Following thedissolution of Czechoslovakia, the first international competition of the Czech Republic wasUEFA Euro 1996, where they finished runners-up. They have taken part at every European Championship since. Following the separation, they have featured at one FIFA World Cup, the2006 tournament.
When Czechoslovakia split into the Czech Republic andSlovakia, the Czech Republic team was formed. They played their first friendly match away toTurkey on 23 February 1994. The newly formed team played their first home game inOstrava, againstLithuania, in which they registered their first home win.[citation needed]
Their first competitive match was part of theUEFA Euro 1996 qualifying campaign, in which they defeatedMalta 6–1 in Ostrava. During the campaign, the Czech Republic registered six wins, three draws, and a defeat againstLuxembourg, finishing their qualifying Group 5 in first place, ahead of group favourites theNetherlands. In the final tournament, hosted by England, the Czechs progressed from the group stage, despite a 2–0 opening game defeat to Germany. They progressed to theUEFA Euro 1996 Final, losing 2–1 to Germany atWembley Stadium.
The Czechs finished third in the 1998 FIFA World Cup qualifying group, behindSpain andYugoslavia, and subsequently missed the tournament.[citation needed]
The Czech Republic qualified forEuro 2000, winning all of their group games and conceding five goals.[9] In the finals the team were drawn in Group D, alongsideFrance, theNetherlands andDenmark.[10] The team lost to the Netherlands after a last-minute penalty[11] and were defeated in second match by France, which eliminated them from advancing to the knockout round. The Czech Republic managed a 2–0 win against Denmark in their final game courtesy of two goals fromVladimír Šmicer.[11]
Once again, the Czech Republic failed to qualify for the World Cup, this time finishing second in their 2002 qualification group, behind Denmark, and then being beaten 1–0 in both legs byBelgium in the UEFA play-offs for a place in the finals.[12]
A team settled withPavel Nedvěd,Jan Koller,Tomáš Rosický,Milan Baroš,Marek Jankulovski,Tomáš Galásek together with the emergence of goalkeeperPetr Čech were unbeaten in 2002 and 2003, scoring 53 goals in 19 games and qualifying forEuro 2004 in the process. The Czech Republic went on a 20-game unbeaten streak, which finally ended inDublin on 31 March 2004 in a friendly match against theRepublic of Ireland.[13] The Czechs entered the Euro finals in Group D, alongside the Netherlands, Germany andLatvia.[14] The team trailed 2–0 to the Netherlands before winning the game 3–2 and beat Germany in the final group match.[15] The Czech Republic beat Denmark in the quarter-final, went into the semi-final against Greece and Tomáš Rosický hit the bar after just two minutes, Jan Koller had shots saved by the Greek goalkeeper and Pavel Nedvěd left the pitch injured in the end of the first half. The first 90 minutes finished goalless and Greece won the game in the last minute of the first half of extra-time with asilver goal.[16]
The Czech Republic achieved their record win during the2006 World Cup qualifying, thrashingAndorra 8–1 in a qualification match inLiberec. In the same match, Jan Koller became the all-time top scorer for the national team with his 35th international goal.[17] At the end of the campaign, after finishing in second place in Group 1 and defeatingNorway in a playoff, the Czechs qualified for their firstWorld Cup.[18] The team was boosted prior to the play-off matches by the return of Pavel Nedvěd,[19] who had initially retired from international football after Euro 2004. The squad for the2006 World Cup in Germany included 18 players from the Euro 2004 team. With the team ranked second in the world,[20] they started the tournament with a 3–0 win over theUnited States. During the game, however, Jan Koller was forced to leave with a hamstring injury,[21] exiting the tournament. In the next game, with Milan Baroš still recovering from injury, the team suffered a 2–0 loss toGhana.[20] Baroš returned for the final game againstItaly, a must-win for a round of 16 appearance. The team were reduced to ten men asJan Polák was dismissed before half-time for two bookable offences.[21] Italy went on to win 2–0. Pavel Nedvěd,Karel Poborský andVratislav Lokvenc retired from the national team after the tournament.[22]
In thequalifying campaign forEuro 2008, they finished top of their group, above Germany on head-to-head record. The Czech Republic beat co-hostsSwitzerland 1–0 in their opening game of the finals, before being beaten 3–1 byPortugal. This meant the Czechs and Turkey carried identical records going into the final group game. Although the Czechs took a 2–0 lead just past the hour mark and looked set to qualify, Turkey scored three goals in the final 15 minutes of the game to win the game 3–2.[23]
The Czechs entered2010 World Cup qualification, being drawn inGroup 3, under the guidance of coachPetr Rada. They started with a 0–0 away draw againstNorthern Ireland, before losing toPoland. A late goal fromLibor Sionko won the next game 1–0 againstSlovenia. This was followed by a win againstSan Marino, and a goalless draw in Slovenia. In their following match, against neighboursSlovakia, a 2–1 defeat at home left Czech Republic in a precarious qualifying position. Manager Petr Rada was dismissed and six players were suspended.[24]Ivan Hašek took temporary charge as manager,[25] gaining four points from his first two matches, as the team drew away to group leaders Slovakia and thrashed San Marino 7–0 inUherské Hradiště. They subsequently beat Poland in Prague but followed this result with a goalless draw against Northern Ireland, finishing third in the group and failing to qualify for the World Cup. Hašek announced his immediate resignation.[26]
A changed team underMichal Bílek entered theEuro 2012qualifiers and began with a home loss toLithuania. But a win at home toScotland was followed by wins againstLiechtenstein.Spain defeated Czech Republic in between the Liechtenstein games, but the play-off spot was still in their hands. In the next game, a last minute penalty fromMichal Kadlec away to Scotland secured a 2–2 draw.[27] Despite Scotland winning their next two games and the Czechs again being defeated by Spain, the team could finish second if they could beat Lithuania away from home in the final game, assuming Spain would beat Scotland at home. Spain won 3–1 and Czech Republic defeated Lithuania 4–1 to seal second spot and a place in the play-offs. Czech Republic were drawn to faceMontenegro in the two-legged play-off. A goal fromVáclav Pilař and a last minute second fromTomáš Sivok helped the Czechs to a 2–0 first leg lead. In the second leg inPodgorica, a late goal fromPetr Jiráček sealed a 1–0 win and the Czechs ran out 3–0 aggregate winners and qualified for Euro 2012.[28]
At the tournament, the Czechs lost their opening game 4–1 toRussia, with their only goal coming from Václav Pilař. In their second match, against Greece, the Czech Republic went 2–0 up within the first six minutes thanks to goals from Petr Jiráček and a second from Pilař. Following the half-time substitution of captain Tomáš Rosický, Greece scored a second-half goal following a mistake from Czech goalkeeper Petr Čech, although there were no more goals and the Czech Republic recorded their first win of the tournament.[29] Going into their third and final group match, the Czech Republic needed at least a draw against co-hosts Poland to advance to the knockout stage. A second-half strike by Jiráček proved the difference between the teams as the Czechs ran out as 1–0 winners. Due to Greece beating Russia in the other group game, the Czech Republic subsequently finished top of Group A,[30] becoming the first team ever to win a group at the European Championships with a negativegoal difference.[31]
Bílek stayed on as coach, despite unrest amongst fans, and was tasked withqualifying for the2014 World Cup.[32] The Czechs were drawn intoUEFA qualifying Group B along with Italy, Denmark,Bulgaria,Armenia andMalta. The campaign started with goalless draws against Denmark and Bulgaria, paired with a narrow win against Malta. The team then lost 0–3 to Denmark at home. The Czechs were then able to beat Armenia and draw with group leaders Italy, but lost to both Armenia and Italy in the rematches.[32] Bílek resigned[32] after the loss and was replaced with assistant coachJosef Pešice.[33]
Pavel Vrba was appointed as the team's new coach in 2014, ahead ofEuro 2016 qualifying.[34] The Czech team was drawn into[35]Group A, along with Netherlands, Turkey,Iceland, Latvia andKazakhstan. The Czech team began with a win, defeating Netherlands, and followed up with victories over Turkey, Kazakhstan and Iceland, leaving them as group leaders with maximum points after four matches. A draw at home against Latvia followed; nonetheless, Czech Republic remained group leaders, and on 6 September 2015, qualified for their sixth European Championship. They only got one point from a draw withCroatia, losing to Spain and Turkey. During a friendly match againstAustralia on 1 June 2018, the Czechs recorded their biggest defeat losing 0–4 inSankt Pölten, Austria.[36] That would eventually be eclipsed during their first qualifier forEuro 2020, as they were beaten 0–5 atWembley Stadium byEngland.[37]
On the other hand, they qualified directly forEuro 2020, finishing 2nd inGroup A during the qualifiers, with a record of five wins and three defeats in eight games. The team won at home againstEngland, the group leader (2–1) and lost all three away matches, against England (0–5),Kosovo (1–2) andBulgaria (0–1).
On 18 November 2020, the Czech Republic, then placed inGroup 2 of League B in the 2020–2021 edition of the Nations League, obtained promotion to League A for the next edition thanks to a win at home againstSlovakia on the last day of the group stages (2–0), allowing the National team to overtakeScotland, which was defeated inIsrael (0–1) at the same time.[38] The Czechs were drawn intoGroup D with qualification opponents England, along withCroatia as well asScotland.
2021 started on a positive note for the Czech Republic, who managed to drawBelgium at home 1–1 in thequalifiers for the 2022 World Cup. Above all,the Euros, postponed to the summer of 2021 due toCOVID-19, saw the Czech men advance from the group. The Czech Republic won the first game againstScotland, who were one of 12 host countries for the Euros, with a double fromPatrik Schick (2–0), including a long-range goal. The Czechs then drew 1–1 against Croatia before losing to England atWembley 1–0. The Czechs finished among the four best third-place teams. In the round of 16 the Czech Republic faced theNetherlands, surprising them with a 2–0 win with goals fromTomáš Holeš and Patrik Schick while the Dutch team finished the game with 10 players.[39] Appearing in the quarter-finals for the first time since2012, they were beaten by Denmark 2–1, having conceded the first Danish goal after 5 minutes of play due to a refereeing error caused by a non-existent corner.[40]
The Czech Republic, without injured star striker Schick for the entireEuro 2024 qualifying campaign, had a difficult and chaotic campaign, but qualified forthe Euros in Germany by finishing second in their qualifying group thanks to a 3–0 home win overMoldova on the final day. After qualifying, coachJaroslav Šilhavý resigned in the face of criticism from fans and controversy surrounding some of the team's players.[42]
On 4 January 2024,Ivan Hašek returned to the Czech football team as the head coach until November 2025, with an option to continue if the team qualifies for the2026 World Cup. He went on to make his debut againstNorway andArmenia, both of which were 2–1 victories. In theEuro 2024, the Czech Republic failed to qualify to the Round of 16, losing 2–1 toPortugal, which was followed by a 1–1 draw toGeorgia with many opportunities missed, and a 2–1 loss toTurkey in the final match of the group after being quickly reduced to 10 players following a second yellow card forAntonín Barák, the third time that Czech Republic lost in the decisive game against Turkey afterEuro 2008 andEuro 2016. They ended 4th in Group F.[43]
Since 1994, the Czech Republic home kit has primarily been red shirts, with either blue or red shorts. While their away kit has been white shirts with white shorts. Although the team wore blue shorts for a short period between 2010 and 2011. In 2020 the team introduced a new alternate colour as the away kit for the first time.[44]
