Sydney has officially appointed Czech Vitezslav Lavicka as its coach for the 2009/10 Hyundai A-League season.
Lavicka will arrive in Australia in March to take the reins for the start of the pre-season training, with his contract beginning on April 1.
The 45-year-old was named Czech Coach of the Year after winning the Czech League in 2005/06 and earning a place in the qualifying stages of the UEFA Champions League with FC Slovan Liberec and last year he took Czech powerhouse Sparta Prague to the UEFA Cup.
“We are extremely happy to be able to announce that Czech coach, Vitezslav Lavicka has accepted the role as Sydney FC Coach for the 2009/10 Hyundai A-League season,” Sydney chief executive Stefan Kamasz said.
“It is proposed that Vitezslav travel to China to meet the players and staff during the club’s upcoming friendly in Shanghai on February 28. He will then arrive in Australia in March to ensure everything is in place for the start of pre-season training.”
Lavicka will be joined at the club by compatriot Michal Zach, who has been appointed co-assistant coach alongside current assistant and former captain Tony Popovic.
The two Czech’s have past experience with each other when the duo were in charge of the Czech under-21 team.
Kamasz is adamant the move to axe Kosmina and install Lavicka, instigated by the club’s new owners, was the right one if they Sky Blues are to achieve stability.
And he predicted further change once new club boss – Russian businessman David Traktovenko – officially took control next month.
“There is a concern about instability in the club. The difference with this (Lavicka’s appointment) is that we have a new ownership structure from the 1st of March and this is one of the major changes the new owners believe was needed,” Kamasz said.
“They are in the process of articulating their vision and there are going to be a lot of changes happening at this club and this is one of them.”
“We need stability and we believe we’ve brought in the right coaches and that the stability will be there from that point of view.”
“But we still need unity of purpose in this club. There has been a lot of discussion that there is an unhealthy dressing-room and I think we needed to make some changes and the changes have been made and I think you’ll find the stability will come.”
Although conceding Lavicka’s grasp of English was ‘basic’ but there was no problem with his ‘football English’, Kamasz hailed the former Sparta Prague coach’s signing as a momentous occasion in Sydney’s history.
“He’s got a tremendous pedigree. He holds the highest coaching licence in UEFA,” Kamasz pointed out.
“We believe we are in for a very successful 2009-2010 season.”
“It’s (been) a question of affordability (in the past) and we now have more funds to bring in two outstanding coaches.”
Kamasz confirmed marquee signing John Aloisi has a future at Sydney FC under Lavicka despite the former Socceroo striker’s disappointing 2008/9 campaign, which yielded just one goal from open play.
