Radek Černý (; born 18 February 1974) is a Czech former footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He played principally for Slavia Prague in the Czech First League between its inception in 1993 and 2005, when he moved to England. Černý spent eight years in England with Tottenham Hotspur and Queens Park Rangers before returning to his former club Slavia in 2013, where he played one season before his retirement. Černý enjoyed a brief international career, making three appearances for the Czech Republic between 2000 and 2002.

Club career

Slavia Prague
Born in Prague, Czechoslovakia, Černý turned professional in 1993 as a 17-year-old with Slavia Prague, his home team. His father was a goalkeeper, who started out as a youth at Slavia before playing in the Czech third and fourth divisions, while Černý's older brother Petr was another goalkeeper playing for the club.

Černý did not get a chance to play for Slavia in the early years of his career, having been loaned out to three different Czech clubs and not returning until 1997, when he finally made his debut. Petr Černý was later signed as a deputy to his younger brother.

Černý played for SK České Budějovice JČE in the first two seasons of the Gambrinus Liga and Union Cheb in the third before playing for Slavia's first team. He went on to make more than 150 appearances for Slavia, many of them in European competition. He was twice a domestic cup winner and scored one goal, the last goal in a 4-0 league victory against FK Jablonec 97 in the 1999-2000 season.

Tottenham Hotspur
Černý joined Spurs on an 18-month loan in January 2005, which was extended until the end of 2008 to replace Kasey Keller who, finding himself unable to win back the Spurs number one jersey from Paul Robinson, had signed for Borussia Mönchengladbach. Spurs had also signed Márton Fülöp, a young Hungarian goalkeeper, in the previous summer, but it was Černý who was called to deputise for Robinson for the last three games of the 2004/05 season. He made his debut at White Hart Lane against Aston Villa. Spurs won 5–1 but were unable to win a UEFA Cup spot that season.

Černý played in the Peace Cup pre-season tournament in South Korea, which Spurs won, but once Robinson returned, Černý was back on the bench again. Černý did not make an appearance in the 2005/06 season as Spurs finished fifth.

The 2006/07 season was more of the same for Černý, as Robinson, now the established number one for club and country, was initially playing in all of Spurs' matches, despite them playing in four competitions. Fülöp had left to join Sunderland and Robert Burch, a former youth team player, was being loaned out without starting for any of the clubs who employed him. Robinson was injured in March 2007 for the FA Cup quarter-final at Chelsea where Černý made his first competitive appearance for nearly two years in a memorable match that ended 3–3. Robinson returned for the replay, which Spurs lost 2–1. Černý was on the bench for the rest of the season as Spurs finished fifth again.

The 2007/08 season began badly for Spurs, with Martin Jol leaving in November 2007 and Robinson under pressure after making a number of goalkeeping errors. New manager Juande Ramos eventually lost patience with Robinson's loss of form and for the first time in his Tottenham Hotspur career, Černý displaced Robinson, being preferred for the League Cup semi-final first-leg at Arsenal. However, Robinson again replaced Černý after a Černý goalkeeping error in the UEFA Cup against his former team threatened Tottenham's chances of winning in the round.

Queens Park Rangers
On 4 May 2008, Černý told Sky Sports News that he would be joining QPR of the Championship at the end of the season because of the lack of first team action at Spurs. The transfer was confirmed on 13 May. He made his debut in the QPR 2–1 victory over Barnsley at Loftus Road. After some uncertain displays at the start of the year, a string of fine performances enabled Černý to establish himself as the R's first-choice goalkeeper. He was left out of the 2012–13 QPR Premier League squad, losing out to fellow goalkeepers, Júlio César, Robert Green and Brian Murphy.

Return to Slavia Prague
Radek Černý spent the 2013–14 season at Slavia Prague before ending his professional career in 2014.

International career
Černý has represented the Czech Republic at youth level, earning 11 caps for the Czech under-21s. He has also represented them at full international level with three caps for the senior Czech Republic, during his time at Slavia Prague.

Honours

Club
Tottenham Hotspur
Football League Cup 2007-08

Queens Park Rangers
Football League Championship: 2010–11

References

External links

 
 
 
 

1974 births
Living people
Footballers from Prague
Czech men's footballers
Czech Republic men's under-21 international footballers
Czech Republic men's international footballers
Men's association football goalkeepers
Czech First League players
SK Dynamo České Budějovice players
FK Hvězda Cheb players
SK Slavia Prague players
Tottenham Hotspur F.C. players
Queens Park Rangers F.C. players
Premier League players
English Football League players
Expatriate men's footballers in England
Czech expatriate men's footballers
Association football goalkeeping coaches
SK Slavia Prague non-playing staff