Bican proti Čepičkovi - Fotbal ve stalinistickém Československu – Zikmund Zdeněk (2023)

This groundbreaking, expansive, and exceptional monograph guides readers through a time when decisions were made not on the playing fields, but in secretariats, where losses were attributed to the ills of the past and victories to class consciousness. It brings to light the fates of footballers caught in the machinery of political processes, repression, and persecution, delving into the minds of political officers. It analyzes the game under the yoke of the Cold War and ideology. The author makes unknown facts from investigation files, court trials, and personnel assessments of players, coaches, and officials accused of treason, espionage, or collaboration with foreign intelligence agencies accessible. He pays detailed attention to the stories of emigration, describing dramatic escapes, successes, and the twists and turns of well-known footballers who left the republic. However, he does not overlook the progress made during the period from 1948 to 1956, despite numerous failures and dead ends in state support for sports, methodology, and social security for athletes. By mid-1956, it was agreed abroad that the best team in the world was – Czechoslovakia! The author explains how from the Stalinist darkness, which led football astray, even to the brink of disaster, emerged a decade that would be the most successful in the history of our football. The work loosely follows the author's book Bican against Hitler.