Ondrej Kudela

Ondrej Kudela (born 26 March 1987) is a professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for Czech First League club Slavia Prague and the Czech Republic national team. He is notable for being found guilty of racist abuse by UEFA in 2021.

Club Career

Kudela came up through the youth system at Slovacko before moving to Sparta Prague. He was signed by Mlada Boleslav as a replacement for the outgoing Jan Rajnoch. In June 2014 he went abroad for half-year loan to Kazakh side Ordabasy, returning to Mlada Boleslav in December of the same year.

In January 2017 Kudela signed a contract with Slovan Liberec for two and a half years. A year he transferred to Slavia Prague, shortly after head coach Jindrich Trpisovsky.

On 18 March 2021, Kudela was accused of racially abusing Rangers midfielder Glen Kamara during a Europa League Round of 16 match. Kudela denied the accusation and claimed he was assaulted by Kamara in the tunnel after the match, and the club lodged a criminal complaint while criticising Rangers' handling of the situation. On 14 April, he was officially found guilty of racial abuse by UEFA and was banned for ten UEFA matches, ruling him out of playing any game in the upcoming Euro 2020 championship; Kamara meanwhile was handed a three-match ban for assaulting Kudela in the tunnel after the game. Kudela appealed against his ban, but the appeal was rejected on 26 May 2021.

This page also has a version in other languages :  Ондржей Кудела (russian)