Two West Ham players will lock horns to be crowned player of the year after being named among five nominees.
It is a sign of the progress West Ham have made that the squad boasts a number of international stars.
Among the most important of those over the last few years are Tomas Soucek and Vladimir Coufal.
The Czech mates have been brilliant for West Ham and their national team too.
Soucek captains the Czechs. And his Hammers teammate and real life best pal Coufal is one of the vice-captains.
Czech mates get international recognition
David Moyes has repeatedly praised Soucek and Coufal for being key to the club’s transformation into European regulars in recent seasons.
The manager is always keen to highlight their professionalism and attitude.
Moyes also recently backed Coufal to become a manager in the future.
Now the West Ham duo will go head-to-head after being nominated for a player of the year award.
Hammers pair two of five nominees
The Centropol Footballer of the Year nominees were announced today. The Hammers pair are two of five in the running for the prestigious Czech footballer of the year award.
Soucek and Coufal are up against Slavia Prague’s Tomas Holes, Wolfsburg’s Vaclav Cerny and Sparta Prague’s Ladislav Krejci.
The latter means West Ham co-owner and Sparta owner Daniel Kretinsky has three horses in the race so to speak.
Having helped West Ham become European champions Soucek or Coufal will be big favourites.
West Ham’s stars will find out if they have won at a gala evening at the Clarion Congress Hotel in Prague on Monday night.
The only one of the nominees who has won the award in the past is Czech skipper Soucek, who scooped the honour in 2019 and 2020.
Soucek can complete prestigious hat-trick
“Members of the football academy voted in the poll, which includes first league coaches, captains of first league teams, representatives with at least thirty starts for the national team, winners of past years, representatives of the media and football associations,” the Czech FA announced.
“Voting took place until January of this year, and voters evaluated performances and achievements in the entire calendar year 2023.
“Seven categories will be announced as part of the gala evening. In addition to the two main ones, there are also Puma Talent of the Year, Hodinářství Bechyně Coach of the Year, TCL eFotbalist of the Year and, for the first time, ČPP Futsalist of the Year, who has been decorated so far as part of the January Gala Evening of Our Football. As always, the FAČR will also induct a new member into the Czech Football Hall of Fame.”
You can watch the awards via a live stream on the association’s official website.
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