He started football in the centre-forward position, but later switched to goalkeeper: Who is Petr Cech?

In the 2006-07 season, he collided with an opposing team player in the first minutes of Chelsea's league match against Reading; There was a crack in his skull. His symbol, the head helmet, is a remnant from those days.

Petr Cech, who played as a goalkeeper, was born on May 20, 1982. Petr Cech, who is 196 cm tall and weighs 90 kilos, uses his left foot.

Former Czech goalkeeper Petr Cech, who played for Arsenal and the Czech national football team, recently signed a contract with his former team Chelsea in 2020.

He was born on May 20, 1982 in Plzen. Cech, who started his career in his country's Chmel team in 1999, was transferred to Arsenal in the summer of 2015 after playing in Sparta Prague, Rennes, and Chelsea clubs.

Petr Čech (born 20 May 1982) is a Czech former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper and current ice hockey player who plays as a goaltender for Belfast Giants, on loan from Oxford City Stars. He has been described as one of the greatest goalkeepers of all time, and, by some, as the greatest goalkeeper, alongside Peter Schmeichel, in Premier League history.

The Czech goalkeeper, who played for Arsenal until the end of the 2019 season in the Premier League, where he spent 16 seasons of his career, won the sympathy of football fans with the helmet he wore in the matches, as well as the trophies he achieved and the records he broke.

Petr Cech, who was selected as the player of the year in the Czech Republic 9 times and is the person who has achieved this title the most in the history of the country, has left his name among the unforgettable gloves in his professional career that will last 20 years.

CAREER FULL OF TROPHIES

Cech experienced the greatest successes of his career with Chelsea between the 2004-15 seasons.

The Czech goalkeeper, who won a total of 4 leagues, 5 Federation Cups, 3 League Cups, 4 Community Shields, and a UEFA Champions League and a Europa League cup in his English career, was selected as the best goalkeeper in Europe 3 times by UEFA.

HE DID NOT START FOOTBALL AS A GOALKEEPER

Born in Plzen, Czech Republic, on May 20, 1982, Petr Cech started playing football at the age of 7 in the infrastructure of his country's Viktoria Plzen team. After working as a center-forward in his early years, Cech moved to goal and played his first professional match with the Czech 1st League team Chmel Blsany when he was only 17 years old.

Cech, who quickly attracted the attention of the country's big teams with his performance, signed a 5.5-year contract with Sparta Prague when he turned 18. The Czech glove, who took over from Theodor Reimann by increasing his country's record for the longest consecutive goalkeeper without conceding a goal to 855 minutes while he was playing in Prague, started to receive offers from European teams.

Cech, who could not evaluate the transfer offer from Arsenal because he could not obtain a work permit at that time, wore the Rennes jersey in 2002 for a transfer fee of 5 million euros. The Czech glove, who played 70 matches in two seasons for the French representative and quickly won the admiration of the fans with his quick reflexes, this time attracted the attention of Chelsea and was transferred to the London representative in 2004 for a transfer fee of 13 million euros.

REACHED THE PEAK IN ENGLAND

Petr Cech, who made a big breakthrough in his career with a Chelsea jersey, kept a clean sheet in 1,025 minutes in his first season and broke the Premier League record on this field. Although the record was improved in the following years by Manchester United's former legendary goalkeeper, the Dutch Edwin van der Sar, Cech, who did not concede a goal in 21 matches in his first season and conceded only 15 goals, was awarded the title of goalkeeper of the year in the Premier League.

The Czech goalkeeper, who made a significant contribution to ending the club's 50-year league championship drought with his saves in the same season, conceded only 22 goals in 34 league matches in the 2005-06 season. Petr Cech, who played an important role in Chelsea's second consecutive championship, was chosen as the best goalkeeper in the world by the International Federation of Football History and Statistics (IFFHS).

HE WEARED A HELMET AFTER INJURY

In the 2006-07 season, Cech collided with opposing team player Stephen Hunt in the first minutes of Chelsea's league match against Reading and was out of the game following his injury.

The Czech goalkeeper, who had a life-threatening injury due to a crack in his skull and underwent surgery, remained away from the field for about 3.5 months, but he took to the field with a helmet to avoid similar situations in the next matches.

HE HAD MANY TROPHIES

Petr Cech, who maintained his consistency with the Chelsea jersey for many years and made his name among the best goalkeepers in the world, played the most important matches of his career in the 2011-12 season. The Czech goalkeeper made a name for himself with the saves he made in the tournament, where Chelsea reached a happy ending for the first time in its history by eliminating Barcelona in the UEFA Champions League semi-finals and Bayern Munich in the final.

While Chelsea won the first trophy in the club's history, this time in the UEFA Europa League, in the 2012-13 season, Cech was among the architects of this success.

ARSENAL

Cech, who lost his place in the first 11 after Chelsea added Belgian national goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois to its squad, was transferred to Arsenal in 2015 for a transfer fee of 14 million euros.

Cech, who took over as the goalkeeper again at Arsenal, won the Community Shield in 2015 and 2017, and the English Federation Cup in the 2016-17 season.

HE MADE THE NATIONAL JERSEY SWEAT THE MOST

Petr Cech, who played 124 matches in the Czech National Team until his retirement in 2016, also holds the record for the player who wore the national jersey the most.

Cech achieved the most important success of his international career by reaching the semi-finals of the 2004 European Football Championship (EURO 2004) with the Czech Republic jersey.