Jiří Sobotka

Jiří Sobotka (also known as Georges Sobotka; 6 June 1911 – 20 May 1994) was a Czech football player and manager. He played internationally for Czechoslovakia.

Jiří Sobotka

Sobotka in 1961
Personal information
Date of birth	(1911-06-06)6 June 1911
Place of birth	Prague, Austria-Hungary
Date of death	20 May 1994(1994-05-20) (aged 82)
Place of death	Intragna, Switzerland
Position(s)	Forward
Youth career
	Čechoslovan Košíře
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1931–1939	Slavia Prague
1939–1941	Hajduk Split	34	(17)
1942	Slavia Prague
1943–1946	SK Baťa Zlín
1946–1951	Chaux-de-Fonds
International career
1934–1937	Czechoslovakia	23	(8)
Managerial career
1940–1941	Hajduk Split
1946–1959	Chaux-de-Fonds
1959–1961	Feyenoord
1961–1965	FC Basel
1964–1965	Switzerland
1965–1967	FC Biel-Bienne
1968–1969	Charleroi
1970–1971	UE Sant Andreu
1971–1972	Chaux-de-Fonds
1972–1973	FC Aarau
1973–1976	Bellinzona
Medal record Representing  Czechoslovakia Men's Football FIFA World Cup Runner-up 1934 Italy
* Club domestic league appearances and goals

Career

Sobotka played for Czechoslovakia national football team (23 caps, 8 goals)^[1] and participated at the 1934 FIFA World Cup when Czechoslovakia came in second.

He played for Slavia Prague, Hajduk Split (winning the Banovina of Croatia first league^[2]) and FC La Chaux-de-Fonds.

During his period in Split, he played 36 league matches scoring 17 goals in the 1939-40^[3] and 1940-41^[4] seasons. Before arriving to Yugoslavia, he had been a player-coach in Switzerland with FC Winterthur.^[5]

After his playing career, he coached numerous clubs in Switzerland^[6] and won 6 Swiss cups.^[7] He also coached Charleroi in Belgium^[8] UE Sant Andreu in Spain,^[9] and Switzerland national team.^[10]

Curiosity

A well-documented curiosity was that during the winter break of their 1963–64 season FC Basel travelled on a world tour. This saw them visit British Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, French Polynesia, Mexico and the United States. As first team manager Sobotka was together with 16 players and 15 members of staff, supporters and journalists participated in this world tour from 10 January to 10 February 1964. Team captain Bruno Michaud filmed the events with his super-8 camara. The voyage around the world included 19 flights and numerous bus and train journeys. Club chairman, Lucien Schmidlin, led the group, but as they arrived in the hotel in Bangkok, he realised that 250,000 Swiss Francs were missing. The suitcase that he had filled with the various currencies was not with them. He had left it at home, but Swiss Air were able to deliver this to him within just a few days. During the tour a total of ten friendly/test games were played, these are listed in their 1963–64 season. Five wins, three draws, two defeats, but also three major injuries resulted from these test matches. A broken leg for Peter Füri, an eye injury for Walter Baumann and a knee injury for Bruno Michaud soon reduced the number of players to just 13.^[11]

Honours

As a player

Slavia Prague

• Czechoslovak First League: 1932–33, 1933–34, 1934–35, 1936–37

Hajduk Split

• Croatian First League: 1940–41

Czechoslovakia

• FIFA World Cup runner-up: 1934

As a manager

Chaux-de-Fonds

• Swiss Championship: 1953–54, 1954–55
• Swiss Cup: 1947–48, 1950–51,^[a] 1953–54, 1954–55, 1956–57

Feyenoord

Eredivisie: 1960–61

FC Basel

• Swiss Cup: 1962–63

1. Sobotka won the 1947–48 and 1950–51 Swiss Cups as a player-manager