Czech Football Club Claims Record With 16 Booked At Once

A Czech football club playing in the lowest division has made the sports pages across the country after 16 of its players were booked at the same time last weekend.

TJ Sokol Upohlavy’s players decided to make a splash as they were trailing TJ Sokol Libochovany 6-0 in their game in the lowest district tier last Saturday.

When Martin Blizil scored to make it 6-1 in the 82nd minute, all 11 of the team’s players on the pitch took off their shirts in celebration — a deed punishable by a yellow card.

Five substitutes came off the bench to celebrate with them, also taking off their shirts and earning a booking.

“The last game didn’t really go our way, but our players maybe set a world record,” the team said on Facebook after losing the game 6-2 in the end.

“When you underperform, what’s left is a sense of humour,” it added.

The referee did not book each player individually — also because with the players’ shirts off, he could not see the numbers.

But he did enter the bookings in the match report. The transcript, with a yellow rectangle next to each Upohlavy player’s name, has since gone viral on local social media.

The village of Upohlavy, where the club is based, has a population of 276 people and lies about 50 kilometres (30 miles) northwest of the Czech capital Prague.