Jozef Chovanec (born 7 March 1960) is a former professional footballer and manager. He took part in two major tournaments: the 1990 FIFA World Cup as a player for Czechoslovakia, and UEFA Euro 2000 as manager of the Czech Republic.

Career

As a footballer, Chovanec spent almost his whole career at Sparta Prague. He moved to the Netherlands to play briefly for PSV Eindhoven in 1998. At international level, Chovanec represented Czechoslovakia 52 times, scoring four goals, and played at the 1990 FIFA World Cup. Chovanec coached Sparta Prague, with his first match as Sparta manager being on 6 September 1996, Sparta were bottom of the league after seven games but Chovanec oversaw a turnaround, culminating in Sparta winning the league title the same season. He stayed in his role until December 1997, before leaving to become manager of the Czech Republic in 1998. The team progressed through UEFA Euro 2000 qualifying with a perfect record of 10 wins from 10 matches to reach UEFA Euro 2000. Chovanec was unable to lead the team to the 2002 FIFA World Cup, being eliminated by Belgium in a play-off at the end of qualifying. He resigned from his position in November 2001 having failed to qualify for the World Cup. His final record as Czech national team manager was 27 wins, 7 draws, and 11 losses from 45 matches. Chovanec briefly led Sparta in May 2008 for the final league game of the 2007–08 season as well as the cup final, which he won. In October 2008, Chovanec returned to Sparta Prague for his third spell as manager, going on to finish the 2008–09 season in second place. He parted from the club in December 2011. He was appointed head coach of UAE Pro-League side Baniyas SC on a one-year contract on 19 June 2012. In March 2014, he became manager of Ružomberok of the Slovak First Football League until the end of the 2013–14 season.

Personal life

Chovanec was born in Dolné Kočkovce near Púchov. He was married to a woman named Jitka, who died at only 53 years old in 2018. They had two daughters and four grandchildren.

Honours

Individual