Tomas Galasek

Tomas Galasek (Czech pronunciation: [ˈtomaːʃ ˈɡalaːsɛk]; born 15 January 1973) is a Czech former football player and current manager. He was a holding midfielder who was also strong as a centre-back.

Club Career

Galasek started his career with Banik Ostrava in 1991, before moving to Willem II Tilburg in 1997. With Willem II, he reached an historic fifth place in Eredivisie, which meant UEFA Cup qualification for the first time in 30 years. Since then, he played four UEFA Cup matches. In 1998–99, Willem II exceeded the previous year's performance, finishing second in the league. For the first time in history, Willem II qualified for the UEFA Champions League. In that competition, Galasek played five matches for Willem II.

Galasek moved to Ajax in the summer of 2000. With Ajax, he won the national championship twice and the national cup once and played 26 times in the Champions League.

From 2006, he played for 1. FC Nurnberg in the Bundesliga, after signing a two-year deal with German club. On 15 August 2008, he returned to Banik Ostrava. On 19 December, he signed a contract with Borussia Monchengladbach. In July 2009, he retired from professional football but made a comeback in the Bayernliga on 31 August 2009 when he signed for FSV Erlangen-Bruck.

International Career

Galasek made his debut for the Czech Republic in 1995 and was part of the team that reached the semifinals of Euro 2004. He took part in the 2006 FIFA World Cup as captain of the Czech team.

In June 2008, after a loss to Turkey at UEFA Euro 2008, he left the national team and ended his international career. He made 69 appearances scoring once.

This page also has a version in other languages :  Томаш Галасек (russian)