Czech Republic’s fate in World Cup will hinge on the likes of Pavel Nedved

Prague: As the Czech Republic tune up for the World Cup finals in Germany, the country finds its league at home trying to recover from a deep bribery scandal. Ranked second in the world, the Czech Republic, Euro 2004 semi-finalists, would seem an unlikely place for the game to be struggling.

In recent years the Czechs have produced the likes of Chelsea goalkeeper Petr Cech, Juventus midfielder Pavel Nedved, and Aston Villa striker Milan Baros.

But for all the success and players sent abroad, the Czech top league has been rattled by convictions of officials for bribery and implications that the scandal runs deeply through the sport.

In all, five first and second division teams had points deducted at the end of the 2004-05 season for offences.

“The national team is said to be a showcase of Czech soccer. We may be happy, it is beautiful. But one should not forget the darkness and mould lurking on the lower shelves,” a daily wrote. Most recently, Ivan Hornik, former sports director of Viktoria Zizkov, was handed a suspended seven-month sentence and fined 900,000 crowns ($37,690) for offering bribes to referees and soccer officials.

Hornik was also banned for 10 years from working in Czech soccer.

But the real sign of trouble may lie in the fact that the court also gave 10 other officials and referees smaller sentences and fines, showing this was not an isolated case.

“We have to make our maximum effort to prevent corruption in soccer,” soccer federation chief Pavel Mokry said. That may take a while.

Since 2004, over two dozen soccer officials and referees have been suspended, fined or both by the federation for being implicated in bribery cases.

Police have used wiretaps and conducted major investigations to uncover graft. In a case with possibly the largest impact, the federation’s own vice-chairman Milan Brabec ? who headed the committee overseeing referees ? was suspended and fined over his connection to the scandal.

Last year the federation adopted tough new rules and penalties for corruption, and no new cases have been reported though the scandal appeared to hit the sport hard in terms of fan support.