Zdeněk Grygera
Zdeněk Grygera at Ajax Amsterdam
Zdeněk Grygera [ zdɛɲɛk grɪgɛra ] ( born May 14, 1980 in Přílepy, Czechoslovakia ) is a former Czech football player. He is a defender and can be used both in central defense and at right-back.
Career
In the club
From FK Zlín, where Grygera had matured as a footballer, he moved at age 18 to the Czech first division Petra Drnovice. Immediately, he had a firm place in the defense and reached the club in 2000 with third place in the championship, the best finish in club history. He then moved to the Master Sparta Prague, where he witnessed as a reserve player to defend the title. 2003, now become the important master player, he won his second league title and then sold abroad.
From 2003 to 2007, the versatile defender played in the Dutch Eredivisie club Ajax Amsterdam at the tip. There he was a championship, two cup wins and twice winning the Johan Cruyff Schaal, the Supercup trophy, celebrate. In addition, Grygera played numerous Champions League matches for the Dutch.
In summer 2007, Zdeněk Grygera joined free transfer to Italian giants Juventus, who had risen to Serie A after the match-fixing scandal currently playing. There he is in the season so far mostly regulars.
For the season 2011/2012 he moved to the English Premier League for Fulham FC. On December 6, 2012 Martin Jol announced that Grygera ended his career.
In the National Team
Zdeněk Grygera began his national team career in 1997 in the Czech U- 17 team. At the turn of the millennium, he was a performer in the Czech U- 21 team and was able to celebrate second place in the U-21 European Championship in Slovakia with the team in 2000.
After a total of 34 junior internationals he made his debut on 15 August 2001 in the Czech national team. At the European Championships in Portugal in 2004, he stood in the Czech squad and failed with his team in the first semi-final on eventual champions Greece. Grygera completed four of five games at the tournament. In the 2006 World Cup in Germany, he was also part of the squad and was once again a regular in Karel Brückner's Eleven. However Grygera different this time with the Czech Republic after the first round of. At the World Cup qualifying round, he played six out of ten games. In October 2009, Grygera completed his last international match.
Achievements
- U-21 European runners-up: 2000
- Czech champion: 2000/ 01, 2002/ 03 ( Sparta Prague)
- Dutch master: 2003 /04 ( with Ajax )
- Dutch Supercup Winner: 2005, 2006 ( with Ajax )
- Dutch Cup Winners: 2005/ 06, 2006/ 07 ( with Ajax )