Milan Máčala

Milan Máčala ( born July 4, 1943 in Biskupice u Luhačovic ) is a former Czech football player and current football coach. He coached from 1990 to 1993 the Czechoslovakian national soccer team, then he worked successfully in the Arabian Peninsula.

Player

Milan Máčala played in the 1960s to the 1970s for the Czech associations TJ Gottwaldov, Škoda Plzeň, TJ Vitkovice and Sigma Olomouc mostly in the second Czechoslovak league.

Coach

Máčalas first coach station was the then second division side Sigma Olomouc in the season 1980/81. On January 1, 1982, he took over Slavia Prague, where he remained until 1984 without being able to achieve notable success. Then Máčala went to Cyprus and supervised a team in Larnaca. In 1986 he returned to Czechoslovakia and became Banik Ostrava, which he successively led to a fifth, fourth, and two second places. In 1989 and 1990 he was voted coach of the year in Czechoslovakia.

In August 1990, Milan Máčala took over the Czechoslovakian national soccer team, which he led in 24 games to March 1993. The qualification for the finals of the European Championship 1992, he missed, the team was in their group only second behind France. After a 1-1 draw on 24 March 1993 against Cyprus in qualifying for the 1994 World Cup Máčala was dismissed.

Following Máčala moved to Kazma SC to Kuwait City. There he could win the 1995 and 1996 national championship. He also won the Gulf Cup 1996, for club teams. 1994 Máčala had also taken over the Kuwait national football team, he brought 1996 to a fourth place at the Asian Cup. In 1996 he also won the Gulf Cup with Kuwait. In 1997, he briefly coached the national team of the United Arab Emirates, before he again took over the team in Kuwait in 1998 and again won the Gulf Cup.

Between 1999 and 2000 Máčala was coach of the Saudi Arabian national team, he also worked from 1999 to 2001 as coach of the Saudi Arabian club Al -Nasr. In 2001 he took over the national team of Oman. He led for the first time in its history, the Asian Championship, 2004 and in the final of the Gulf Cup. In January 2005, became a coach at Al Ain Club in the United Arab Emirates and won the UAE President Cup. In the AFC Champions League 2005 Al Ain club only lost in the final against Al -Ittihad.

In early 2006 he returned to the Omani national team, which he led to the Gulf Cup in 2007 to the final. The 0-1 defeat against the United Arab Emirates, however, cost him a further commitment in Oman. On 27 February 2007, the Omani Football Association announced the separation of Milan Máčala.