René Bolf (born 25 February 1974) is a Czech former 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 lea ...

who played as a

centre back In the sport of association football, a defender is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categ ...

. He spent most of his club career at

Baník Ostrava ''Baník'' is a 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 ''górnik''. ...

, also playing in his home country for

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 ...

. During a three-year stay in France, he played for

Ligue 1 Ligue 1 (; ), officially known as Ligue 1 McDonald's France, McDonald's for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in France and the highest level of the French football league system. Administered by the Ligue de ...

side

Auxerre Auxerre ( , , Burgundian language (Oïl), Burgundian: ''Auchoirre'') is the capital (Prefectures in France, prefecture) of the Yonne Departments of France, department and the fourth-largest city in the Burgundy historical region southeast of Par ...

. He spent most of his

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 ...

career at FC Baník Ostrava, where he played over 200 league matches. He was a member of the squad of Baník Ostrava in the 2003–04 season, when Baník won the league title. Bolf represented the national team between 2000 and 2005 and represented the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...

Euro 2004 The 2004 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as Euro 2004, was the 12th edition of the UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial football competition contested by the men's national teams of UEFA member associations. Th ...

Club career

Bolf played for a club in

Rožnov pod Radhoštěm Rožnov pod Radhoštěm (; ) is a town in Vsetín District in the Zlín Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 16,000 inhabitants. Geography Rožnov pod Radhoštěm is located about northeast of Vsetín and south of Ostrava. It lies in the ...

as a child, moving to

FC Vítkovice 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 Paki ...

in 1990 and Hranice in 1993. After a short spell at LeRK Brno in 1994, he started his professional football career at

FC Karviná 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 Pakis ...

. He moved to Ostrava in 1995, playing with

until a summer 1999 move to

. He won the

with Sparta in his first season with the club, but returned to his former club, Ostrava, during the following season. The November 2000 deal which saw Bolf and teammate Martin Prohászka transferred to Ostrava was valued at 17.5 million

CZK The koruna, or crown (currency sign, sign: Kč; ISO 4217, code: CZK, ), has been the currency of the Czech Republic since 1993. The koruna is one of the European Union's eight currencies, and the Czech Republic is legally bound to Czech Repub ...

, and saw Bolf sign a three-year contract. He was appointed

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

of Baník Ostrava in 2002 following the departure from the club of

Milan Baroš Milan Baroš (; born 28 October 1981) is a Czech former professional footballer who played as a forward. In 2005, he was part of the Liverpool team which won the UEFA Champions League. He went on to win Ligue 1 with Lyon in 2007, the FA Cup w ...

. His first league title with Ostrava, and second overall came during the 2003–04 season. He moved to France in 2004, joining

side

as a replacement for outgoing defender

Philippe Mexès Philippe Mexès (born 30 March 1982) is a French former professional Association football, footballer who played as a centre-back. He represented AJ Auxerre, Auxerre, AS Roma, Roma and AC Milan at club level during a career that spanned between ...

. He stayed with Auxerre for three seasons. Bolf returned to the Czech Republic in 2007. Due to injury, he didn't play his first league match after returning from France until March 2008. He spent four more seasons with Baník Ostrava, before playing out his career in the Czech 2. Liga with Karviná. He announced his retirement from professional football in December 2012 after the first half of the 2012–13 Czech 2. Liga.

International career

Bolf made his debut for the Czech Republic national team on 16 August 2000 in a friendly match against

Slovenia Slovenia, officially the Republic of Slovenia, is a country in Central Europe. It borders Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the south and southeast, and a short (46.6 km) coastline within the Adriati ...

. It was April 2002 before he won his second

cap A cap is a flat headgear, usually with a visor. Caps have crowns that fit very close to the head. They made their first appearance as early as 3200 BC. The origin of the word "cap" comes from the Old French word "chapeau" which means "head co ...

, playing the whole of a goalless friendly match against

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

. He went on to play eight matches in the qualifying competition for Euro 2004. At

UEFA Euro 2004 The 2004 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as Euro 2004, was the 12th edition of the UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial association football, football competition contested by the List of men's national associatio ...

he played the whole match in the Czech Republic's opening game against

Latvia Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east and Belarus to t ...

. After not featuring in his country's second game, against the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

, Bolf returned to the starting lineup against

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. He played the whole match as the Czech Republic won 2–1 and knocked Germany out of the tournament. Bolf was one of only three players who started against Germany to be selected in the quarter-final match against

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

. He didn't finish the match, having sustained an injury he was replaced by David Rozehnal in the 64th minute. Bolf's fitness was unclear before the semi-final match against Greece, but he played the whole game, which the Czech Republic lost after a

silver goal The golden goal is a sports rule used in association football, Australian rules football, bandy, field hockey, ice hockey, lacrosse, and rugby league to decide the winner of a match (typically a knock-out match) in which scores are equal at the ...

Personal life

Bolf was born in

Valašské Meziříčí Valašské Meziříčí (; ) is a town in Vsetín District in the Zlín Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 23,000 inhabitants. The historic town centre is well preserved and is protected by law as an Cultural monument (Czech Republic)#Monum ...

.Article in Hattrick magazine
/ref> He is married to wife Vladislava, with two daughters.

Honours

Sparta Prague *

: 1999–2000 Baník Ostrava * Czech First League: 2003–04

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bolf, Rene Living people 1974 births Czech men's footballers Czech First League players MFK Karviná players FC Baník Ostrava players AC Sparta Prague players Ligue 1 players AJ Auxerre players UEFA Euro 2004 players Czech Republic men's international footballers Czech expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in France Sportspeople from Valašské Meziříčí Men's association football defenders Footballers from the Zlín Region