Petr Čech

Petr Čech (born 20 May 1982) is a retired Czech football player who is the technical and performance advisor as well as an emergency backup goalkeeper for Chelsea. He is thought by some players, journalists and managers as the greatest goalkeeper in the history of the Premier League  and, by many, as the greatest goalkeeper to have played for Chelsea. Currently, he plays as a goaltender for the London based ice hockey club Guildford Phoenix.

Čech was thought to be one of the best goalkeepers in the world. He had the record of the least losses in his first season playing for Chelsea and in the same season, he helped Chelsea to win the title of Premier League. He also helped Chelsea to win the same title the next year.

His first club was in his native country of Czech Republic. He stayed there for two years before moving to Sparta Prague. He stayed there for one season. His first overseas club was Rennes of Ligue 1. He played there from 2002 to 2004 before moving to Chelsea. He became a Chelsea player in June 2004. After a very successful 11-year career at Chelsea, he joined Arsenal in June 2015. He retired after playing for four years with Arsenal in 2019. Afterwards, Čech re-joined Chelsea as their Technical and Sporting Director.

He won many titles during his career which consists of: four English Premier League, five FA Cup, one UEFA Champions League and one UEFA Europa League title. Due to these achievements, he is also named amongst one of the most successful goalkeepers in football history.

Personal life 
Petr Čech was born as a triplet (due to which he had a weak skull) to father Václav Čech and mother Libuše Čechová. They were both retired athletes.

In his childhood, he was an actor rather than an athlete and also played the role of Honza in the Czech TV series - The Territory of White Deer around 1991. He also had interest in ice hockey but his family could not afford the gear (equipment) required to play it, and hence he switched to football. At the start of his career, Čech played as a forward (left winger) but after suffering a leg fracture at the age of 10, he turned towards goalkeeping.

In 2003 he married Martina Čechova, whom he met while he was in high school. Petr and Martina have two children named Adéla and Damián. Adéla was born in 2008 and Damián in 2009.

Outside football, Čech has interests in Rock music, Ice Hockey, Gardening, Table Tennis, Tennis, Drumming, Acting etc. He has an account on YouTube through which he publishes videos of his drum covers of various rock songs from rock bands like Coldplay, Incubus, Foo Fighters, Radiohead etc. This  led Čech to provide percussion for the Czech Republic's official Euro 2016 tournament anthem. Further, he has also released a charity single with Queen's drummer Roger Taylor for the Bob Wilson Foundation. On being quizzed later about how he learned drumming, Čech told that he learned it by playing Rock Band and Guitar Hero (video games) with his goalkeeping friend Carlo Cudicini, in an interview. He is, currently, a drummer for the London-based folk rock band Wills and the Willing.

Club career statistics 
Sources:

International career statistics 

Source:
|-
|2002||7||0
|-
|2003||8||0
|-
|2004||13||0
|-
|2005||10||0
|-
|2006||10||0
|-
|2007||8||0
|-
|2008||9||0
|-
|2009||7||0
|-
|2010||6||0
|-
|2011||10||0
|-
|2012||10||0
|-
|2013||8||0
|-
|2014||6||0
|-
|2015||6||0
|-
|2016||6||0
|-
!Total||124||0
|}

Records held 
Čech holds many records, out of which the most notable ones are:
 A national record for not having a goal scored against him in 855 minutes of game play.
 English Premiership record of not having a goal scored against him in 1,025 minutes. (Edwin van der Sar later broke the record by not conceding a single goal for 1,032 minutes.)
 25 games without letting a goal be scored in Chelsea's 2004/05 title-winning season.
 A record of the most number of games ever played for chelsea by a non-Englishman.
 Least number of matches played to get 100 clean sheets in premier league.
 Least number of matches played to get 200 clean sheets in premier league.
 The most number of clean sheets (202) in premier league history.
 The only goalkeeper to get 200 clean sheets in premier league.
 The footballer to win the most number of Czech Footballer of the Year and Czech Golden Ball awards.
 Has played the most number of matches in the history of Czech Republic.
 Most number of clean sheets in a single season (Football season) and in first season in premier league.
 The only goalkeeper to win Premier League Golden Gloves with two teams.
 Winner of the golden gloves for the most number of times in premier league history.
 4th highest number of matches played by a goalkeeper in Champions League History.
 A record of winning the premier League title 4 times, more than any other goalkeeper in Premier League history, except Peter Schmeichel.
 He has done the second-most no. of saves (1136) among all the goalkeepers in the history of premier league.
 Of all the goalkeepers who have made 500 or more saves, he has the best saves-to-shots ratio (the number of saves done per 100 shots) in premier league history.
 He is the 6th highest appearance-maker in Chelsea history.
 A record of having conceded the least no. of goals (15) in a season (2004/05) in Premier League history.
 Most clean sheets at one club by any goalkeeper in premier league history.
 Highest save percentage recorded in Champions League for a decade (2010-2019).
 Highest minutes-goal conceded ratio in premier league history for any goalkeeper to have played 6000 or more minutes in the competition.
 Highest minutes per goal conceded in a single season of premier league (242 minutes per goal in 2004/05 season).
 Highest save percentage ever recorded in premier league for a single season (91% in 2007).
 Joint most no. of premier league seasons finished with a save percentage of 80% or higher (5, tied with Edwin van der Sar).
 Second highest no. of Best European Goalkeeper award wins (4, tied with Oliver Kahn)
 2nd most no. of penalty saves in Champions league history (5, behind only Iker Casillas).
The longest game time without conceding in Czech league (1025 min).
He has the 4th highest no. of clean sheets in European competitions history.
Third-most clean sheets (391) among all the goalkeepers since 2000.

Awards and Titles

Club
 Premier League: 2004–05, 2005–06, 2009–10, 2014–15
 FA Cup: 2006–07, 2008–09, 2009–10, 2011–12, 2016-17
 Football League Cup: 2004–05, 2006–07, 2007–08 (runner-up), 2014–15, 2017–18 (runner-up)
 FA Community Shield: 2005, 2009, 2015, 2017
 UEFA Champions League: 2007–08 (runner-up), 2011–12
 UEFA Europa League: 2012–13, 2018–19 (runner-up)
 FIFA Club World Cup: 2012 (runner-up)

International
 UEFA European Under-21 Championship: 2002

Individual
 UEFA European Under-21 Championship Golden Player: 2002
 Czech First League Most clean Sheets: 2001–02
 Best Goalkeeper of French League: 2003–04
 UEFA European Championship Team of the Tournament: 2004
 Premier League Golden Glove: 2004–05, 2009–10, 2013–14, 2015–16
 PFA Team of the Year: 2004–05 Premier League, 2013–14 Premier League
 Czech Footballer of the Year: 2005, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2016
 Golden Ball (Czech Republic): 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2017
 IFFHS World's Best Goalkeeper: 2005
 Best European Goalkeeper: 2005, 2007, 2008, 2012
 UEFA Club Football Awards Best Goalkeeper: 2005, 2007, 2008
 UEFA Team of the Year: 2005
 ESM Team of the Year: 2004–05, 2005–06
 Premier League Player of the Month: March 2007
 Chelsea Player of the Year: 2010–11
 FIFA FIFPro World XI 5th team: 2013
 National Ice Hockey League 2 South Player of the Month: January 2020

Notes

References

Other websites

 
 
 Petr Čech profile  
  Petr Čech Official Youtube Channel
  Petr Čech Official Twitter
  Petr Čech Official Instagram
  Petr Čech Official Facebook

Association football goalkeepers
1982 births
Living people
Czech footballers
Chelsea F.C. players
Arsenal F.C. players
UEFA Euro 2004 players
UEFA Euro 2008 players
UEFA Euro 2012 players
UEFA Euro 2016 players
2006 FIFA World Cup players