Petr Čech (born May 20, 1982 in Plzeň, Czech Republic) is a Czech international footballer who is currently a goalkeeper for Chelsea F.C. (2004). He has earlier played for Viktoria Plzeň, Chmel Blšany, Sparta Prague, and Rennes.

Club Career

FC Viktoria Plzeň 1989-1999

Blšany 1999-2001

Čech made his senior-level debut as a 17-year-old for FK Chmel Blšany in 1999.

Sparta Prague 2001-2002

Cech really came of age in the 2001/02 campaign following a €700,000 transfer to AC Sparta Praha. The young custodian won a first-team place four matches into the Czech season, and proceeded to set a national record by going 855 minutes without conceding a goal. Just for good measure, he began Sparta's UEFA Champions League campaign by shutting out holders FC Bayern München, and was not beaten until Matchday 5.

Rennes 2002-2004

After just one season at the Letná, Cech joined Stade Rennais FC in July 2002 for a reported fee of €5m. Not one of France’s glamour clubs, the Czech was virtually ever-present as Rennes preserved their Ligue 1 status and reached the Coupe de France semi-finals. Played all but five of Rennes' games as they finished ninth.

Chelsea 2004-

In January he agreed a summer move to Chelsea FC for €10.3m, signing a five-year contract.

When he arrived at Chelsea, there was uncertainty over whether he would be the first choice goalkeeper as Chelsea already had Carlo Cudicini, who many considered to be one of the best goalkeepers in the English League, and their current manager, José Mourinho, was not the one who signed him to the club.

But once the season started, he became the first choice goalkeeper at Chelsea, and has been solid between the posts for the club.

On 5th March 2005 Petr Čech set a new Premiership record of 1025 minutes without letting in a goal. He was finally beaten by Leon McKenzie of Norwich City. He had kept a clean sheet in the league since 12th December 2004 when Thierry Henry scored for Arsenal.

Statistics

Last updated: 13 November, 2004

International Career - Czech Republic

Čech has had 29 international appearances for the Czech Republic.

He was part of the Czech 2004 European Football Championship team, who finished top of their group in the pre-tournament phase, qualified from their group in the first round of the tournament, defeated Denmark in the quarter finals, before losing to Greece in the semi-finals on the silver goal rule.

External links

Official pages (Czech language)