Miroslav Koubek takes the Czech Republic to a first World Cup since 2006, a two-decade absence that frames everything about this campaign. A veteran of Czech domestic football with a long coaching CV built largely at club level, Koubek is pragmatic rather than fashionable, valuing structure and defensive shape over possession ideology. The FIFA ranking of 41 is a fair reflection of where this generation sits: some distance from the Nedvěd-era semi-finalists of 1996 and 2004, closer in standing to a nation rebuilding its identity after a thin decade. Qualification was navigated competently, and expectations are calibrated accordingly — competing, not contending.
Key players
Patrik Schick gives this side its cutting edge. The Bayer Leverkusen centre forward returned 22 goals from 18.4 xG in 42 appearances last season, a finishing return that flatters nobody and underlines why so much of the attacking plan funnels through him. Behind Schick, Lukas Provod has emerged as the squad's most consistent creator: the Slavia Praha winger logged 7 goals and 13 assists across 38 games, with 70 key passes and 15 big chances created marking him out as the principal supply line. The defensive ballast comes from Tomáš Souček, whose West Ham campaign yielded 6 goals alongside 48 tackles, 22 interceptions and 80 aerials won in 39 outings — the kind of two-way midfield contribution that lets the back three sit deeper without losing presence in either box. Vladimír Coufal's 8 assists and 15 big chances created from right back add another route into the final third.
Predicted XI
Form going into the tournament
Czech Republic line up in a 3-4-2-1, a shape that gives Krejci, Holes and Chaloupek cover to defend deep while the wing-backs push high — Coufal's overlapping on the right is the principal source of width and service. The midfield pivot is built around Soucek as the aerial anchor, with Cerv asked to shuttle alongside him, and the two 10s feed Schick down the middle. Koubek favours a mid-block rather than a sustained press, springing through Provod in transition once possession is won. Two questions linger. The goalkeeper's jersey is genuinely contested between Kovar and Hornicek, both first-choice at club level. And the back three, for all its organisation, has limited recovery pace — a vulnerability when wing-backs commit forward and the half-spaces open behind them.
Team form
Group A offers a clear hierarchy of difficulty. The opener against Korea Republic (FIFA 25) is the swing fixture: lose it and the maths gets ugly fast, take a point and the campaign stays alive. South Africa (60) on 18 June is the one game where the Czechs should be favoured, and realistically must win to have any chance of progressing. The closer against Mexico (15), co-hosts and the group's likely seed, looks the steepest ask. The model's call is that it ends there, at the group stage, and the expanded 48-team format means even a third-place finish requires results the ranking gap doesn't support. Success would be reaching the round of 32 via that third-place lane; disappointment is exiting with a single point or fewer.
Country-form leaders
Club-form leaders
Group stage
Group fixtures
