Pavel Nedvěd
| ● The file | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1972, Cheb, Czechoslovakia |
| Golden Ball | 2003 |
| Juventus | Serie A 2003; European Cup finalist — suspended for the final |
| The nickname | Furia Ceca, given by Italian commentary |
Nedvěd's 2003 was Juventus reaching the European Cup final with his legs as the turbine: league title, semi-final decided by his goal against Real Madrid, and then the yellow card in that semi's last minutes that ruled him out of the final — the award's most poignant footnote. Juventus lost the final on penalties in Manchester. He watched it in a suit, the season's best player reduced to spectator by football's cruellest bureaucratic device.
His game was volume refined into art: a left foot that struck like a piano falling downstairs, a diesel engine's lungs, and a hairstyle that made him the most recognisable midfielder of his decade. Euro 2004's semi-final team followed for the Czechs. He retired from the national team, returned for the 2006 qualifying rescue, and then ran Juventus as an executive — the fury institutionalised. The award's midfield chapter lists few engines of his mileage per trophy.