The Czech Republic have qualified for the UEFA European Under-21 Championship for the first time since winning the competition in 2002. On that occasion it was star goalkeeper Petr Cech that was the hero, as the Czechs defeated France on penalties in the Final in Basle.

With that triumph still fresh in their minds, the current squad are under intense pressure to pull off a repeat success this summer in the Netherlands.

A successful summer looked unlikely with the Czechs behind on away goals in their second leg clash with Bosnia-Herzegovina. Ladislav Skorpil's side had won the first leg 2-1 but were facing elimination after conceding early on in Sarjevo. With just seven minutes left to play, midfielder Tomas Frejlach scored the crucial goal to send his side to the Netherlands for this season's finals.

It was Frejlach's third goal of the competion, scoring a brace in the 2-1 win over Belarus after Cyprus had been beaten 2-0 at the start of their Group 9 campaign.

Built around an enormously experienced defence, the Czech will represent a formidable task for anyone that they face this summer. With Roman Hubnik and former Birmingham City defender, Martin Latka, at the heart of the defence, Skorpil has built the foundations of his successful side on their solid backline.

Although injuries have prevented the Czechs from putting out a settled side, Daniel Pudil, Tomas Frejlach, and Michal Svec are all regulars in the side.

In attack, Mical Papadopulos, the only member of the squad to play his football abroad, has lost his place in the team after failing to break into the starting eleven at Bayer Leverkusen. Coach Skorpil will probably partner Jan Holenda and Daniel Kolar in attack, with both men on the scoresheet during qualification.

Coach Ladislav Korpil

The Squad
Goalkeepers
1 Zdeněk Zlámal, 16 Josef Kubásek, 23 Milan Švenger
Defenders
2 Josef Kaufman, 3 Martin Latka, 4 Roman Hubník, 5 Michal Kadlec, 13 Martin Klein, 21 Milan Kopic
Midfielders
6 Luboš Hušek, 7 Daniel Kolář, 8 Tomáš Jirsák, 9 Tomáš Krbeček, 11 Daniel Pudil, 12 Michal Švec, 15 František Rajtoral, 17 Jiří Kladrubský, 18 Jan Kysela, 20 Mario Holek
Forwards
10 Jan Holenda, 14 Michal Papadopulos, 19 Martin Fillo, 22 Jan Blažek