Nineteen-year-old Matěj Němec is going to the Champions League and he is not thinking about throwing away his plans to become a professional footballer

Matěj, let me briefly mention your latest sporting achievement, you were very often seen in minor football in the second league and then in the first league team G.I.C. La Plate and even in the final, in the last game of the Hanspaul League, when it was really about winning the title, you scored as a Benjamin and the youngest player of the team and confirmed the victory in this prestigious league played by 705 teams in eight levels of leagues. Can you introduce yourself to the readers? What brought you to little league football and how do you feel about this stage of football?

I got into little league football through a friend who had been playing little league football for a while and recommended me to the coach Mr. Mirek Vostatko and I am very glad for that, he actually brought me to this sport. And otherwise, as far as this season is concerned, it can’t be evaluated in any other way than very positive, considering the fact that in two seasons we went from the second league, which we won, to the first league and the very first year, as newcomers, we won the first league and we celebrated the title of the Hanspaul League champion, it’s really a great success.

What brought you to football, who was the important person who sparked your interest in football and who has given you the most in your career so far?

Like most footballers, I was brought to football by my dad, who was also a catcher for Sparta in his youth until he seriously injured his arm and was also my first coach at SK Ďáblice, where I started playing football together with my siblings. Eventually my brother ended up playing hockey, where he now plays in the junior league, my sister also stayed with football and now she has been working in Linz, Austria since the summer.

If I had to single out a coach who has helped me a lot in my career so far, I would probably choose coach František Schmidtmayer from Meteor Praha, who helped me to regain my love for football and to start enjoying football again after leaving Sparta.

Matěj, tell us about your private life, if you study, what do you enjoy and what are your interests?

This year I have successfully graduated from the grammar school U Libeňský zámku and at the same time I have applied for four different university courses. Luckily, I got into all four, so I really had a lot to choose from, but in the end I chose German – Czech translation at the Faculty of Philosophy of Charles University and then I chose the distance learning course in orthotics – prosthetics at the Faculty of Physical Education and Sport of Charles University.

As far as my hobbies are concerned, apart from school I like sports very much, apart from football and small football I mostly and mostly like to play tennis and ping pong and eventually in winter I like to ski.

You’re a central midfielder, we have reports about you that you play with quality and cleverness, you create a lot of interesting football situations, opportunities and assists, you score goals yourself, what role on the pitch do you feel best in?

Last season, I was mostly playing as a central midfielder or as an outside midfielder. Both positions have their advantages and disadvantages from my point of view, but if I had to choose where I think I feel the best, it would be the position of central offensive midfielder, sub or ten, it also depends on the team’s formation.

In this position, from my point of view, there are less defensive tasks and more space forward to create chances. But it really depends on what formation our team is playing at any given time and these different positions change and overlap accordingly.

Football is an environment that is very magical, magical, it fulfills a lot of people’s lifestyles, I’ll ask Matej, what is your view on football at this time when you are living, I mean you are a millennial, born after 2000, you are 19 years old, what do you like most about football and I don’t mean just Czech football and what really attracts you and entertains you?

I think that football, as the most popular sport in the world, has been a very important part of some people’s lives for generations and many of them probably couldn’t imagine life without football. I would include my family among them, given how much time we spend talking, watching and playing football.

Of course, nowadays the world is becoming more and more global, so of course that affects football as well, which is developing very fast, there are various new features, there are experts, specialists for everything and this global world seems to connect fans all over the world, I think that’s the only big plus.

On the other hand, football is becoming more and more a big business and unfortunately, with that comes the kind of mischief that is also found in other sports and in other sectors altogether, such as various nepotism, corruption. Unfortunately, this is a problem probably everywhere in the world and it is difficult to fight against it.

What are your football or other sports role models?

When I was younger I had Cristiano Ronaldo as a role model like many young footballers. But I’ve kind of grown out of that and now I really have a lot of favourite players. And it’s hard to pick one that I would cite as my biggest role model. Everybody has something that I like about that person.

If I had to name an athlete outside of football, it would be the Spanish tennis player Rafael Nadal, who, apart from being considered one of the best tennis players in all of history, is a renowned fighter. Considering how many very serious injuries have happened to him in his career, and he has always managed to come back despite his age so far, and all the way to the top where he was before.

You are only 19 years old Matej and you are probably the youngest player in the Czech Republic and maybe not only in the Czech Republic to participate in the Champions League in small football? What does it do to you, what does it mean to you to be nominated and preparing for the Champions League at the age of 19?

It really means a lot to me. It’s a huge achievement, I really appreciate this opportunity and I hope to help the team as much as possible.

Of course, it’s natural that you were brought up in a football environment and you’ve entered small-sided football as an alternative, which you probably enjoy. You also won the valuable title of Czech Republic U20 champion in the Superfinal this year. How do you manage this combination? Is it challenging to combine both types of football?

For me, this combination of two sports is definitely beneficial and I enjoy it at the same time. If I didn’t enjoy it, I wouldn’t play football. The two sports obviously have a lot in common and a lot different. Of course, it’s sometimes hard to reconcile it with school in particular, but if you enjoy it, it gets better right away. So it seems to me that in my case it’s an ideal combination and I would like to continue it in the future.

One last question for me, are you at an age where a lot of footballers finish their careers and basically go from youth or junior football development to some space where 97% of footballers don’t continue the trend of becoming a professional footballer and you go to play Champions League at a time like that? Matej, what are your football dreams, what are your ambitions, plans in football?

In the next season I would like to get as many points as possible with Meteor and fight for the best possible position in the division. And hopefully if my university studies allow me to, I would like to continue fully with playing minor football as well. And there is only one goal, and that is to win and defend the 1st Hanspaul League title with the G.I.C. La Plate team and then fight for the best possible position in the Czech National Championship again.