Václav Daněk

Infobox Football biography
playername = Václav Daněk


fullname =
dateofbirth = Birth date and age|1960|12|22
cityofbirth = Ostrava
countryofbirth = Czechoslovakia
height =
nickname =
position = Striker
youthyears =
youthclubs =
years = 1979-1983 1983-1985 1985-1989
1989-1991
1991-1992
1992-1995
clubs = Baník Ostrava Dukla Prague
Baník Ostrava
FC Swarovski Tirol
Le Havre AC
FC Tirol Innsbruck
caps(goals) = 104 (34)
41 (12)
96 (65)
57 (44)
17 (3)
89 (39)
nationalyears = 1982-1991
nationalteam = Czechoslovakia
nationalcaps(goals) = 22 (9)
manageryears = 2003
2004
2004-2005
2005-2006
2007-
managerclubs = FK Drnovice
FC Vítkovice
Dukla Banská Bystrica
FC Vítkovice
Fotbal Fulnek

Václav Daněk (born 22 December, 1960 in Ostrava) is a retired Czech football player. He played 22 matches for Czechoslovakia and scored 9 goals.

In his country he played for Baník Ostrava. His strong temper made him not to be picked for the Czechoslovakian roster that made to quarterfinals in the 1990 FIFA World Cup, when he was a the peak of his career in Austria, playing for FC Tirol Innsbruck because of discrepancies with coach Jozef Vengloš who preferred players like Tomáš Skuhravý, Ivo Knoflíček and Stanislav Griga.

Despite all these, he was selected Best Player in the Austrian league and finished top scorer three years in a row which allowed him to finish third in 1991´s European Golden Boot contest sponsored by the French football magazine "France Football".

After the World Cup in Italy, where the Czechoslovakian team amazingly performed very well, Venglos was replaced by Milan Máčala who gave Vaclav full confidence, making him the team's new standard bearer and first pick-up choice for the offensive.

Maybe his best achievement with the Czechoslovakian national team took place during the UEFA Euro 1992 qualifying match against Spain in 1991. A few days prior to this crucial match Danek's baby son was badly injured in an accident and had to be hospitalized what made Václav to declare himself forfait for this match.

The following days, all other three Czech strikers were injured during trainings or in their league matches, what left Macala completely forward-less. The coach decided to call Daněk just hours before the match, and he received a "YES" as an answer.

Without any previous training and/or tactical coaching advises, Vaclav played the game. With Spain leading 2-1, he scored twice in the second half against Andoni Zubizarreta and was the Man of the Match of an amazing comeback and victory of his nation.

When asked why he did finally play the game, although his son being at the hospital he declared "My country and my coach needed me and here I am".