Suddenly the whole nation supported us and it was amazing
Josef Jelínek was born on January 9, 1941 in Prague. His dream was to become a football player. He started at ČAFC Vinohrady in Spořilov, where his father was the manager of the pitch. He got into a big club (ÚDA Praha, today Dukla Praha) by scoring a hat-trick in a match against him in the youth team. He trained to be a heating engineer. In order to play in the A team in the army club, he enlisted early in the military service at the age of 18. They offered him to join the Communist Party, but he refused. His career had a steep start, he played in the left wing, excelled in speed and scored a lot of goals. During the years 1961 - 1966, he won the league title with Dukla five times. Between 1961 and 1964, he significantly contributed to winning the cup in the International Soccer League in America, where Dukla went after the season. He soon received an invitation to the Czechoslovak national team and he was a member of the team that brought silver medals from the World Championships in Chile in 1962. His daughter was born during the tournament. Josef with the Dukla club later fought his way to the quarterfinals of the European Champions Cup several times, he was in a draw with Real Madrid in 1964. In 1967 he joined the second league VTŽ Chomutov, in the period 1970 - 1972 he worked in the Dutch league under František Fadrhonec for Go Ahead Deventer. He applied the acquired international experience after his return in the Bohemians Prague team, later he worked in ČSAD Benešov. He ended his active career where he started at ČAFC Vinohrady. He then worked until his retirement as a pitch manager. In 2012, after half a century, he visited South America again as a part of the anniversary of the Chilean finals. He is married, has two daughters and lives in Prague. He still goes to watch football matches.