Viktoria Plzeň midfielder Pavel Šulc received the prestigious journalist award for the best Czech player of the season today, winning the Golden Ball!

The results of the 29th annual poll, in which media representatives vote, were announced today in Prague at a ceremony hosted by the Club of Sports Journalists. The first place goes to Pavel Šulc, who became the first Viktorka player ever to win this award.

In the history of the poll, which has been announced since 1997, he is only the second player to have played in the Czech top competition. In the past years it has been dominated by Tomas Soucek, Patrik Schick, Petr Cech and Pavel Nedved.

With this victory, Pavel Šulc has surpassed his previous best in this poll, when he was ranked 11th a year ago.

Next to Pavel Šulc, another Viktoria player, Lukáš Červ, was also in the top ten of the poll, finishing 8th.

The 24-year-old midfielder had a great performance last season, collecting a total of 24 points in the league. He scored a total of 15 goals and 9 assists, contributing significantly to Viktoria finishing second in the table.

"I am very pleasantly surprised. I appreciate this award very much, because in the past it was given to big names," said Pavel Šulc. "But first of all I would like to thank the whole team, without whom I would not have managed to do anything like this. We have had a good season, but now we are focusing on the upcoming one, which starts this week. I´m looking forward to it," added the offensive midfielder.

Congratulations Pavel!