Jaroslav Šilhavý


Jaroslav Šilhavý is a Czech football manager and former player. He was born in Plzeň.
As a player, Šilhavý made a total of 465 top flight appearances spanning the end of the Czechoslovak First League and the beginning of the Czech First League, scoring 25 goals. His 465 appearances is a Czech league record. His son, Tomáš Šilhavý, also played football in the Czech First League.
As a manager, Šilhavý won the 2011–12 Czech First League with FC Slovan Liberec. He has also had spells managing other top flight clubs in the Czech Republic, including Kladno, Viktoria Plzeň and Dynamo České Budějovice. He was an assistant manager for the Czech Republic national team.

Playing career

Club

As a player, Šilhavý played as a defender. He started playing at the top level in the 1979–80 Czechoslovak First League for TJ Škoda Plzeň. He subsequently played for ten years with RH Cheb before moving to Slavia Prague partway through the 1989–90 Czechoslovak First League.
At Slavia, Šilhavý was part of the team which finished second in the 1992–93 Czechoslovak First League but after four years in Prague, he moved to FC Petra Drnovice to continue his footballing career.
After three years at Drnovice, he moved back to Prague in 1997, this time to play for Viktoria Žižkov, where he served as club captain. While at Žižkov, he won the 1998 Personality of the League award at the Czech Footballer of the Year awards.

International

Šilhavý played for the Czechoslovakia national under-21 football team for eight years, some of these as an authorised over-age player. In this time he made 18 appearances for his country.
Šilhavý represented Czechoslovakia four times as a player, making his debut against Finland on 29 August 1990. His final appearance for the full national side was on 27 March 1991, when he played eight minutes of a match against Poland. He also played one match, in 1992, for Czechoslovakia B.

Management career

Following his career as a player, Šilhavý became assistant manager to Zdeněk Ščasný at Viktoria Žižkov. He also joined the Czech national team set-up as a coach in December 2001, a position he continued to hold until April 2009. In December 2002 he joined Sparta Prague as assistant to manager Jiří Kotrba.
Šilhavý joined Czech First League side Kladno as manager in 2007, signing a one-year deal. Kladno subsequently finished 14th, one place above the relegation places, in the 2007–08 Czech First League.
In May 2008, Šilhavý was named as the new manager of Viktoria Plzeň, although his tenure only lasted nine matches, during which time the club won just once. He was relieved of his duties in October 2008.
He took up his post at Dynamo České Budějovice on 14 October 2009, replacing Pavel Tobiáš at the club, who were bottom of the league at that time. Budějovice finished the season in 13th place and avoided relegation. The following season, in the 2010–11 Czech First League, Šilhavý led České Budějovice to a final position of 11th in the league table.
In June 2011, Šilhavý was announced as the replacement for outgoing coach Petr Rada as manager of FC Slovan Liberec. Liberec started the season well, reaching second place in the league behind Sparta after seven games. The club finished the 2011–12 Czech First League in first place, winning the league and qualifying for the UEFA Champions League.
Šilhavý replaced Luboš Kozel as manager of FK Dukla Prague in May 2016, signing a three-year contract. He joined Slavia Prague in September of the same year.

Managerial statistics

Honours

Player

;Slavia Prague
;Petra Drnovice
; Liberec
; Slavia Prague