Milan Petržela (born 19 June 1983) is a Czech former professional footballer who played as a winger. With more than 530 appearances, he holds the record for the number of appearances in the Czech First League. He played for the Czech Republic national team, making 19 appearances.
Career Petržela grew up in the South Moravian village Hoštice-Heroltice.
In August 2003 he moved to 1. FC Slovácko of the Czech First League. There he played 70 games in three years and in the summer of 2006 he was bought by Sparta Prague. They however loaned him out to FK Jablonec where he made 24 appearances. He subsequently signed with Viktoria Plzeň, where he won the Czech Cup in 2010 and the Czech First League in 2011.
After an unsuccessful season with FC Augsburg, Petržela returned to Viktoria Plzeň in June 2013.
After leaving Viktoria Plzeň, Petržela returned to Slovácko in the summer of 2019, where he complimented the young staff brilliantly with his experience.
On 18 May 2022, Petržela started for Slovácko in the 2021–22 Czech Cup final, defeating Sparta Prague 3–1. Thanks to winning the cup, Slovácko qualified for the preliminary round of the 2022–23 UEFA Europa League, where they lost to Fenerbahçe, thus being relegated to the 2022–23 UEFA Europa Conference League, where on the fourth preliminary round, Slovácko was able to beat Sweden's AIK twice, hence qualifying for the group stage of a UEFA competition for the first time in its history.
On 15 September 2022, Petržela scored in a 4–2 loss to 1. FC Köln in their second ECL group stage match, and in doing so, at the age of 39 years and 89 days, he became the oldest goalscorer in the short history of the Europa Conference League, as well as the second-oldest goalscorer in any UEFA competition, only behind Joaquín, who scored in that same day in Europa League, aged 41 years and 56 days. Pepe has since overtaken him as well with a goal in the Champions League at the age of 40 years and 289 days.
On 6 November 2022, Petržela set a new Czech First League record with 465 appearances, when he surpassed Jaroslav Šilhavý with 464 appearances. In December 2023, the 40-year-old Petržela made his record-extending 500th start in the Czech First League.
On 13 January 2025, Petržela signed a contract with Czech National Football League club Viktoria Žižkov.
On 18 June 2025, Petržela joined his former club Slovácko again, in a role where he is intended to have a role on the field, but also off the field.
Career statistics
+ Appearances and goals by club, season and competitionClubSeasonLeagueCupContinentalOtherTotalDivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals1. FC Slovácko2003–04Czech First League20100002012004–05Czech First League29200002922005–06Czech First League2100000210Total703000000703FK Jablonec (loan)2006–07Czech First League2410000241Sparta Prague2007–08Czech First League10000010Viktoria Plzeň2007–08Czech First League10200001022008–09Czech First League26500002652009–10Czech First League29153003442010–11Czech First League2674020103372011–12Czech First League2772014100438Total118221131611014626FC Augsburg2012–13Bundesliga1201000–130FC Augsburg II2012–13Regionalliga Bayern30–––30Viktoria Plzeň2013–14Czech First League26670162105082014–15Czech First League2734020103432015–16Czech First League2736092104352016–17Czech First League2321090–3322017–18Czech First League24220132–3942018–19Czech First League201206020301Total1471722055650229231. FC Slovácko2019–20Czech First League27421––2952020–21Czech First League33510––3452021–22Czech First League3045020–3742022–23Czech First League3032092–4152023–24Czech First League2911100–302Total149171121120017121Career total524604558296065774
Honours Viktoria Plzeň Czech First League: 2010–11 Czech Cup: 2009–10 Czech Republic Football Supercup: 2011
Slovácko Czech Cup: 2021–22
References
External links