Czechoslovakia National Football Team (AEWCF)

Czechoslovakia
Association	Československá fotbalová reprezentac
Confederation	UEFA
FIFA ranking	25
Highest FIFA ranking	8 (1934)
Lowest FIFA ranking	46 (1959)
First international
	Czechoslovakia 5-0 Yugoslavia; (Prague, Czechoslovakia; 28 October 1921)
FIFA World Cup
Appearances	4 (First in 1922)
Best result	3rd, (1930)

The Czechoslovakia national football team is the association football team that represents the country of Czechoslovakia in international competition and is controlled by the Československá fotbalová reprezentac. Czechoslovakia has qualified for three FIFA World Cups with their best result being 3rd place at the 1930 FIFA World Cup. They also have played in one European Nations Cup with the best performance of a runner-up placing at the 1960 edition held at home.

History[]

The beginnings[]

The first instance of an Czechoslovakia team took place at the 1920 Summer Olympics where they won their first match against Yugoslavia 5-0 in the opening match before losing to Norway in the quarter-finals. The following tournament, they competed in the 1922 FIFA World Cup and after they defeated Luxembourg 4-1 in the opening round which featured a double from Jan Dvořáček. Czechoslovakia though would lose 3-0 to the Netherlands in the quarter-finals.

After being eliminated by Uruguay in the opening round of the 1924 Summer Olympics, Czechoslovakia finished in second place in their qualifying group which featured Yugoslavia, Romania and Poland. After qualifying through automatically after the Philippines withdraw, the national team was put in Group C with Austria, Italy and Finland. After initially getting a 0-0 draw against Austria, they lost to Italy 2-0 in the second match of the group as the national team would be eliminated in the group stage despite a 2-1 win over Finland in the final match of the group.

Skipping the following Olympics, Czechoslovakia qualified through to the 1930 FIFA World Cup after finishing top of the qualifying group which featured Greece, Turkey and Poland with Josef Silný scoring five goals during the qualifying campaign. This meant that they had qualified through to the World Cup where they competed in Group D with Switzerland, Norway and Paraguay. After losing the opening match from August Lehmann hat-trick, Czechoslovakia record victories over Norway and Paraguay to book a spot into the knockout stage. In the quarter-finals, Antonin Hojer scored a double to book Czechoslovakia a spot in the semis where they would lose to the Netherlands 3-0. Hojer eventually finished as the leading goal-scorer of the tournament with another double in the third place playoff against Switzerland to give Czechoslovakia third place.

Qualifying through to the 1934 FIFA World Cup as top of the group, the national team was put in Group D with rivals Yugoslavia, Germany and Bulgaria. Oldřich Nejedlý scored four goals in the opening match against Bulgaria as they recorded their biggest victory in the World Cup with a 7-0 result. A shock result against Germany was than countered with a 3-0 win over to Yugoslavia as they finished top of the group ahead of their opponents with Germany missing out by goal average. Though their tournament would end in the quarter-finals as they lost to Wales 2-1 at Rome.

Disappointment[]

Skipping the Olympics which was held in Germany, Czechoslovakia was placed in Group 4 of qualifying for the 1938 FIFA World Cup which was held in Argentina. After defeating Greece in the opening match, 4-1, they fell behind early in the match against Bulgaria as they conceded two goals in the first half. But goals to Antonín Puč and Vlastimil Kopecký brought the match to two all but it wasn't enough as they had to go to a play-off against Romania which they would lose 3-2 in extra time with Gyula Prassler scoring the winning goal for Romania and knocking Czechoslovakia out.

Being eliminated to Romania in qualifying for the 1950 FIFA World Cup, Czechoslovakia once again just missed out on qualifying for the 1954 FIFA World Cup which was held in Chile. After drawing with Spain in the opening match, they would take home a victory over the Netherlands with a second half goal from Otto Hemele. But this time they would be eliminated by goal difference with Spain's 3-1 victory over the Netherlands booking Spain's spot in the World Cup.

In 1955, Czechoslovakia competed in qualifying for the first edition of the European Nations Cup. Dispatching Luxembourg and Denmark in the opening two rounds, they took on Turkey in the quarter-finals with the winner to book a spot into the finals tournament. After Tomáš Pospíchal scored a late equalizer in the opening leg at Istanbul, the second leg was held in Prague. Opening the account, Jiří Feureisl gave Czechoslovakia the early lead in the 15th minute before Turkey scored two goals in the space of six minutes to put Turkey in front in not just the match but also the tie. Trailing 2-1 in the half, Arnošt Pazdera gave Czechoslovakia hope as the match was level at 2-2. As the game went into extra time, Czechoslovakia spot at the European Championships ended with Lefter Küçükandonyadis scoring his second of the qualifying campaign and the winner for Turkey.

Runner-up in Europe[]

After again falling short in qualifying for the 1958 FIFA World Cup, this time to Yugoslavia...

Tournament History[]

FIFA World Cup[]

Gold Silver Bronze

FIFA World Cup record
Year	Round	Position	Pld	W	D *	L	GF	GA
1906	Did Not Exist
1910
1914
1922	Quarter Finalist	5th	2	1	0	1	6	1
1926	Group Stage	10th	3	1	1	1	2	3
1930	Semi Finalist	3rd	6	4	0	2	9	8
1934	Quarter Finalist	7th	4	2	0	2	12	4
1938	Did Not Qualify
1950
1954
1958
Total	Semi Finalist	4/11	15	8	1	6	29	16