Footballer of the Year Tomáš Souček: There are still many more goals to be scored
West Ham United midfielder Tomáš Souček has been voted Czech Footballer of the Year for the fourth time in his career. The captain of the Czech national team, who is 30, received the award at a ceremony in Prague on Monday night.
Souček followed up on his victories in 2019, 2020 and 2023, tying for third place with Pavel Nedvěd in the number of awards taken, bettered only by Ivo Viktor and the record-breaking Petr Čech, who has triumphed nine times.
Lukáš Provod of Prague's Slavia came second, 21 points behind Souček and Pavel Šulc from Pilsen finished third.
Souček played 11 games for the national team last year, scoring twice. As captain, he led the national team to the elite division of the UEFA Nations League, but did not advance out of the group at the European Championship in the summer. At club level, he was once again a mainstay at West Ham, scoring six competitive goals for the Premier League side last year.
He has scored 34 goals in the English league since 2020, when he moved from Slavia to West Ham and is only four goals short of the best Czech goal scorer in Premier League history, Patrik Berger.
"There's a lot of talk now and everyone is texting me when I score a goal that it's one goal closer again. But I say there are still many more goals to be scored. And whether I break that record or not, I'm happy for what I've done, even if it ends today. Let's see how far I can go,” Souček told reporters.
Picking up the fourth Czech Footballer of the Year award on Monday night Souček paid homage to those who had inspired him when he started training.
"It's a great honour to win this award, because we have a lot of players who are great every year and the competition is tough. If you look at the history of the players who have won it, they were icons for me. And the idea that I'm now a role model for young players who are also dreaming big is amazing. And for me it is fresh motivation for the future".
