Czechia are going back to the World Cup for the first time in 20 years after beating Ireland and Denmark in two playoff matches decided by penalty shootouts. The second victory came in Prague, sealing a place at the 2026 World Cup and ending a long absence from the game’s biggest stage.
Patrik Schick was at the center of the run. The Bayer Leverkusen forward scored from the penalty spot against Ireland, then helped carry a match that swung wildly after Czechia fell 2-0 behind inside 23 minutes before coming back to force a shootout. Ladislav Krejci levelled in the 86th minute, and Czechia held their nerve from there.
That return matters because it is only Czechia’s second World Cup appearance since the dissolution of Czechoslovakia. Their last one came two decades ago, and this qualification gives the national team a chance to reset after a shaky campaign that even cost Ivan Hasek his job in October following a 2-1 defeat to the Faroe Islands. Pavel Nedved turned to Miroslav Koubek to steady the side ahead of the play-offs, and the 74-year-old answered with the sort of results that justify the gamble.
Koubek, who uses a 3-4-2-1 system and has won a Czech league title with Viktoria Plzen as well as managed Sparta Prague and Slavia Prague, is set to become the second-oldest coach in World Cup history. His path back to the tournament has been built on familiarity and patience, including spells with the Czech Under-19 team and as assistant to Karel Jarolim with the senior side from 2016 to 2018. For Schick, who has now reached double figures for goals in a sixth consecutive campaign and came through Sparta Prague’s academy before moving on to Roma and then Leverkusen, the next stage is already clear.
Czechia will head to North America with Mexico, South Korea and South Africa in their group, and the minimum target is the knockout stage. That is a modest benchmark for a country that has just fought its way back to the World Cup through two shootouts, but it also sets the terms of the next test: this is no longer about qualifying, only about how far a team that survived by inches can push on once it gets there.
