Sports News

Sparta Prague have finally put manager Jozef Jarabinsky out of his misery and have wasted no time in replacing him with Jiri Kotrba. Patrik Berger's career is again on ice following a recurrence of the injury which has dogged him in recent years. Sparta Prague's ice hockey team also has a new manager, and he got off to a winning start on Tuesday. And the shortlist for Czech Sportsperson of the Year has just been announced. That's all in Sports News.

Sports News

Sparta replace Jarabinsky with Kotrba

Jiri Kotrba and Vlastimil Kostal, Photo: CTK

The leading Czech football club, Sparta Prague, have - as expected - sacked their Slovak coach Jozef Jarabinsky, and have wasted no time in appointing Jiri Kotrba as his successor. While Sparta went into the winter break leading the Czech league, their failure to get anywhere in Europe (remember they got to the second group stage of the Champions League last year) was deemed unforgivable, and Jarabinsky's head had to roll. He wasn't given the elbow however until after being ordered by the club to prepare an analysis of where things went wrong. Here's Sparta chairman Vlastimil Kostal.

"We dismissed the whole management team after we read the analysis, which was of a very high quality, and I think it will help the new management team. And we came to a decision that three out of four of the club's aims on the field were not fulfilled - that was the reason."

There had been a great deal of speculation that Sparta would sign former Czech national coach Josef Chovanec, who is currently under contract at Pribram. While the club was demanding a lot of money to release him, Sparta chairman Kostal said that was not main reason they had opted for Jiri Kotrba instead. Czech football management is quite a merry-go-round - Kotrba will be Sparta's fourth coach this year and Sparta will be his third club (after Pribram and Olomouc) this season! He explained his immediate priorities at Sparta.

"There are thirty players here and for me that's a really big number, more than we need right now. So we're definitely going to reduce the number of players in the squad."

Berger's career on ice again, agent raves about new talent

Once one of the best Czech players of his generation, Patrik Berger must fear that his days at the top are numbered if not over, after a recent recurrence of the knee injury which has dogged him in recent seasons. The Liverpool player has been ordered to rest for at least three months. On a more positive note, Pavel Paska, the agent who represents Berger and such Czech stars as Tomas Rosicky and Milan Baros, has been raving about another of his young clients, Vaclav Sverkos of Ostrava. Paska says big clubs in Italy and Germany are already showing interest in the 19-year-old striker.

New Sparta ice hockey manager off to winning start

Sparta Prague's ice hockey team also have a new manager. Alois Hadamczik got off to a winning start at the club on Tuesday, when Sparta beat Ceske Budejovice 2:1 away. Sparta, who won the Extraliga last season, are currently fifth and over 20 points behind leaders Pardubice, who beat bottom of the table Havirov 3:1 away.

Shortlist for Sportsperson of the Year announced

The shortlist of 10 candidates for Czech Sportsperson of the Year has just been announced. The list includes decathlete Roman Sebrle, football captain Pavel Nedved, tennis number one Jiri Novak, retired ice hockey goalie Dominik Hasek and Ales Valenta, who shot to fame after winning gold in free-style aerial skiing at the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. The sportsperson of the year is to be announced on December 21.