• 03/19/2024

    West Ham United midfielder Tomáš Souček has been voted best Czech footballer of the year for the third time in his career. The captain of the Czech national team, who is 29, received the award in a ceremony in Prague on Monday night.

    Ladislav Krejčí of Sparta Prague came second in the annual poll organised by the Czech Football Association. Vladimír Coufal, who also plays for West Ham, placed third.

    The Czech national squad are in Prague preparing for two friendly internationals.

    Author: Ian Willoughby
  • 03/19/2024

    Speaking in Prague, Slovak President Zuzana Čaputová called on Slovaks living in Czechia to vote in presidential elections in her country. The first round will be held this coming Saturday.

    Ms. Čaputová attended a screening of a new documentary about Václav Havel at Prague Castle on Monday evening with her Czech counterpart, Petr Pavel. Before the film she told reporters that Slovaks needed to participate in democracy, adding that Velvet Revolution leader Havel had been a source of inspiration with regard to defending that concept.

    Author: Ian Willoughby
  • 03/18/2024

    The Czech national soccer team have gathered in Prague for the first time under coach Ivan Hašek. The players have two friendlies planned for the international break, against Norway away on Friday and against Armenia in Prague four days later.

    Nobody has dropped out of the 23-man-squad, meaning the new manager and his officials don’t need to make any additional call-ups.

    Ivan Hašek has more than 50 caps as a player and previously managed the national side two and a half decades ago.

    Author: Ian Willoughby
  • 03/18/2024

    The Czech president, Petr Pavel, has granted permission to 20 Czech citizens to join the armed forces of Ukraine, his spokesperson said on Monday. By contrast, Mr. Pavel, a former senior soldier who has been in the post for just over a year, turned down 56 requests from Czechs seeking to help Ukraine repel its Russian invaders.

    Over 150 Czechs have to date been allowed to fight for Ukraine, with most receiving the green light under the previous presidency of Miloš Zeman.

    Czechs may not fight for the army of another state without such dispensation.

    Author: Ian Willoughby
  • 03/18/2024

    Former Czech president Miloš Zeman is to remain in hospital after an operation last Thursday to deal with a blood clot in his leg. Doctors at Prague’s Motol hospital said on Monday that Mr. Zeman was conscious and was cooperating on his rehabilitation. They said it was not possible to estimate at present how long the former head of state would have to stay at Motol.

    Mr. Zeman, who is 79, smoked and drank alcohol for many years. He has suffered from diabetes and has used a wheelchair for some time.

    Author: Ian Willoughby
  • 03/18/2024

    The US news outlet The Wall Street Journal changed a headline on Sunday referring to Czechia as a “small ex-Soviet satellite state” after a wave of online criticism. The piece centred on a Czech plan to source ammunition for Ukraine, which it said made use of contacts from the previous era.

    The news outlet later replaced the headline with one referring to Central Europe and naming the Czechs.

    The US ambassador to Prague, Bijan Sabet, had earlier “corrected” the initial text on social media, writing instead that Czechia had been a democratic country for over 30 years and an important NATO ally.

    Author: Ian Willoughby
  • 03/18/2024

    The Czech minister of foreign affairs, Jan Lipavský, has called on more European Union states to sign up to a Czech project to find a large amount of ammunition for Ukraine.

    At a meeting of EU heads of diplomacy in Brussels on Monday, Mr. Lipavský said he also wished to thank the 18 countries – some of which are not members of the bloc – that had already pledged to support the plan to supply the Kyiv government with around 800,000 artillery shells sourced outside the EU or NATO.

    The idea of Czechia finding the ammunition and paying for it with funding from other states was first put forward publicly by Czech President Petr Pavel last month.

    Author: Ian Willoughby
  • 03/18/2024

    It should be mainly sunny in Czechia on Tuesday, with an average high temperature of 9 degrees Celsius. The following days are expected to be overcast and somewhat warmer.

  • 03/18/2024

    Slovak President Zuzana Čaputová will pay a one-day visit to Czechia on Monday at the invitation of the Vaclav Havel Library. Although the visit has been described as informal, the Slovak head of state will briefly meet with Czech President Petr Pavel and Prime Minister Petr Fiala. She will also pay tribute to the victims of the December shooting at the Faculty of Arts of Charles University. In the evening, the Czech and Slovak presidents will view the film "This is Havel speaking, can you hear me?” at Prague Castle.

  • 03/18/2024

    The Russian presidential elections were neither transparent nor democratic, the Czech Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Sunday, in response to Vladimir Putin’s reported landslide victory. The ministry criticized the fact that the elections were held in conditions of systematic suppression of Russian civil society, without independent media or any semblance of real opposition. Moreover, it pointed out that Russia also organized voting in the occupied territories of Ukraine, which it described as an “illegitimate farce” carried out with the intention to legitimize the results of its aggressive policy towards the neighbor state.

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