Karel Bruckner announced his retirement after the champs

Czech Republic coach Karel Bruckner will retire from soccer after this year’s European Championship. The 68-year-old Bruckner said he will end his coaching career after the tournament, which his team begins with a first-round group containing Switzerland, Turkey and Portugal.

“I’ve decided to retire after the championship. Thirty four years of coaching are 34 years. That was enough” Bruckner said Thursday while announcing his squad for a friendly at Denmark next week.

Bruckner, lauded for his analytical approach to soccer, took over from Josef Chovanec after the Czechs failed to qualify for the 2002 World Cup, and has led the country to all major international tournaments since. When Bruckner took command, he rebuilt a fractious squad with low morale to create what many observers have said it most exiting Czech side ever.Bruckner changed the team’s defensive style into an attacking approach highly appreciated by fans, and good results followed. At the 2004 European Championship, the Czechs won cheers for their attacking soccer which brought surprise victories over Germany and the Netherlands during a run to the semifinals.The Czech Republic then qualified for its first World Cup as an independent nation and two years later reached another European Championship, which it opens on June 7 in Basel against co-host Switzerland.

“It would be a success to advance from the group,” Bruckner said Thursday.

Bruckner has won 47 and lost just 10 of his 69 matches in charge, although he didn’t lead the team for last month’s friendly against Poland because he was ill.No replacement was immediately announced.Bruckner coached several Czech and Slovak clubs since the 1970s, including a notable run to the 1992 UEFA Cup quarterfinals with Sigma Olomouc. He led the Czech Republic’s under-21 team to second place at the 2000 European Championship and was at the helm of the national side at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney.