Tomáš
Vaclík

Tomáš Vaclík (March 9, 1989, Ostrava) started out as a goalkeeper in Vítkovice and played for this Ostrava-based club since the youth categories all the way through to the senior team. He was then acquired by another second-tier Czech club, Viktoria Žižkov. In his first season in this Prague club, the team was promoted to the top league. After playing only half a season for Viktoria in the Czech First League, Vaclík was transferred to Sparta Prague. In the second half of the season, he gradually worked his way up to become the first-choice goalkeeper instead of Milan Švenger.

In the following year, Vaclík helped Sparta reach the Europa League Round of 32; the team was eliminated only after conceding an additional time goal in the second leg game against Chelsea. One year later, he won the league title as well as the Czech Cup with Sparta.

While his attempts to qualify for the Champions League with Sparta were not successful, Vaclík managed to make his dream come true in his very first season in FC Basel and, on top of that, he contributed to the club’s reaching the knockout phase. Basel managed to clinch the second place in a difficult 2014/2015 Champions League group between Real Madrid and Liverpool. Basel’s journey through the competition ended in the Round of 16 when they lost to Porto. Vaclík qualified for the Europe’s most prestigious club competition three more times before moving to FC Sevilla in summer 2018. In his new team, he again became one of the key players.