2003 Golden boot (Juventus)
1999 Cup Winners Cup winner (Lazio Rome)
1998 Italian SuperCup winner (Lazio Rome)
2002 Italian SuperCup winner (Juventus)
2003 Italian SuperCup winner (Juventus)
1993 Champion of Tchécoslovaquie (Sparta Prague)
1994 Champion of Czech Republic (Sparta Prague)
1995 Champion of Czech Republic (Sparta Prague)
2000 Serie A.. Champions (Lazio Rome)
2002 Serie A.. Champions (Juventus)
2003 Serie A.. Champions (Juventus)
2005 Serie A.. Champions (Juventus)
1996 Vainqueur of la FA Cup de Czech Republic (Sparta Prague)
1998 Italian Cup winner (Lazio Rome)
2000 Italian Cup winner (Lazio Rome)
2004 Italian Cup Finals (Juventus)
Biography
Pavel Nedved (born August 30, 1972 in Cheb, Czech Republic) is a
Czech football player. Nedved is a star midfielder for Italian
club powerhouse Juventus and for the Czech national team. Before
joining Juventus, Nedved played for Dukla Prague (1991-92),
Sparta Prague (1992-96), and Lazio (1996-2001). He won one
scudetto with Lazio and three with Juve.
Nedved was part of the Czech national team which went to the
final of Euro 96, eventually losing to winners Germany. Nedved's
performance however did not go unnoticed and he transferred from
Sparta Prague to Lazio in the Serie A in 1996. At Lazio Nedved
won the Coppa Italia in 1997/98 and the final Cup Winners' Cup
in 1999 against Real Mallorca.
Nedved eventually moved to Juventus in 2001 for a fee of 41.2
million euros, as a replacement for Zinédine Zidane who had
transferred to Spain's Real Madrid the same summer. He proved
more than an adequate replacement for the Frenchman, his
tremendous workrate and guile playing an integral part in
Juventus' scudetto-winning teams of 2001/02, 2002/03 and
2004/05.
Nedved helped lead Juventus into the 2003 Champions League final
against AC Milan, but was forced to sit out the final because of
accumulated yellow cards after being booked in the semifinal for
tackling Real Madrid Midfielder Steve McManaman. At the end of
the year, he won the European Footballer of the Year award.
By the time of his first retirement from international football,
Nedved was captain of the Czech national team. In the Euro 2004
semi-final against Greece, Nedved was injured when he slammed
his knee into a Greek player while jumping for the ball. Though
he played for a time after, he was eventually replaced by
Vladimír Šmicer. Some observers of the match considered Nedved's
injury to be a key factor in the Czechs' loss. The injury also
led him to retire from the national team in September 2004.
Nedved had scored 18 goals in 73 games for the Czechs and played
for his country at Euro 96, Euro 2000, and Euro 2004.
He came out of international retirement to play for the Czechs
in their World Cup qualifying playoff against Norway in November
2005. The Czechs won both legs 1-0, first in Oslo and then in
Prague, to qualify for the 2006 World Cup. Since this will be
the first World Cup appearance for the Czech team since the
partition of Czechoslovakia, it is quite likely that Nedved will
choose to remain available for selection for the finals in
Germany.
Nedved is a dedicated, hard-working player. He is typically the
heartbeat of any team on which he plays, often taking the
leadership in the locker room to inspire his teammates during
halftime. He is said to be considering setting up his own
football academy in his home country when he retires from
football.
He was named by Pelé as one of the top 125 greatest living
footballers in March 2004.
