The Czech Republic are returning to Wembley thirty years on from Euro ’96’, and they face England twice in Nations League Group A3 to mark the occasion. Their first meeting comes in Prague on Tuesday at 19:45 BST, with the second leg following in London on 6 October. That return journey recalls the summer when a squad nobody foresaw making an impression turned into one of the great tales in European football’s recent history.
From Czechoslovakia to the Czech Republic
The Czech Republic entered Euro ’96 as an outsider nation, having recently separated from Slovakia, and most of its squad still played in their domestic league. Several players had already arranged their vacations to start immediately after the group stage, which featured matches against Germany, Italy and Russia. Vladimir Smicer’s wedding was also planned for the same period.
Jurgen Kohler did not even know the Czechs were at the Euros, according to Borussia Dortmund midfielder Patrik Berger, who played alongside him on the German side.
Earlier this year, on the BBC’s Sporting Witness podcast, Berger said that when Kohler asked him what his plans were for the summer, he replied he was going to the Euros. Kohler then answered with “to watch games?”, to which Berger responded that he and his team would play Germany in the first game of the group stages and then play in the final. Kohler laughed.
The road to the final
The Czechs lost their opener 2-0 to Germany at Old Trafford. They beat Italy 2-1 at Anfield, and Smicer’s late equaliser in a 3-3 draw against Russia at Anfield was enough to send them through because Italy drew 0-0 with Germany.
“We knew we were still in it, but we didn’t know what the other result is,” Berger said. “One minute we’re not qualifying, the next it was we qualified, so we didn’t really know. After the final whistle it took a few minutes before we realised we qualified for the quarter-finals.”
In the quarters, Karel Poborsky scooped the ball over Vitor Baia from the edge of the box to give the Czech Republic a 1-0 win over Portugal at Villa Park. That goal remains one of the most memorable in European Championship history. The semis brought a goalless draw against France at Old Trafford, which the Czechs won 6-5 on penalties.
Players such as future Ballon d’Or winner Pavel Nedved, Berger and Poborsky were among those who scored from the spot, with Poborsky returning to the stadium weeks later as a newly signed Manchester United player.
The final at Wembley
Smicer came back to Prague two days ahead of the final to hold a wedding ceremony. The city’s central streets were packed with thousands of Czech supporters there to see him, yet he was forced to leave on the very same day and head back to England.
At Wembley, the Czech Republic met Germany in the final, and they took the lead after just 59 minutes thanks to Berger’s drilled penalty. He admitted that he was not originally supposed to be the penalty taker, yet “could see nobody really wanted to take the ball”.
“The only thing in my mind was hit it as hard as possible on target,” he said.
Germany drew level when Oliver Bierhoff found the net 14 minutes on, before he struck again to become the first player to score in a final through the golden goal method, securing victory for his side. The silver medal for the Czechs carried particular weight for Berger, who explained that such recognition unlocked opportunities for many of his own players and for the generation following him.
There were 100,000 waiting for them in Prague celebrating. Even silver felt like winning the tournament for us.
What followed
The nation that was once Czechoslovakia secured the European Championship in 1976, and then went on to lose two World Cup finals in 1934 and 1962. Since then, the Czech Republic has played its own tournaments, yet its first appearance as a separate nation remains the last time it made it to a final.
They have reached the 2004 semi-finals and the quarters in 2012 and 2021. The 2004 squad mixed youth such as Petr Cech, Milan Baros and Tomas Rosicky with experience from Smicer, Berger and Poborsky. They lost to eventual winners Greece in the last four.
Ondrej Zlamal, a Prague-based football journalist, says that team and their performances “were even better” than in 1996. “This generation with Nedved and others culminated in 2004 and we had a feeling we should have won the Euros. We played better football than in 1996,” he said. “It was the second highlight of the golden generation.”
Since then, the Czech Republic has reached the World Cup finals twice, with both appearances ending in group stage eliminations, in 2006 and 2026. Zlamal described the team’s performance this summer as “really disappointing”.
“There is a simple answer to why [the team have not lived up to the heights of the past] â we don’t have such talented footballers as we had. We don’t have enough players in the top teams like we used to,” he said.
When he was six, Zlamal watched the 1976 final which Czechoslovakia won, and his father told him “remember this because you won’t see it any more”. “I don’t believe this generation can reach such a success because the competition and football is much bigger,” he said.
A new era begins
Santi Denia, a Spaniard, leads the Czech team, making him the first foreign manager in his nation’s national side history. The task before him is plain to see:
- The talent available has diminished.
- The quality of rival nations has increased.
- The golden generation has already moved on.
The 1996 generation produced heroes, created memories and built a foundation the country has not matched since. Poborsky’s scoop over Baia, the penalty shootout win over France — those moments defined a generation. The silver medal felt like gold.
Whether this current group can match the magic is the question now before us. The chances do not look promising. There is less depth in the ranks of ability, more rivals stand in the way, and the golden generation has already moved on.
Surprises can still occur. A new generation might come along and astonish us just as 1996 did. But whether history repeats itself remains to be seen.
The Czech Republic come back to Wembley now as visitors rather than champions, thirty years after the occasion that remains fresh in memory.
Source material: “Czech Republic ready for Wembley 30 years after Euro '96,” the BBC.
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