Reuters reported on the 5th (Korean time) that Ivan Hasek (60), former head coach of the Lebanese national soccer team, has been promoted to the head coach of the Czech national team.Coach Hasek, who briefly led the Czech national team in 2009, returned to his home country as head coach after 15 years.Coach Hasek, who served as the national team captain when the Czech Republic advanced to the quarterfinals at the 1990 World Cup in Italy, is treated as a star coach in the Czech Republic.Since 2010, he has mainly taken charge of professional performances in the Middle East From 2021 to 2022, he led the Lebanon national team, and Lebanon faced Korea in a group in the final qualifiers for the 2022 Qatar World Cup.At the time, Lebanon lost both games 0-1 to Korea under coach Paulo Bento.
Coach Hasek is famous as the cousin of ice hockey legend Dominique Hasek (58).Czech soccer, which was recognized as a powerhouse in Europe from the 1990s to the mid-2000s, including a runner-up finish at Euro 1996 (1996 European Football Championship), has been experiencing a long slump since then.Until recently, they failed to make it to the World Cup finals for four consecutive times, and although they are perfect at the Euro finals, they have not made it past the semifinals since the 2004 tournament (semifinals).They were eliminated from the Euro group stage twice.Under former coach Jaroslav Silhavy, the Czech Republic qualified for the Euro 2024 finals.However, coach Silhavy stepped down due to controversy over performance, and coach Hasek took over the baton.The Czech Football Association initially tried to appoint Pavel Nedved (51), a famous midfielder, as coach, but the decision fell through as Nedved was rejected because he mainly works outside the Czech Republic.Nedved, who worked as vice president at Juventus in Italy, resigned from his 스포츠토토존 position in 2022 due to suspicions of accounting fraud, but is known to remain in Italy thereafter