Roman Kukleta (22 December 1964 – 26 October 2011) was a Czech

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 forward. He won three

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 ...

titles with

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 ...

between 1988 and 1991, during which time he also finished as top scorer of the First League. Other clubs he played for include

Zbrojovka Brno Zbrojovka Brno, s.r.o is a maker of small arms in Brno, Brno, Czech Republic, wholly owned by Colt CZ Group, Colt-CZ Group. In the past it also made light artillery, cars, motorcycles, tractors and various tools, such as typewriters and early c ...

RH Cheb RH, Rh, rH, or rh may refer to: Companies * Red Hat, an American software company * Republic Express Airlines (IATA designator), a cargo airline in Indonesia * RH (company), an American furniture chain formerly known as Restoration Hardware Scien ...

and

Real Betis Real Betis Balompié, known as Real Betis () is a Spanish professional association football, football club based in Seville, Andalusia, Spain. It plays in La Liga, the Spanish football league system, top flight of Spanish football. It plays home ...

. Kukleta represented

Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...

internationally, winning four

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Java ...

, all in 1991.

Club career

Kukleta started to play his club football in Czechoslovakia for

and

. In 1986, he was awarded the ''Křišťálovou kopačku'' award for goal of the year, for his scissors kick in Brno's second division match against

Slušovice Slušovice (; ) is a town in Zlín District in the Zlín Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 2,900 inhabitants. Geography Slušovice is located about east of Zlín. It lies in the Vizovice Highlands. The highest point is at above sea leve ...

. In 1988, he joined

, with whom he won the league three times in three seasons, as well as the

Czechoslovak Cup The Czechoslovak Cup () was a football cup competition held in Czechoslovakia. It was officially created in 1960 and folded in 1993 with the split between Czech Republic and Slovakia. The cup was played throughout Czechoslovakia until 1968–69. F ...

in the 1988–89 season.

Jeřábek Jeřábek (feminine: Jeřábková) is a Czech surname. In Czech, it means 'hazel grouse', but it is also a diminutive form of ''jeřáb'' (meaning 'Crane (bird), crane'). It was originally used as a nickname for a tall person. Notable people with t ...

, p. 105. He was the top scorer of the 1990–91 Czechoslovak First League with 17 goals. In 1991 Kukleta moved to Spain to play for

, where he joined compatriot manager Jozef Jarabinský, as well as players

Michal Bílek Michal Bílek (born 13 April 1965) is a football manager and former player who serves as head coach of the Czech Republic U21 national team. He led the Czech Republic national football team for four years between 2009 and 2013. As a player, he r ...

and Alois Grussmann. He scored six goals in 28 appearances for the Spanish side. Kukleta later returned to his homeland where he played for Brno for the rest of his professional career. He amassed a total of 159 appearances and 58 goals (counting First League only) in his professional career. Kukleta went on to play in the lower leagues for

Děčín Děčín (; ) is a city in the Ústí nad Labem Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 46,000 inhabitants. It is the seventth largest municipality in the country by area. Děčín is an important traffic junction. Administrative division Děč ...

, Zeman Brno, Mutěnice and

Velké Meziříčí Velké Meziříčí (; ) is a town in Žďár nad Sázavou District in the Vysočina Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 12,000 inhabitants. The historic town centre with the castle complex is well preserved and is protected as an urban ...

International career

Having scored on his only appearance for the Czechoslovakia Olympic team in 1987, Kukleta made his debut for the full national side in January 1991 in a

friendly match An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, scrimmage, demonstration, training match, pre-season game, warmup match, or preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sport, sporting event whose prize money and impact on th ...

against

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. His only competitive appearance was in a 2–0

UEFA Euro 1992 qualifying The qualifying competition for UEFA Euro 1992 was a series of parallel association football competitions to be held over 1990 and 1991 to decide the qualifiers for UEFA Euro 1992, to be held in Sweden. The draw for the qualifying rounds was held ...

win against

Albania Albania ( ; or ), officially the Republic of Albania (), is a country in Southeast Europe. It is located in the Balkans, on the Adriatic Sea, Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea, and shares land borders with Montenegro to ...

, where he played alongside

Pavel Kuka Pavel Kuka (born 19 July 1968) is a Czech former professional footballer who played as a forward. He represented his national team on 87 occasions, scoring 29 goals. At club level Kuka started in 1987 with Rudá Hvězda Cheb in the Czechoslova ...

Personal life

Kukleta was divorced and had a son, Roman. He worked as a lorry driver after his footballing career. Kukleta died suddenly in October 2011.

Honours

Sparta Prague *

: 1988–89, 1989–90, 1990–91 *

: 1988–89 Individual *

top scorer: 1990–91

References

Cited texts

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kukleta, Roman 1964 births 2011 deaths Footballers from Brno Czech men's footballers Czechoslovak men's footballers Czechoslovakia men's under-21 international footballers Czechoslovakia men's international footballers Czech First League players FC Zbrojovka Brno players FK Hvězda Cheb players AC Sparta Prague players Czechoslovak expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Segunda División players Real Betis players Men's association football forwards