Pavel Nedved Biography

Pavel Nedvěd, born in Cheb, Czechoslovakia on 30 August 1972, is a former Czech footballer and sports director, currently working ad vice-president of Juventus. He was captain of the Czech national team from 2000 to 2006, with whom he was European runner-up in 1996.

Considered one of the best midfielders of his generation, as well as one of the strongest Czech players in history, he was among the stars of the 1990s and 2000s in the successes of Lazio and Juventus. For his performances in the Juventus shirt in 2003, he was awarded the Golden Ball by the French magazine France Football (the second Czech to receive this award after Josef Masopust) and named World Player of the Year by the British magazine World Soccer. Nicknamed Czech Fury by Italian fans, he also played for Dukla Prague and Sparta Prague in his homeland.

He was included in the Euro 2004 Dream Team, and in the same year in the FIFA 100, a list of the 125 greatest living players compiled by Pelé and FIFA to mark the 100th anniversary of the world federation. He was included in the UEFA Team of the Year for three consecutive years, from 2003 to 2005.

In 2004 the AFS (Association of Football Statisticians), ranking the 100 greatest footballers of all time on a purely statistical basis, included him in 34th place. He is the best Czech footballer of the 1993-2003 decade according to the Czech magazine Mladá fronta DNES, and of the 2000-2010 decade according to Lidové noviny.

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All You Need to Know About Pavel Nedved Biography

In October 2010, one year after the end of his playing career, he joined the board of directors of Juventus. He was appointed vice-president of Juventus Turin on 23 October 2015 by the club's president, Andrea Agnelli, at the general meeting of shareholders.

Pavel Nedved Information

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Pavel Nedved biography

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Pavel Nedved Bio

• Full Name: Pavel Nedvěd

• Nickname: Czech Fury

• Profession: Professional Footballer

Pavel Nedved Physical Stats

• Weight: 70 Kg

• Height: 1.77 m

• Eye Color: Blue

• Hair Color: Blonde

Pavel Nedved Football Information

• Position: Winger, Attacking Midfielder

• Jersey Number: 11

• Professional Debut: 30 August 1972

Pavel Nedved Date of Birth and Personal Info

• Date of Birth: 30 August 1972

• Birth Place: Cheb, Czechoslovakia

• Zodiac Sign: Virgo

• Nationality: Czech

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Pavel Nedved childhood

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Pavel Nedved Early Life

Pavel Nedvěd was born into a very modest family whose father Vaclav was a farmer and his mother was a housewife. As a child, Pavel was passionate about sports and played ice hockey, tennis and, above all, football. His father was a good Czechoslovakian D2 player at Plzeň.

A football fanatic from an early age, he started playing as a five-year-old for Tatran Skalná in 1977. He then moved to RH Cheb in 1985, playing there for one season. He later moved to Skoda Plzeň, in which he played for a season. When Pavel signed up at the Škoda Plzeň, he made the daily four-hour train ride to training without blinking an eye. This didn't stop him from shining on the field, nor did it prevent him from obtaining his diploma as a surveyor.

He played for

in 1991 but stayed with the club for only one season before moving to

the following year. With the Czech club he won a Czechoslovakian championship in the 1992-1993 season, two Czech championships in the 1993-1994 and 1994-1995 seasons, and finally a Czech Republic Cup in the 1995-1996 season.

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Pavel Nedved Profile

At the end of the 1996 European Championship, which saw him in the final with his national team, he moved to the Italian club Lazio for 9 billion lire. On 7 September 1996, he made his debut in Serie A with the Lazio shirt against

. In that year he scored seven goals, establishing himself as one of the staples of the team's roster. Nedvěd quickly became one of the most successful players of his team.

Nedvěd quickly became an important player for the Lazio team so much that, at the beginning of the 1997-1998 season, he scored 4 goals in his first three league games. In his second season with Lazio, he won his first Italian trophy, the Coppa Italia, beating Milan in the final, and lost the UEFA Cup by falling in the single final in Paris against Inter.

Nedvěd's third season at Lazio began with winning his first Italian Super Cup, playing in the match over

, Nedvěd also scored his first goal of the season against the Bianconeri. The year was then marked by an injury that stopped him for a long period; at the end of the season he played in the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup final, which was in its last edition and was played in Birmingham on 19 May 1999, Nedved scored a volley in the 2-1 win against Mallorca a few minutes before the end of the season (the last goal ever in the almost forty-year history of the competition), delivering the first European trophy to the

team and therefore to Roman football.

The following season began with the triumph in the UEFA Super Cup against

. He scored five times, including two crucial goals in the league: one against Bologna on the 100th anniversary of the club, which they won and took the lead in the standings, and the other in the return derby against

, which gave the victory to the Biancocelesti (2-1) and allowed them to make a comeback against

Juventus, who were then 9 points ahead. On the last day, Lazio beat

3-0, and taking advantage of the Bianconeri's fall on the pitch of Perugia, after twenty-six years, they became champions of

once again.

In the 2000-01 season, the Czech scored 13 goals, including one in the comeback in the final minutes of the derby in which Roma, down 0-2, first conceded a goal from Nedved to narrow the gap, and then, in the 5th minute of stoppage time, a goal from team-mate Lucas Castromán ended the match in a draw. He also scored twice against Juventus (4-1).

However, after five very positive years in Rome, on a professional level (207 games and 51 goals) and even more on a personal basis, Nedvěd decided to leave Lazio due to disagreements with the management, and the club was forced to sell him to make money.

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Juventus

After five seasons with the Roman team, he was transferred to Juventus F. C. for 42 million euros. Initially, coach Marcello Lippi lined up Nedvěd as an outside winger on the left, although he did not adapt quickly to his new position. He scored his first goal for the Bianconeri team on 1 December 2001 in a match against Perugia Calcio on the 30th matchday of the Serie A season. After an incredible comeback by Juventus against Inter Milan, the Juventus club won the championship with just one matchday to go, and Pavel closed the season with four goals in thirty-two matches.

That same year Juventus won the Italian Super Cup, after beating Parma F. C. In his second season with Juventus, he again won the Serie A and Italian Super Cup titles, the first one with seventy-two points, and the second one by beating

in the final.

While in the Champions League he scored his first goal with Juventus against Dynamo Kiev in the Bianconeri's victory 5-0 victory. In the quarterfinals, he scored again this time against

in the second leg at Camp Nou. In the semi-finals, Juventus faced

, the first leg ending 2:1 in favour of the Spanish team, while in the second leg Juventus won by 3-1 (the third goal was scored by Nedved), thus reaching the final, although Nedvěd was not included in the final because of the number of yellow cards he received.

His individual performance in the European Tournament earned him the Golden Ball of European Football that year. With Fabio Capello's arrival on the bench, the following seasons were ones of ups and downs for Nedvěd, where he managed to score only eighteen goals in three seasons in Serie A and seven goals in three editions of the Champions League.

However, he won the 2004-05 and 2005-06 Serie A titles with Juventus, which were eventually revoked from the club. Due to the match-fixing scandal Juventus were relegated to Serie B. Nedvěd was one of the few players to remain in the team, along with Gianluigi Buffon, Alessandro Del Piero, David Trezeguet and Mauro Camoranesi. During Juventus' stay in Serie B, he played thirty-three matches and scored eleven goals, while in the Italian Cup he managed to score one goal in three matches.

On May 19th 2007, Juventus achieved a mathematical return to

and on July 12th 2007, he renewed his contract for another year. On December 19th 2007, he played his 300th match in the Bianconeri shirt against Atalanta. He also scored a free-kick goal in that match.

During the 2007-08 season, Nedvěd at the age of 35 scored two goals in thirty-one league games, while scoring one more goal in the Italian Cup. Despite having repeatedly announced his willingness to retire from football, on 13 May 2008 he renewed his contract with Juventus for another year until 30 June 2009. On 17 September 2008 Juventus returned to the UEFA Champions League after a two-year absence, making their debut against Zenit St. Petersburg with a 1:0 victory for Juventus with a free-kick goal by Alessandro Del Piero.

Finally, after three victories and three draws, Juve took first place in their group, facing Chelsea F.C. in the round of 16. On 26 February 2009, the day after the first leg against the English team, Pavel Nedvěd announced his retirement from football at the end of the season. On 10 March 2009, during the second leg against the Blues in Turin Nedvěd suffered an injury and had to leave the pitch after 13 minutes of the first half. Chelsea made it to the quarter-finals after beating Juventus by an overall score of 3-2.

Once recovered, he returned to the club on March 22nd 2009 to face A.S. Roma, scoring a free-kick goal in that match. On May 31st 2009, he again announced his retirement from professional football, and one day later he played his last match in the Bianconeri shirt against his former team, S.S. Lazio. In that match, he was replaced by Tiago Mendes in the 83rd minute and received a standing ovation from the Tifosi present in the Olympic Stadium in Turin.

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Czech National Team

Pavel Nedvěd began his career as a Czech international on 5 June 1994, when he was substituted for Jiří Němec in the 84th minute of a friendly match against Ireland at Lansdowne Road in Dublin.

At the 1996 European Championship in England, Nedved was already an absolutely key player in the Czech midfield. He played in five of the six games in the tournament and scored the 1:0 in the second group game, a 2-1 win against Italy. The Czech Republic even reached the final against Germany in the tournament, but lost 2-1 to Oliver Bierhoff's golden goal in extra time and became European Championship runners-up.

At the 2004 European Championship in Portugal, Pavel Nedvěd captained the Czech team to the semi-finals but suffered a knee injury during a challenge in the Greek penalty area in the first half. Without its most important player, the Czech Republic was eliminated by a silver goal.

At his own request, he was not called up to the national team for the next few months in order not to put any additional strain on his health. It was not until the qualifying matches for the 2006

against Norway that national coach Karel Brückner called him back up for the national team.

On 15 August 2006, Nedvěd announced that he would end his career with the national team. He made his last appearance for the Czech Republic in a friendly match against Serbia on 16 August 2006. He was substituted after 44 minutes and was given a big standing ovation from fans. In total, he played 91 international matches and scored 18 goals.

Style of Play

Nedved was a versatile tenacious and consistent player, able to strike with both his right and left foot. Throughout his career, Nedved played as an attacking midfielder or left-winger. He could play with his left foot and was good at making shots into the penalty area with his right foot. He was also capable of playing in central midfield, assisting both attack and defence.

He occasionally came on the pitch as a central midfielder, fulfilled the role of a playmaker or a defensive lineman and created many goals thanks to his field vision and ability to pass accurately. Distinguished by his powerful long-range shots as well as his stamina, he had high speed, technique and scoring skills. He also had accurate shots from the free-kick and from the penalty spot.

Reception

Pavel Nedved is considered by many football fans and experts to be one of the best midfielders of his generation. Italian fans nicknamed Nedvěd "Furia Ceca" ("Czech Fury"), noting his skill, consistency and fighting spirit, as well as his stamina, strength and determination. He has been referred to in the English-language media as the "Czech Cannon". His former Lazio coach Sven-Goran Eriksson described him as a "complete package as a midfielder".

Goal Celebration

During his playing career, Pavel Nedved has scored a total of 147 goals in all competitions. One of the goal celebrations that we often saw from him was when he opened both his arms and ran towards the fans. We have seen this goal celebration from him both on the club and international matches.

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Pavel Nedved outside Football

At the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, he commented on the ice hockey games of the Czech national team for Italian television.

Together with his former teammates Vratislav Lokvenc and Tomáš Votava, Nedvěd took part in the Prague half marathon on March 27, 2010.

Pavel Nedved is one of those footballers that looks like, he cannot live without football. After years of playing and after his retirement, he soon returned to football, only this time as a board member of Juventus.

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Pavel Nedved Personal Life

In this section of Pavel Nedved biography, we want to take a look at his personal life and share some information like

Pavel Nedved religion

and also some more info on his family and relationships.

Family, Children and Relationships

He is married to Ivana; the couple has two children, whom the parents named after themselves, Ivana and Pavel, because, as Nedvěd himself has stated, "when we are gone, there will always be a Pavel and an Ivana in the world who will love each other."

In 2010 he published his autobiography, named "My Normal Life. Running between revolution, Europe and the Ballon d'Or", written together with Michele Dalai.

Since 2011 he has been among the 50 Juventus footballers honored in the Walk of Fame at the Juventus Stadium. On 1 December 2014, he was homaged with a wax statue by the Grévin Museum in Prague, alongside other Czech sporting legends such as Petr Čech, Dominik Hašek, Jaromír Jágr, Ivan Lendl, Martina Navrátilová, Roman Šebrle and Emil Zátopek. On 28 October 2015, he received the Medal of Merit of the Czech Republic, his country's highest honor.

Philanthropy

Pavel Nedved is amongst the footballers who are actively involved in charitable works both in Italy and his home country Czech Republic. After his retirement from playing professional football, he has also appeared in many charity matches around the world.

Legal Issues

Currently, there are no information or records on media about any legal issues or disputes involving Pavel Nedved. Stay tuned to read more of Pavel Nedved biography and his career stats.

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Pavel Nedved Career Statistics

During his playing career, Pavel Nedved has played a total of 669 games for 4 different European clubs in all competitions, scoring 147 goals. In this section of Pavel Nedved biography, we want to take a detailed look into his career stats, both on the club and international level, so stay tuned!

Club

Pavel Nedved started his professional football career in 1991 in his home country with the Dukla Prague team. He just stayed there for a season, playing 19 matches and scoring 3 goals in the Czechoslovak First League.

For the next 4 seasons, he moved to Sparta Prague, playing a total of 97 matches and scoring 23 goals in the league between 1992 and 1996. At there, Pavel Nedved has also played 19 European matches, scoring 5 goals.

His next big move came in 1996 when he moved to Italian side Lazio. During his spell with the Rome team, he played a total of 207 matches, scoring 51 goals for the club. Of these matches, 138 were in Serie A, where he scored 33 goals. At the Italian cup, he has also played a total of 22 matches and scored 5 goals for Lazio. Nedved has also made 44 appearances for the club in European competitions, scoring 12 goals.

In 2001, Pavel Nedved joined Italian giants Juventus, where he established himself as one of the club legends between 2001 and 2009. At Juve, Nedved played a total of 247 Serie A matches, scoring 51 goals. At Italian Cup, he played 22 matches, scoring 2 goals with the Juventus jersey. Pavel Nedved has also played 55 European matches for Juventus, scoring 12 goals.

International

Pavel Nedved nationality

is Czech and, for 12 years between 1994 and 2006, Pavel Nedved was the star of

, making 91 appearances and scoring 18 goals.

Pavel Nedved Honors

During his playing career at the club level, Pavel Nedved has won many awards and titles both at his home country and Italy. The most notable of the include Czechoslovak First League, Czech Republic Football League, Czech Cup, Serie A,

,

, UEFA Cup Winners' Cup and

.

At the international level, Pavel Nedved has only managed to finish runner-ups in the 1996 UEFA European Championship with Czech national team. He has also been third-placed at 1997 FIFA Confederations Cup.

Nedved has also many individual titles and honors to his name, including Czech Republic Golden Ball (six times), Czech Footballer of the Year (four times), Serie A Footballer of the Year, UEFA Club Best Midfielder of the Year, UEFA Team of the Year and the Ballon d’Or in 2003.

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