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With a love of football that dates far back in this former communist Eastern
European country, the Czech Republic national football team is the
national football team of the Czech Republic and is governed and overseen by the
Football Association of the Czech Republic (Českomoravský fotbalový svaz).
Before Czechoslovakia was split into the Czech Republic and Slovakia in 1993,
the Czechoslovakia national football team achieved runner-up finishes in the
1934 and 1962 FIFA World Cups. Since the Czech Republic came about, the Czech
Republic national football team has entered every World Cup.
In both the 1998 and 2002 World Cups - which were hosted in France, and South
Korea and Japan respectively - the Czech Republic failed to qualify. However,
the Czech Republic national football team succeeded in reaching round one in the
2006 World Cup, which was hosted in Germany.
They qualified for the 2006 tournament by beating Norway in a play-off, proving
victorious in both legs by 1-0. Although they looked like they would make it to
the last 16 due to a 3-0 victory against the United States, a 2-0 loss to Ghana
followed by a 2-0 loss to Italy put paid to their chances that year.
Some of the best national players from the Czech Republic include Patrik Berger
(1994-2001), Miroslav Kadlec (1987-1997), Pavel Kuka (1990-2001), Jan Koller
(1999-2008), Pavel Nedvěd (1994-2006), Karel Poborský (1994-2006), Pavel Srníček
(1994-2001) and Vladimír micer (1994-2005).
The Czech Republic is ranked 9 in the world according to the FIFA ranking.
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