Rudolf Kučera (born 23 January 1940) is a Czech retired

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 played 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 ...

. He played his club football in Czechoslovakia, mainly for

Dukla Prague Dukla Prague ( cz, Dukla Praha) was a Czech football club from the city of Prague. Established in 1948 as ATK Praha, the club won a total of 11 Czechoslovak league titles and eight Czechoslovak Cups, and in the 1966–67 season, reached the se ...

, with whom he became joint top scorer of the

1960–61 Czechoslovak First League Statistics of Czechoslovak First League in the 1960–61 season. Overview It was contested by 14 teams, and Dukla Prague won the championship. Rudolf Kučera and Ladislav Pavlovič were the league's top scorers with 17 goals each. Stadia and loca ...

with 17 goals. He won three league titles with the club, 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. Fr ...

in 1961.

Club career

Kučera played for TJ Gottwaldov before moving to

in 1959. Kučera scored the first competitive goal at

Stadion Juliska Stadion Juliska is a multi-use stadium in Prague-Dejvice, Czech Republic. It is currently used mostly for football matches and is the home ground of FK Dukla Prague. The stadium is also used for athletics events, including the annual Josef Od ...

, opening the scoring in a 2–1 win against Wiener SK in the

1960 Mitropa Cup The 1960 Mitropa Cup was the 20th season of the Mitropa football club tournament. It was contested as a competition between countries and there was no elimination. The five competing countries each sent six teams each to the competition, which wa ...

. In the

, Dukla won the league, with Kučera's 17 goals tying

Ladislav Pavlovič Ladislav Pavlovič (8 April 1926 – 28 January 2013) was a Slovak football player. He played for Czechoslovakia national team in 14 matches and scored two goals. He was a participant at the Euro 1960, where he played in five matches and scor ...

as joint top scorer. The club also won the

the same season, earning "

the double A double is a look-alike or doppelgänger; one person or being that resembles another. Double, The Double or Dubble may also refer to: Film and television * Double (filmmaking), someone who substitutes for the credited actor of a character * ...

" in the process. Further league titles followed in 1961–62 and 1962–63. In the

European Cup The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competi ...

, Kučera scored 11 times in 14 matches,

Jeřábek Jeřábek (feminine Jeřábková) is a Czech surname. It was originally used as a nickname for a tall person, based on the Czech word ''jeřáb'', meaning ' crane'. Notable people with the name include: * Dita Jeřábková, Czech volleyball play ...

, p. 103. ranking him third highest goalscorer overall from Czechoslovak players in the pre-Champions League era of the competition behind

Jozef Adamec Jozef Adamec (26 February 1942 – 24 December 2018) was a Slovak football forward and manager. Adamec won seven Czechoslovak First League titles in his club career, winning two with Dukla Prague during his military service, followed by five ...

and

Ivan Mráz Ivan Mráz (born 24 May 1941) is a Czechoslovak former football player who competed in the 1964 Summer Olympics and won the silver medal. Scored five goals in that Olympics Football Tournament. Besides Czechoslovakia, he has played in the Neth ...

. Kučera's career was ended through injury at the age of 23. In a

1963–64 European Cup The 1963–64 season of the European Cup club football tournament saw Internazionale win the title with a 3–1 victory over Real Madrid. It was the second consecutive season that an Italian team had won the competition. Milan, the defending ch ...

match against Polish side

Górnik Zabrze Górnik Zabrze Spółka Akcyjna, commonly referred to as Górnik Zabrze S.A. or simply Górnik Zabrze (), is a Polish football club from Zabrze. Górnik is one of the most successful Polish football clubs in history, winning the second-most Po ...

, Kučera was injured following an elbow to the head from defender Stanisław Oślizło and never played at the top level again. Pivoda, p. 51.

International career

Kučera played internationally for

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

, making his international debut at

Dalymount Park Dalymount Park ( Irish: ''Páirc Cnocán Uí Dhálaigh'') is a football stadium in Phibsborough on the Northside of Dublin, Ireland. It is the home of Bohemian F.C., who have played there since the early 20th century. Affectionately known ...

in a 3–1 win for his country against

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 Counties of Ireland, counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern ...

in a World Cup qualifier on 8 October 1961. In total he scored three goals in seven appearances between 1961 and 1963, although he missed the

1962 FIFA World Cup The 1962 FIFA World Cup was the seventh edition of the FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football championship for senior men's national teams. It was held from 30 May to 17 June 1962 in Chile. The qualification rounds took place b ...

due to injury. He also represented Czechoslovakia B on two occasions between 1961 and 1962.

International goals

:''Scores and results list Czechoslovakia's goal tally first.''

Honours

Club

;Dukla Prague *

Czechoslovak First League The Czechoslovak First League ( cs, 1. fotbalová liga, sk, 1. futbalová liga) was the premier football league in the Czechoslovakia from 1925 to 1993, with the exception of World War II. Czechoslovakia was occupied by German forces who forme ...

(3): 1960–61, 1961–62, 1962–63. *

(1): 1960–61

Individual

top scorer: 1960–61 (shared)

References

Cited texts

* *

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kucera, Rudolf 1940 births Living people People from Zlín District Czech men's footballers Czechoslovak men's footballers Czechoslovakia men's international footballers FC Zlín players Dukla Prague footballers Men's association football forwards Footballers from the Zlín Region