Personalities of Czech football: World runner Tomáš Ujfaluši

Tomáš Ujfaluši is one of the most experienced Czech footballers. The former defender has Bundesliga, Serie A and Spanish La Liga engagements on his CV. In his career, he has thus met the best players in the world across the top competitions.

Tomáš Ujfaluši was born on 24 March 1978 in Rýmařov. He started playing football at the age of ten at a local club in Rýmařov, then moved to Sigma Olomouc, where he progressed through the youth categories.

In Olomouc, Ujfaluši began his professional career, where he also started his first league match in 1997. He quickly made his way into the starting line-up and was a mainstay of his team for three years.

Ujfalusi’s qualities were noticed by German Hamburg at the U21 Euro silver medal, who completed the transfer in December 2000. The Czech defender spent three and a half years in Germany, during which he enjoyed the German League Cup and his first starts in the senior national team. After another successful EURU, this time as a senior player, Ujfalusi moved to Fiorentina in Italy.

Ujfalusi lasted four years in Fiorentina as well. At the beginning, however, the Czech footballer could not have imagined it himself. He wasn’t doing too well, and the club was playing for salvation. However, after some time Ujfaluši acclimatised and performed well in Italy. After Fiorentina was hit by a corruption scandal, Tomas Ujfalusi left for Atlético Madrid.

Atlético didn’t do too well in league competition during Ujfaluši’s tenure, but it was a different story on the European stage. In 2010, Ujfaluši lifted the Europa League winner’s trophy over his head, and at the start of the following season he won the European Super Cup with the team, beating Inter Milan 2-0.

His last foreign assignment was Gatatasaray Istanbul, where Ujfaluši left in 2011. Although the Czech defender was there for only two years, he won two league titles in Turkey. He ended his engagement in 2013 by leaving for Sparta Prague.

At that time, Ujfalusi had problems with his knee, so Galatasaray got rid of him. In Sparta, Ujfaluši completed his training and played in a cup match against Zlín, but on 1 December 2013 he decided to end his career for health reasons.

Although his knee precipitated Ujfalusi’s retirement from professional football, the Czech defender still managed to accomplish a lot in his football life. He has played in three of the top five leagues in the world, even winning the Europa League. In addition, Ujfalusi has also won two national team medals. He is deservedly considered one of the greatest personalities of Czech football.

Source:: Livesport, iDnes