Marek Matějovský

Marek Matějovský (born 20 December 1981) is a Czech footballer who plays for FK Mladá Boleslav as a central midfielder. He is valued as a creative player with a high number of assists for goals. He is among the legends of the Czech First League, where he played over 420 games. He also played in the Premier League and for the Czech Republic national football team.

Early career and Mladá Boleslav
Matějovský started his football career at the age of five with Slavoj Stará Boleslav, progressing to Alfa Brandýs nad Labem at the age of 13. After turning 18, he signed professional terms with FK Mladá Boleslav for the 1999–2000 season, who were then playing in the Czech 2. Liga. In the spring of 2001, he switched to Czech First League team Jablonec, but returned to Mladá Boleslav in January 2003. After settling back into the team, he helped them win promotion to the Czech First League for the start of the 2004–05 season, where they remained for the rest of Matějovský's stay at the club. He was promoted to captain of Mladá Boleslav at the start of the 2005–06 season.

Reading
Matějovský's performances in the Czech Republic alerted big clubs elsewhere in Europe to his ability, and he was linked with moves to Liverpool, Hamburg and Steaua Bucharest. However, it was announced on 7 January 2008 that Reading had signed Matějovský on a three-and-a-half-year contract for an undisclosed fee, believed to be around £1.42 million.

Nick Hammond said, "Marek is primarily a central midfield player but he is also capable of playing in both wide positions or behind the strikers – he is a player we have been following for some time, and when the opportunity arose to sign him it was too good to turn down." Brian McDermott kept an eye on him for roughly 18 months, and had seen him in action a number of times. He said "He's captain of his club, and has played all their games in the last three years except when he's been suspended. That's the type of guy he is."

He made his debut for Reading on 19 January in a 2–0 home defeat to Manchester United, coming on as an 80th-minute substitute for Bobby Convey. His first start for Reading was in another 2–0 home defeat, this time to Bolton Wanderers on 2 February. Matějovský scored his first goal for Reading on 15 March, with a 20-yard effort in a 2–1 loss at Liverpool. Two weeks later, he was sent off in a goalless draw against Blackburn Rovers at the Madejski Stadium. He totalled 15 appearances in his first season, which ended with relegation to the Championship.

Sparta Prague
Matějovský returned to the Czech Republic in 2010, joining Sparta Prague and was announced as the new club captain ahead of the 2011–12 Czech First League, taking over from Tomáš Řepka. He played 150 games for Sparta and is considered one of the club's personalities. Every year, he participates in the New Year's Eve derby between the legends of Sparta and Slavia over 35 years old.

Return to Mladá Boleslav
Before the 2016–17 season, Matějovský returned to FK Mladá Boleslav and became the club's captain. Despite his age, he remained a valuable player for his football thinking, creative playmaking and final passes. For Mladá Boleslav, he played a total of over 270 first league league matches, the most in the club's history, and became a club legend. Matějovský was awarded as the Personality of the Season in the 2021–22 and 2023–24 seasons by League Football Association (LFA).

Czech First League records
Matějovský is among the legends of the Czech First League. He entered the Legends Club for players with 300+ league games in March 2018. Since then he has appeared in more than 100 another games and with 427 games (after the 2023–24 season), he has 7th most starts in the Czech First League. He appeared in 21 season of the Czech First League, which is the most in history (after the 2023–24 season).

Matějovský is among the league's top ten players with the most goal assists (68 after the 2023–24 season, 6th most). In the 2022–23 season, at the age of 40–41, he had 9 assists, the most among all players.

On 31 May 2024, Matějovský scored from a penalty in the match against Hradec Králové and became the oldest scorer of the league at the age of 42 years, 5 months and 11 days. On 29 October 2023, at the age of 41 years, 10 months and 9 days, Matějovský scored in the match against Sparta and is thus also the oldest scorer to score from a game.

In addition to his other records, with 106 yellow cards (after the 2023–24 season), Matějovský is the player with the highest number of yellow cards in league history (together with Admir Ljevaković, who received them in fewer matches).

International career
Matějovský was capped 15 times by the Czech Republic national football team. Karel Brückner first called him up as a replacement for the injured David Jarolím for the Czech Republic's Euro 2008 qualifier against Wales on 2 September 2006, but had to wait until 7 February 2007 to make his international debut as a 70th-minute substitute in a friendly with Belgium, coming on for Tomáš Galásek and assisting the second goal in a 2–0 win.

He scored his only international goal in the Czech Republic's 3–0 win over Germany in Munich, also hitting the post, to cement their place at Euro 2008. He started the second and third group games at the Euro 2008 but was taken off with an injury against Turkey.

Personal life
Matějovský married in the summer of 2007. Outside football, he is also a keen ice hockey player.

International
Statistics accurate as of match played 18 November 2009

Honours

 * Sparta Prague
 * Czech First League: 2013–14
 * Czech Cup: 2013–14
 * Czech Supercup: 2010, 2014

Individual
 * Czech First League Top assist: 2022–23
 * Czech First League Personality of the Season: 2021–22, 2023–24