Sep 15, 2023

Czech Club Sign 22-Year-Old Who Never Played Football After His Father Paid CZK 500,000

His only previous experience of football has been playing FIFA. 

FK Usti nad Labem, who play in the third tier of the Czech footballing pyramid, have signed Martin Podhajskรฝ to play for the club.

Podhajskรฝ is a law student who works for Viagem, the real estate company of club president Pemysl Kuban.

His only previous experience of football is playing FIFA but heโ€™ll now have the chance to play in real life after officially registering with the Football Association of the Czech Republic.

The plan is for the youngster to play 10 minutes however he will begin training with the team first before he makes his debut, which is expected to be in spring time.

In order to sweeten the deal, Podhajskyโ€™s father paid the club CZK 500,000 to convince Usti to sign him. He is expected to replace captain Jakub Mares and play ten minutes as a striker, with all funds going towards sponsorship.

โ€œHe has never played football,โ€ president Kuban revealed.

โ€œOnly FIFA from what I know. However, you donโ€™t just see CZK 500,000 rolling on the floor every day. If someone gives me this type of money, Iโ€™ll let anyone play.

โ€œHe said himself that he would like to play, then his dad called and things started to move. Martin is a law student and an employee of Viagem.

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โ€œWe are now adjusting the contract with Martin, and the fans will see him already at our first home game, so far only on the substitutesโ€™ bench.โ€

Interestingly it seems as though the clubโ€™s fans are supportive of the decision as a poll from iDNES.cz shows that 63% โ€œdonโ€™t have a problemโ€ with it and believe it is a โ€œwin-winโ€.

Other moves from the clubโ€™s ownership in recent times include giving away a thousand season tickets for free and hiring the 2020 Miss Czech Republic Valerie Herianova as a reporter.

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