Svatopluk Pluskal (28 October 1930 – 29 May 2005) was a Czechoslovak

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

defensive midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

. He won a silver medal at the

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in Chile in

1962 The year saw the Cuban Missile Crisis, which is often considered the closest the world came to a Nuclear warfare, nuclear confrontation during the Cold War. Events January * January 1 – Samoa, Western Samoa becomes independent from Ne ...

, representing

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 ...

Early life

Svatopluk Pluskal started playing football in his home town, where he played for several clubs. With (Baťa Zlín – Svit Gottwaldov) he achieved promotion to the top league. He achieved individual success when he was selected for the junior international team. He was able to play in most positions, but in Zlín he played mainly as a striker.

Club career

In 1951 he moved to

Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

where he became an important player for a newly founded army football club (ATK, later called ÚDA and

Dukla Prague Dukla Prague () 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 semi-finals of the ...

), for whom he played mainly as a defensive midfielder. In almost 16 years with this club, he was eight-time champion of the league but he achieved his most important successes at the club level in the United States. Dukla Praha with Pluskal in its line-up won the "American Cup" (a tournament of teams from football-developed countries) three times in a row in the first half of the 1960s. In 1962 Pluskal scored the winning goal in the final against Brazilian team FC America.

International career

He played in the Czechoslovak international team from 1952 (starting as a defender) and played in three World Cups. In

1954 Events January * January 3 – The Italian broadcaster RAI officially begins transmitting. * January 7 – Georgetown–IBM experiment: The first public demonstration of a machine translation system is held in New York, at the head ...

he took part in the record 5–0 defeat by Austria in Switzerland. Four years later, at the 1958 world cup finals, Pluskal played in more games. Losing 1–0 to

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

, drawing 2–2 with

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, and scoring a remarkable 6–1 victory over Argentina, under modern rules they would have gone through. Under the rules of the time, having equal points, a

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had to decide, and Northern Ireland beat them for the second time, this time 2–1 after extra time. In the 1962 World Cup in Chile, Pluskal was a member of the line-up. With his teammate from Dukla, Josef Masopust, he formed the key midfield of the 4–2–4 formation. Thanks to Pluskal, the team that had had to qualify for the Championships in a playoff with Scotland had got to the World Cup final. There it was beaten by

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

. In 1965, Pluskal played in the unsuccessful qualification campaign for the World Cup in England, but with this his international career ended. He played 56 matches in Czechoslovak colours and scored one goal. Thanks to his important contribution to the success in Chile, Pluskal received recognition on the international stage. On 23 October 1963, he was a member of the "

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" team that took on

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at Wembley in front of 100,000 fans, to celebrate 100 years of English football. A year later, he played for the "

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" team in

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against

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, and appeared for Europe again in 1965 against

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.England Player Honours - International Representative Teams
England Football Online Pluskal's career was ended by a knee injury in 1967. In the league he played 282 matches and scored 37 goals. He was a universal footballer, a good header of the ball, and he was famous for his slide tackles, with which he cleanly took the ball from his opponents. Although players often protested against this style of play, referees usually considered it to be within the rules. During his football career, this tireless fighter became an impenetrable shield, able to concentrate on what was needed. Off the field, he helped the team with his easy humour.

Late life

As with many other former players, Pluskal became a coach. He did this job for

Plzeň Plzeň (), also known in English and German as Pilsen (), is a city in the Czech Republic. It is the Statutory city (Czech Republic), fourth most populous city in the Czech Republic with about 188,000 inhabitants. It is located about west of P ...

clubs Škoda and Slovan, later on for FC Bohemians Praha and for a few years in Enosis Neon Paralimni of

Cyprus Cyprus (), officially the Republic of Cyprus, is an island country in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Situated in West Asia, its cultural identity and geopolitical orientation are overwhelmingly Southeast European. Cyprus is the List of isl ...

. He helped Bohemians with their promotion to the First Division. After a brain stroke Pluskal was confined to bed. He died at the age of 74.

References

External links

Svatopluk Pluskal
at FK Dukla Praha * {{DEFAULTSORT:Pluskal, Svatopluk Czech men's footballers 1930 births 2005 deaths 1954 FIFA World Cup players 1958 FIFA World Cup players 1960 European Nations' Cup players 1962 FIFA World Cup players Czechoslovak men's footballers Czechoslovakia men's international footballers Dukla Prague footballers FK Jablonec players Enosis Neon Paralimni FC managers Expatriate football managers in Cyprus Footballers from Zlín Czech football managers Czechoslovak football managers FC Viktoria Plzeň managers Men's association football midfielders