Czech Republic (Ondřej Zlámal, @UEFAcomOndrejZ)
"Welcome to UEFA EURO 2012 a we all wish you good luck." That was the announcement, in Czech, for the train arriving at platform one of the Main Station in Wroclaw late this afternoon. Poland's Group A opponents from the neighboring Czech Republic had arrived on a high-speed train decorated in Czech national colours and named after famous Golden Ball winner Josef Masopust.
The journey certainly went down well with the players: "Some of us went to relax and have a nap in the sleeping carriage, some watched films, some played cards," tweeted defender Theodor Gebre Selassie. "It was a pleasant and comfortable journey, and it was also good to see so many fans waiting for us at the station," added defender Roman Hubník.
When the footballers were coming out of the station towards their bus, a group of children from the Slask Wroclaw youth team started to chant "Češi, do toho"– a chant that will be heard often in the Municipal stadium in Wroclaw as thousands of Czech fans travel to support their team. The trains that will be dispatched for the Czech fans will come on the matchdays. They are named after icons Antonín Panenka, Ladislav Vízek, Zdeněk Nehoda, Jan Berger, and Miroslav Kadlec. The current Czech Republic stars kick-off their EURO campaign on Friday against Russia. Perhaps the trains of the future will bear their names.
Hot News
Rank | Team | W/D/L | Pts |
---|
Cities & Stadiums
The Top 3 Teams of Previous Tournaments
Year | Winners | Runner-up | Third place |
---|---|---|---|
2008 | Spain | Germany | Russia / Turkey |
2004 | Greece | Portugal | Netherlands / Czech Republic |
2000 | France | Italy | Netherlands / Portugal |
1996 | Germany | Czech Republic | France / England |
1992 | Denmark | Germany | Netherlands / Sweden |
1988 | Netherlands | Soviet Union | Italy / West Germany |
1984 | France | Spain | Denmark / Portugal |
1980 | West Germany | Belgium | Czechoslovakia |
1976 | Czechoslovakia | West Germany | Netherlands |
1972 | West Germany | Soviet Union | Belgium |
1968 | Italy | Yugoslavia | England |
1964 | Spain | Soviet Union | Hungary |
1960 | Soviet Union | Yugoslavia | Czechoslovakia |