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, Tennis, , 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.*

## Career statistics
### Football
#### Club
#### International
### Ice hockey
## Honours
### Football
**Chelsea**
*Premier League: 2004–05, 2005–06, 2009–10, 2014–15
*FA Cup: 2006–07, 2008–09, 2009–10, 2011–12
*Football League Cup: 2004–05, 2006–07, 2014–15; runner-up: 2007–08
*FA Community Shield: 2005, 2009
*UEFA Champions League: 2011–12; runner-up: 2007–08
*UEFA Europa League: 2012–13
*FIFA Club World Cup runner-up: 2012

**Arsenal**
*FA Cup: 2016–17
*FA Community Shield: 2015, 2017
*EFL Cup runner-up: 2017–18
*UEFA Europa League runner-up: 2018–19

**Czech Republic U21**
*UEFA European Under-21 Championship: 2002

**Individual**

*UEFA European Under-21 Championship Golden Player: 2002
*Best Goalkeeper of French League: 2003–04
*Czech First League Most clean Sheets: 2001–02
*UEFA European Championship Team of the Tournament: 2004
*Premier League Golden Glove: 2004–05, 2009–10, 2013–14, 2015–16 2013–14 Premier League
*Czech Footballer of the Year: 2005, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2016
*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
*Premier League Player of the Month: March 2007
*NIHL 2 South Player of the Month: January 2020
*Premier League Hall of Fame: 2023

### Ice hockey
**Guildford Phoenix**
*NIHL Division 2 South Regular Season: 2021–22

## Records
*Most Premier League Golden Glove awards: 4 (shared with Joe Hart)
*Most Premier League clean sheets: 202 clean sheets.
*Most Premier League clean sheets at one club: 162 with Chelsea.
*Most Premier League clean sheets in a season: 24 in 2004–05.
*First Premier League goalkeeper to reach 200 clean sheets.
*First Premier League goalkeeper to go 1000 minutes without conceding a goal.
*Fastest Premier League goalkeeper to reach 100 clean sheets: 180 appearances.
*Only goalkeeper to have won the Premier League Golden Glove with different clubs.
*Most Czech Footballer of the Year wins: 9 wins.
*Most Czech Republic Golden Ball wins: 11 wins.
*Most Champions League appearances by a Czech player: 111 appearances. 
*Most Premier League appearances for Chelsea by a foreign player: 333 appearances.
*Most appearances for Chelsea by a foreign player: 494 appearances. 
*Most penalty saves for Chelsea by a foreign player: 8 penalty saves.
*Most starts for Chelsea in a season: 63 starts in 2012–13.
*Most clean sheets for Chelsea: 227.
*Most consecutive clean sheets for Chelsea in all competitions: 7 in 2005–06 (shared record).
*Most consecutive home league clean sheets for Chelsea: 9 in 2009–10 - 2010–11 (shared record).
*Most consecutive home clean sheets for Chelsea in all competitions: 10 in 2009–10.
*Most consecutive league clean sheets for Chelsea: 10 in 2004–05.
*Most league clean sheets in a season for Chelsea: 24 in 2004–05.
*Most away league clean sheets in a season for Chelsea: 11 in 2004–05 & 2005–06.
*Most UEFA Best Club Goalkeeper Awards for a Premier League goalkeeper: 3 awards.
*One of four goalkeepers to have made consecutive appearances in the ESM Team of the Year (shared with Angelo Peruzzi, Oliver Kahn, and Manuel Neuer).

## Notes
## References 
## Other websites
* 
* 
* Petr Čech profile  
* Petr Čech Official Youtube Channel
* Petr Čech Official Twitter
* Petr Čech Official Instagram
* Petr Čech Official Facebook