 Swiss league championships and eight Swiss Cups. YB is one of the most successful Swiss footbal ...

. At the end of the 2011–12 season he won the

Double Double, The Double or Dubble may refer to: Mathematics and computing * Multiplication by 2 * Double precision, a floating-point representation of numbers that is typically 64 bits in length * A double number of the form x+yj, where j^2=+1 * A ...

with his new club. They won the

League League or The League may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Leagues'' (band), an American rock band * ''The League'', an American sitcom broadcast on FX and FXX about fantasy football * ''League of Legends'', a 2009 multiplayer online battle a ...

Championship title with 20 points advantage. The team won the

Swiss Cup The Swiss Cup (; ; ; ) is a football cup competition that has been organised annually since 1925–26 season by the Swiss Football Association. The Swiss Cup final is usually the most important game of the year with a high attendance. The co ...

, winning the final 4–2 in a penalty shootout against

Luzern Lucerne ( ) or Luzern ()Other languages: ; ; ; . is a city in central Switzerland, in the Languages of Switzerland, German-speaking portion of the country. Lucerne is the capital of the canton of Lucerne and part of the Lucerne (district), di ...

. Kováč scored his first goal for the club on 4 August 2012 in the away game in the

Stade Tourbillon The Stade de Tourbillon is a multi-purpose stadium in Sion, Switzerland. It is currently used mostly for football matches and is the home stadium of FC Sion. The stadium holds 16,000 people and was built in 1968 and renovated in 1989. At the t ...

as Basel played a 1–1 draw with

Sion Sion may refer to * an alternative transliteration of Zion People * Sion (name) or Siôn, a Welsh and other given name and surname, including a list of people and fictional characters with the name * Shion or Sion, a Japanese given name Plac ...

. On 21 December 2012 it was announced that Kováč would leave the club and had signed for

. Basel and Kováč agreed to prematurely terminate the contract, because he had achieved only 5 appearances up until that date. Therefore, he could sign for Liberec on a free transfer. During his 18 months with the club Kováč played a total of 52 games for Basel scoring a total of two goals. 20 of these games were in the

, five in the

, two in the UEFA competitions (Champions League and Europa League) and 25 were friendly games. He scored one goal in the domestic league and the other was scored during the test games.

International career

Kováč was part of the Czech side which won the UEFA U-21 Championships in 2002. Kováč made his debut on 9 October 2004 in a 1–0 friendly win against

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

. Kováč appeared for his nation in the

2006 World Cup The 2006 FIFA World Cup was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to host the event in July 2000. Teams represe ...

and

Euro 2008 The 2008 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2008 or simply Euro 2008, was the 13th UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial football tournament contested by the member nations of UEFA (the Union of European ...

. With the Czech Republic failing to qualify for the

2010 World Cup The 2010 FIFA World Cup was the 19th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national Association football, football teams. It took place in South Africa from 11 June to 11 July 2010. ...

, Kováč announced his retirement from international football in January 2010, in order to focus on his club career.

International goals

:''Scores and results list Czech Republic's goal tally first.''

Coaching career

From 2016 to 2019, Kováč worked as an assistant manager at

AC Sparta Prague Athletic Club Sparta Praha (), commonly known as Sparta Prague and Sparta Praha, is a professional association football, football club based in Prague. It is the most successful club in the Czech Republic and one of the most successful in cen ...

. In June 2020, he was hired as

SFC Opava Slezský FC Opava is a professional football club based in Opava, Czech Republic. The club plays in the Czech National Football League, the second of Czech football after being relegated from the Czech First League at the end of the 2020–21 sea ...

football manager replacing sacked

Jiří Balcárek Jiří Balcárek (born 29 April 1973) is a Czech football manager and former player. He played club football domestically for Olomouc and RH Cheb, as well as German side Union Berlin at club level and made two appearances for the Czech Republic ...

. In June 2022 he was hired as

FC MAS Táborsko FC may refer to: Businesses, organisations, and schools * Fergusson College, a science and arts college in Pune, India * Finncomm Airlines (IATA code) * FranklinCovey company, NYSE stock symbol FC * Frontier Corps, a paramilitary force in Pakist ...

football manager replacing Sergejs Golubevs. On 13 September 2022, Kováč was named as new head coach of

FK Pardubice FK Pardubice is a Czech football club located in the city of Pardubice. Since 2020, the club has played in the Czech First League. The club is the successor of TJ Tesla Pardubice, which merged with FC Loko Pardubice in 2008. History The club ad ...

. Ahead of

2024–25 Czech First League The 2024–25 Czech First League, known as the Chance Liga for sponsorship reasons, is the 32nd season of the Czech Republic's top-tier football for professional clubs since its establishment in 1993. Sparta Prague are the reigning champions. The ...

, Kováč became the manager of

Honours

Basel *

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

References

External links

*
Premier League profile
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kovac, Radoslav 1979 births Living people Sportspeople from Šumperk Czech men's footballers Men's association football central defenders Men's association football midfielders Czech Republic men's youth international footballers Czech Republic men's under-21 international footballers Czech Republic men's international footballers Olympic footballers for the Czech Republic Footballers at the 2000 Summer Olympics 2006 FIFA World Cup players UEFA Euro 2008 players Russian Premier League players Premier League players Czech First League players Swiss Super League players SK Sigma Olomouc players AC Sparta Prague players FC Spartak Moscow players West Ham United F.C. players FC Basel players FC Slovan Liberec players Czech football managers Czech First League managers SFC Opava managers Czech expatriate men's footballers Czech expatriate sportspeople in Russia Expatriate men's footballers in Russia Czech expatriate sportspeople in England Expatriate men's footballers in England Czech expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland Expatriate men's footballers in Switzerland Footballers from the Olomouc Region FC Silon Táborsko managers Czech National Football League managers FK Pardubice managers FC Slovan Liberec managers 21st-century Czech sportsmen