Before the 2019/2020 season Viktoria Plzeň made some changes in the A-squad. The team was left by one of the most significant names of the current history Milan Petržela and there are four more players leaving Viktoria, such as Erika Pačinda, Tomáš Hájek, Tomáš Poznar and Pavel Šulc.

Midfielder Milan Petržela left Plzeň after more than one decade. He, as a free player at the time, signed a two-year contract with another FORTUNA:LEAGUE team Slovácko. Let’s have a brief look over his stay in Plzeň. In 2008 he transferred to Viktoria from Sparta Praha and he performed great here until theses days. He only experienced an one-year break when being on loan in Augsburg in Germany. Milan deeply contributed to current Viktoria’s success, which started to happen in 2010 by a win in the Czech Cup. In the next season he scored 26 goals and helped Viktoria to reach historically the first championship. The upcoming season offered an UCL participation with the teams of big names, such as Bate Borisov, AC Milan and FC Barcelona. Petržela played all of them in the starting line-up and later he also played the spring part of UEL. In total he played 372 matches for Viktoria and scored 50 goals. He reached 4 championships, 2 Czech Cups and 2 Czech Supercups. Milan participated in UCL group stage 3 times and had several starts in UEL.

“I would like to thank Milan a lot for long years he spent in our club. He undoubtedly became one of the key men who wrote latest successful history. He will definitely stay a member of our Viktorian family forever,“ the CEO Adolf Šádek said.

Erik Pačinda is another name that leaves Plzeň. He came to Viktoria last autumn, played 11 matches and scored 1 goal. 30-year-old midfielder did not travel with the club to training camp in Westendorf but he joined the pre-season trainings with Korona Kielce in Poland instead. Korona is the 10th team of Polish higest league. Both teams agreed on one-year loan. “With regard to the competition at midfielder’s position in our team and also to the player’s age we decided to free Erik on loan. It is very important for him to play regularly and this is what we expect from this change. We wish him luck in Polish league,“ Adolf Šádek commented.

Viktoria also decided to relase defender Tomáš Hájek who transferred to Netherlands where he will wear a jersey of Vitesse Arnhem, the 5th team of the last season of Eredivisie. Hájek signed a three-year contract. Tomáš came to Plzeň in January 2017 from Zlín and immediately participated in the championship, which meant UCL group stage in the next season. In January this year he left to Mladá Boleslav on loan where he gained experience. “I‘d like to thank Tomáš for the whole club. He contributed to championship and always showed a professional attitude. I wish him the best,” Šádek said.

Another transfer Viktoria noticed is Tomáš Poznar. The forward spent the last two seasons on loan and now he left Plzeň for sure – his old-new home club is Fastav Zlín. Poznar came to Plzeň in August 2016. He played 24 matches for Viktoria and scored 1 goal. He went on loan to Baník Ostrava in the last season and later to Zlín where he finally signed a three-year contract. “Tomáš’s position in our team was difficult from the beginning. The cometition at his position was huge and Michael Krmenčík was getting more and more into good form so Tomáš was his substitute. In spite of this we thank him a lot for what he has done for Viktoria. We wish him luck to further football years,“ Adolf Šádek said.

The last player leaving Viktoria is Pavel Šulc. The 18-year-old midfielder will be on loan in Opava for the next FORTUNA:LEAGUE season. In the first half of the last season he starred in junior UCL against Real Madrid or AS Rome and the second half of the season he played in Jihlava where he performed great. Young midfielder played 16 matches and scored 3 goals. He usually ranked among the best players on the pitch. “Pavel is a very talented footballer, which he proved last season. This is a step forward in his career because he will be given a chance to taste first-league football. In Opava he will be busier than he was here in Viktoria,“ Šádek commented.