Jan Kuchta

Jan Kuchta
	Kuchta with Lokomotiv Moscow in 2022
Personal information
Date of birth	8 January 1997 (age 28)
Place of birth	Liberec, Czech Republic
Height	1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)
Position(s)	Forward
Team information
Current team	Sparta Prague; (on loan from Midtjylland)
Number	10
Youth career
2010–2013	Sparta Prague
2013–2016	Slavia Prague
Senior career*
Years	Team
2016–2020	Slavia Prague
2016–2017	→ Bohemians (loan)
2018	→ Viktoria Žižkov (loan)
2018	→ Slovácko (loan)
2019	→ Teplice (loan)
2019–2020	→ Slovan Liberec (loan)
2020	Slovan Liberec
2020–2022	Slavia Prague
2022–2023	Lokomotiv Moscow
2022–2023	→ Sparta Prague (loan)
2023–2024	Sparta Prague
2024–	Midtjylland
2025–	→ Sparta Prague (loan)
International career‡
2014–2015	Czech Republic U18
2015–2016	Czech Republic U19
2017–2018	Czech Republic U20
2018	Czech Republic U21
2021–	Czech Republic
	*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 10 November 2024; ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 19 November 2024

Jan Kuchta (born 8 January 1997) is a Czech professional footballer who plays as a forward for Sparta Prague on loan from Danish club Midtjylland and the Czech Republic national team.

Club career

Slavia Prague

Kuchta made his Czech First League debut for Slavia Prague on 8 November 2015 in a game against Bohemians.^[2]

In January 2019, he joined Teplice on loan until June 2020.^[3]

In February 2020, Kuchta signed for Slovan Liberec on a permanent deal, following a loan move at the club. In July 2020, Kuchta re-signed for Slavia Prague.^[4] Kuchta finished the 2020–21 Czech First League as joint top scorer, alongside Adam Hložek with 15 goals.^[5] In the final match of the season on 29 May 2021, Kuchta scored his side's winning goal against Dynamo České Budějovice which confirmed an undefeated league season for Slavia, the first time a Czech club reached this milestone since rivals Sparta Prague did so in 2009–10.^[6]

Lokomotiv Moscow

On 12 January 2022, Kuchta signed a contract with Russian Premier League club Lokomotiv Moscow until 2026.^[7]

He made his league debut for Lokomotiv on 6 March 2022 against FC Khimki and scored the winning goal in a 3–2 victory. However, he never served a disqualification that he received for getting sent off in his last game for Slavia, and, according to FIFA regulations, was not eligible to play, FC Khimki filed a protest.^[8] The protest was denied on 10 March 2022, according to Russian Football Union, Kuchta should have been disqualified for the Russian Cup game Lokomotiv played against Yenisey Krasnoyarsk on 3 March and lost 4–0, as Czech regulations extend disqualifications to Cup games, even though Russian regulations do not, so he was technically disqualified for "one league or Cup game" as opposed to "one league game". Lokomotiv did not provide the document detailing the disqualification to the league, the club claimed they did not receive it during the transfer, and he was allowed by the RFU to play in the Cup game. His disqualification is considered served after that game, even though he actually played in it, as per FIFA regulations. Khimki considered lodging an appeal.^[9]

Sparta Prague

In June 2022, Kuchta joined Sparta Prague on a one-year long loan with an option for a permanent transfer.^[10] In his first match for Sparta Prague in the Czech First League (2–1 home loss against Slovan Liberec) he stepped on Liberec goalkeeper Olivier Vliegen's head and received a yellow card, which the referee changed to a red card after he saw video footage. Kuchta was banned for five league matches by LFA Disciplinary Commission.^[11] The club with Kuchta appealed his ban,^[12] but the appeal was rejected by Appeals Committee on 11 August 2022.^[13]

Kuchta helped the club to win its first championship title since 2014.^[14]

In June 2023, Sparta exercised the option to buy in the loan contract, signing a multi-year contract with Kuchta.^[15]

In May 2024, Kuchta helped the club to win its second championship title in two seasons^[16] and domestic cup.^[17] He was awarded as the forward of the 2023–24 season by the League Football Association.^[18]

Midtjylland

On 31 August 2024, Kuchta signed a contract with Danish Superliga club Midtjylland until 2028.^[19]

Sparta Prague (loan)

On 15 January 2025, Kuchta joined Sparta Prague on half-year loan deal with option for a permanent transfer.^[20]

International career

Kuchta debuted for the Czech Republic national team on 8 October 2021 in a 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification against Wales.^[21] On 19 November 2023, Kuchta with Vladimír Coufal and Jakub Brabec had been kicked out of the Czech Republic's national team camp after they allegedly went out clubbing two days before the UEFA Euro 2024 qualifying Group E against Moldova.^[22] He included in Ivan Hašek's Czech Republic 26-man squad for the UEFA Euro 2024.^[23]

Career statistics

Club

As of match played 28 November 2024^[24]

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club	Season	League			National cup^[a]		Europe		Total
Club	Season	Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Slavia Prague	2015–16	Czech First League	1	0	0	0	—		1	0
Bohemians (loan)	2016–17	Czech First League	17	0	3	1	—		20	1
	2017–18	Czech First League	4	0	0	0	—		4	0
	Total		21	0	3	1	—		24	1
Viktoria Žižkov (loan)	2017–18	Czech National Football League	12	4	—		—		12	4
Slovácko (loan)	2018–19	Czech First League	14	4	2	1	—		16	5
Teplice (loan)	2018–19	Czech First League	8	3	0	0	—		8	3
Slovan Liberec (loan)	2019–20	Czech First League	13	2	2	1	—		15	3
Slovan Liberec	2019–20	Czech First League	10	4	2	0	—		12	4
Slavia Prague	2020–21	Czech First League	27	15	3	3	11^[b]	2	41	20
	2021–22	Czech First League	16	9	1	0	8^[c]	3	25	12
	Total		43	24	4	3	19	5	66	32
Lokomotiv Moscow	2021–22	Russian Premier League	10	3	1	0	—		11	3
Sparta Prague (loan)	2022–23	Czech First League	29	14	4	2	2^[d]	0	35	16
Sparta Prague	2023–24	Czech First League	32	17	2	1	14^[e]	3	47	21
	2024–25	Czech First League	3	0	0	0	5^[f]	0	8	0
	Total		35	17	2	1	19	3	55	21
Midtjylland	2024–25	Danish Superliga	9	1	2	1	5^[g]	0	16	2
Career total			197	73	21	10	45	8	263	91

^ Includes Czech Cup, Russian Cup, Danish Cup
^ Includes one appearance in UEFA Champions League and ten appearances and two goals in UEFA Europa League
^ Two appearances in UEFA Champions League, one appearance in UEFA Europa League, five appearances and three goals in UEFA Europa Conference League
^ Appearances in UEFA Europa Conference League
^ Two appearances in UEFA Champions League, twelve appearances and three goals in UEFA Europa League
^ efn
^ Appearances in UEFA Europa League

International

As of 19 November 2024^[25]

Appearances and goals by national team and year
National team	Year	Apps	Goals
Czech Republic	2021	4	0
	2022	8	2
	2023	8	1
	2024	7	0
Total		27	3

Scores and results list Czech Republic's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Kuchta goal.^[25]

List of international goals scored by Jan Kuchta
No.	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	2 June 2022	Sinobo Stadium, Prague, Czech Republic	Switzerland	1–0	2–1	2022–23 UEFA Nations League A
1	5 June 2022	Sinobo Stadium, Prague, Czech Republic	Spain	2–1	2–2	2022–23 UEFA Nations League A
2	24 March 2023	Fortuna Arena, Prague, Czech Republic	Poland	3–0	3–1	UEFA Euro 2024 qualifying

Honours

FC Slovan Liberec

Czech Cup runner-up: 2019–20^[26]

Slavia Prague

Sparta Prague

Czech First League: 2022–23,^[14] 2023–24^[16]
Czech Cup: 2023–24^[17]
Czech Cup runner-up: 2022–23

Individual

Czech First League Player of the Month: January 2021
Czech First League Top goalscorer: 2020–21
Czech First League Forward of the season: 2023–24^[18]

References

^ "Jan Kuchta – Czechia – European Qualifiers". UEFA. Retrieved 17 June 2023.
^ "Game Report by Soccerway". Soccerway. 8 November 2015.
^ "ALEX KRÁL PŘESTUPUJE DO SLAVIE, NA HOSTOVÁNÍ PŘICHÁZÍ JAN KUCHTA". FK Teplice. 2 January 2019. Retrieved 12 March 2019.
^ "Jan Kuchta re-joins Slavia". SK Slavia Prague. 23 July 2020.
^ "Sparta na závěr sezony deklasovala Brno, Slavia porazila Budějovice. Hložek čtyřmi góly dotáhl Kuchtu". Czech Radio (in Czech). 29 May 2021. Retrieved 30 May 2021.
^ ^a ^b "Slavia - Budějovice 2:1. Mistři bez prohry, trefil se i Kuchta". Blesk (in Czech). 29 May 2021. Retrieved 18 June 2021.
^ "ФК "Локомотив" согласовал контракт с Яном Кухтой". FC Lokomotiv Moscow (in Russian). 12 January 2022. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
^ ""Химки" подают протест на присуждение поражения "Локо". Все из-за участия в матче Кухты" (in Russian). Sport Express. 6 March 2022.
^ "В КДК объяснили, почему не засчитали техническое поражение "Локомотиву"". Championat (in Russian). 10 March 2022.
^ "Jan Kuchta přichází na Spartu". AC Sparta Prague (in Czech). 25 June 2022. Retrieved 25 June 2022.
^ Dosadil, Pavel (4 August 2022). "Surová hra přišla Kuchtu draho. Kolik kol stráví jen na tribuně?". sport.cz (in Czech). Borgis. Retrieved 4 August 2022.
^ "Pět zápasů je moc?! Sparta a Kuchta se odvolali proti trestu". sport.cz (in Czech). Borgis. Czech News Agency. 8 August 2022. Retrieved 8 August 2022.
^ Dosadil, Pavel (11 August 2022). "Kuchta má smůlu, milost nedostane. Sparťanský útočník s odvoláním neuspěl". sport.cz (in Czech). Borgis. Retrieved 11 August 2022.
^ ^a ^b "Sparta v euforii! Remíza na Slovácku odstartovala mistrovské oslavy". Sport.cz (in Czech). Borgis. Czech News Agency. 23 May 2023. Retrieved 23 May 2023.
^ "Kuchta se do Ruska vracet nebude. Sparta ho získala na přestup" [Kuchta Won’t Be Returning to Russia. Sparta Got His Transfer]. ČT Sport (in Czech). 14 May 2023. Retrieved 14 May 2023.
^ ^a ^b "SESTŘIH: Boleslav - Sparta 0:5. Titul pro Letenské! Kuchta dal čtyři góly". Blesk (in Czech). Czech News Center. Czech News Agency. 18 May 2024. Retrieved 19 May 2024.
^ ^a ^b Neumann, Robert (22 May 2024). "Sparta slaví double! Triumf v nervózním finále trefil Birmančevič". Sport.cz (in Czech). Borgis. Retrieved 23 May 2024.
^ ^a ^b "Brankářem sezony je Staněk, obráncům vládne Hranáč. Uspěli i dva mistři". League Football Association (Press release) (in Czech). 28 May 2024. Retrieved 29 May 2024.
^ Rothausen, Christian (31 August 2024). "Tjekkisk landsholdsbomber er ny FC Midtjylland-spiller". FC Midtjylland (in Danish). Retrieved 31 August 2024.
^ Lizec, Jiří (15 January 2025). "Kuchta je oficiálně zpět ve Spartě. Expert: Může být lídr, ale vidím i rizika". Sport.cz (in Czech). Borgis. Retrieved 15 January 2025.
^ "Belgie nám pomůže, věří po ztrátě Kuchta. Na debut nezapomene do konce života". Aktuálně.cz (in Czech). 9 October 2021. Retrieved 28 June 2023.
^ Leeks, Jacob (19 November 2023). "West Ham star among three banished from national team after "fundamentally violating" rules". Mirror Online. Retrieved 20 November 2023.
^ "Nominace reprezentace na přípravný kemp před Euro 2024". Football Association of the Czech Republic (in Czech). Retrieved 12 June 2024.
^ Jan Kuchta at Soccerway. Retrieved 23 February 2024.
^ ^a ^b Jan Kuchta at FAČR (in Czech)
^ Čihák, Jiří (1 July 2020). "Liberec - Sparta 1:2, trofej po šesti letech, rozhodla hloupá penalta". iDNES.cz (in Czech). Mafra.

External links

Jan Kuchta at Fortunaliga.cz
Jan Kuchta at Soccerway
Jan Kuchta at FAČR (in Czech)

[25] Includes Czech Cup, Russian Cup, Danish Cup

[26] Includes one appearance in UEFA Champions League and ten appearances and two goals in UEFA Europa League

[27] Two appearances in UEFA Champions League, one appearance in UEFA Europa League, five appearances and three goals in UEFA Europa Conference League

[28] Appearances in UEFA Europa Conference League

[29] Two appearances in UEFA Champions League, twelve appearances and three goals in UEFA Europa League

[UCL-30] ^ efn

[UEL-31] Appearances in UEFA Europa League

[1] "Jan Kuchta – Czechia – European Qualifiers". UEFA. Retrieved 17 June 2023.

[2] "Game Report by Soccerway". Soccerway. 8 November 2015.

[3] "ALEX KRÁL PŘESTUPUJE DO SLAVIE, NA HOSTOVÁNÍ PŘICHÁZÍ JAN KUCHTA". FK Teplice. 2 January 2019. Retrieved 12 March 2019.

[4] "Jan Kuchta re-joins Slavia". SK Slavia Prague. 23 July 2020.

[TopScorer-5] "Sparta na závěr sezony deklasovala Brno, Slavia porazila Budějovice. Hložek čtyřmi góly dotáhl Kuchtu". Czech Radio (in Czech). 29 May 2021. Retrieved 30 May 2021.

[Leaguechamp-6] "Slavia - Budějovice 2:1. Mistři bez prohry, trefil se i Kuchta". Blesk (in Czech). 29 May 2021. Retrieved 18 June 2021.

[7] "ФК "Локомотив" согласовал контракт с Яном Кухтой". FC Lokomotiv Moscow (in Russian). 12 January 2022. Retrieved 12 January 2022.

[8] ""Химки" подают протест на присуждение поражения "Локо". Все из-за участия в матче Кухты" (in Russian). Sport Express. 6 March 2022.

[9] "В КДК объяснили, почему не засчитали техническое поражение "Локомотиву"". Championat (in Russian). 10 March 2022.

[10] "Jan Kuchta přichází na Spartu". AC Sparta Prague (in Czech). 25 June 2022. Retrieved 25 June 2022.

[11] Dosadil, Pavel (4 August 2022). "Surová hra přišla Kuchtu draho. Kolik kol stráví jen na tribuně?". sport.cz (in Czech). Borgis. Retrieved 4 August 2022.

[12] "Pět zápasů je moc?! Sparta a Kuchta se odvolali proti trestu". sport.cz (in Czech). Borgis. Czech News Agency. 8 August 2022. Retrieved 8 August 2022.

[13] Dosadil, Pavel (11 August 2022). "Kuchta má smůlu, milost nedostane. Sparťanský útočník s odvoláním neuspěl". sport.cz (in Czech). Borgis. Retrieved 11 August 2022.

[title-14] "Sparta v euforii! Remíza na Slovácku odstartovala mistrovské oslavy". Sport.cz (in Czech). Borgis. Czech News Agency. 23 May 2023. Retrieved 23 May 2023.

[15] "Kuchta se do Ruska vracet nebude. Sparta ho získala na přestup" [Kuchta Won’t Be Returning to Russia. Sparta Got His Transfer]. ČT Sport (in Czech). 14 May 2023. Retrieved 14 May 2023.

[blesk.cz_2024-16] "SESTŘIH: Boleslav - Sparta 0:5. Titul pro Letenské! Kuchta dal čtyři góly". Blesk (in Czech). Czech News Center. Czech News Agency. 18 May 2024. Retrieved 19 May 2024.

[sport.cz_2024-17] Neumann, Robert (22 May 2024). "Sparta slaví double! Triumf v nervózním finále trefil Birmančevič". Sport.cz (in Czech). Borgis. Retrieved 23 May 2024.

[lfa_forward-18] "Brankářem sezony je Staněk, obráncům vládne Hranáč. Uspěli i dva mistři". League Football Association (Press release) (in Czech). 28 May 2024. Retrieved 29 May 2024.

[19] Rothausen, Christian (31 August 2024). "Tjekkisk landsholdsbomber er ny FC Midtjylland-spiller". FC Midtjylland (in Danish). Retrieved 31 August 2024.

[20] Lizec, Jiří (15 January 2025). "Kuchta je oficiálně zpět ve Spartě. Expert: Může být lídr, ale vidím i rizika". Sport.cz (in Czech). Borgis. Retrieved 15 January 2025.

[21] "Belgie nám pomůže, věří po ztrátě Kuchta. Na debut nezapomene do konce života". Aktuálně.cz (in Czech). 9 October 2021. Retrieved 28 June 2023.

[22] Leeks, Jacob (19 November 2023). "West Ham star among three banished from national team after "fundamentally violating" rules". Mirror Online. Retrieved 20 November 2023.

[23] "Nominace reprezentace na přípravný kemp před Euro 2024". Football Association of the Czech Republic (in Czech). Retrieved 12 June 2024.

[sw-24] Jan Kuchta at Soccerway. Retrieved 23 February 2024.

[facr-32] Jan Kuchta at FAČR (in Czech)

[33] Čihák, Jiří (1 July 2020). "Liberec - Sparta 1:2, trofej po šesti letech, rozhodla hloupá penalta". iDNES.cz (in Czech). Mafra.

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