Czech stars to donate percentage of World Cup earnings to young talent

Czech footballers and the national football association have agreed to channel some of their World Cup earnings into a fund to develop young football talent in the Czech Republic. Around five percent of the national association's and players' earnings from participation in the opening group stage of the tournament will be channelled into the fund. That should amount to around five million crowns - the equivalent of about 225,000 US dollars. In addition, a group of six players, including Pavel Nedved, Karel Poborsky, Petr Cech, Tomas Rosicky, Tomas Galasek and Tomas Ujfalusi have called for their own representative on the board of the new fund. According to the Czech Football association's president they want the chance to "follow the flow of money" and to propose some possibilities for projects in the future.

In the World Cup, which kicks off on June 9th, the Czechs will first face Italy, the United States and Ghana.