A brief biography of the big man

Petr was born on the 20th May 1982, and was one of three triplets.

After showing promise between the sticks, Petr worked his way up through the youth teams at Viktoria Plzen in the lower Czech Leagues, before signing professional forms for Blsany. A number of good performances saw him move for £500,000 to Sparta Prague, helping them to compete for the Czech League title with a contribution that included a run of 10 consecutive clean sheets.

After just one season with Sparta, Cech made his first big money move to Stade Rennes, costing the French club £5m. He instantly became the Rennes first-team keeper, aged just 21, and was ever-present in his two seasons at Rennes, helping them to finish comfortably in the top half in his first year. With some of Europe’s biggest clubs watching from the sidelines, Petr Cech decided to stay a second season, though only on the condition that he could move in the next summer.

In February 2004, Chelsea boss Claudio Ranieri agreed a £10m fee for Petr Cech, with the talented goalkeeper joining the club officially at the end of the season. Cech was initially brought in as the understudy to Carlo Cudicini, but an injury to Carlo saw Petr given his chance in the Premier League, and he retained the first-team spot ever for eleven years.

Cech played under a number of managers – including Jose Mourinho, who labelled him ‘untouchable’, and Carlo Ancelotti, who said he was worth 15 points a season – and helped the Chelsea team to immense success. During his spell at Chelsea, they won four Premier League titles, four FA Cups, three League Cups and, of course, both the UEFA Europa League and the UEFA Champions League. Cech was unbeatable, and Chelsea were unstoppable!

After a head injury led to Cech being out of action for most of a season, Chelsea found a new, younger keeper, and Petr was told he would probbaly only see limited game time – so he opted to leave the club where he had iconic status to play somewhere new – albeit, just across the city of London, to rivals Arsenal.

Cech proved again he was a formidable shot-stopper, and continued to perform – he was the first goalkeeper in history to record 200 Premier League clean sheets, and helped the Gunners to win the FA Cup before retiring in 2019.

Lauded by fellow players and pundits as ‘the best goalkeeper we have ever seen’, Cech is also a master musician (drums), and is enjoying a new life in football coaching. He also speaks seven languages.