Vaclav Cerny (born 17 October 1997) is a Czech professional footballer who plays as a right winger for Bundesliga club VfL Wolfsburg and the Czech Republic national team.
Cerny was born in Pribram. He joined the youth ranks of AFC Ajax in January 2013 from FK Pribram. He made his professional debut at Jong Ajax on 13 March 2015 in an Eerste Divisie game against VVV Venlo replacing Robert Muric after 78 minutes in a 1–0 win.
On 15 August 2015, Cerny made his Ajax senior debut in a 3–0 victory against Willem II. He scored his first goal on 26 November in the 2015–16 UEFA Europa League against Celtic, in which Ajax won 2–1. Cerny left the club in 2019 after five seasons at Ajax, during which time he regularly played for their reserve team Jong Ajax in the second-tier Eerste Divisie.
Cerny joined Utrecht in July 2019, signing a three-year contract with Eredivisie side.
Cerny spent the 2020–21 Eredivisie on loan at Twente, before making a permanent transfer in July 2021. On 2 June 2023, Cerny was named Eredivisie player of the month for May 2023.
On 23 June 2023, VfL Wolfsburg announced the signing of Cerny on a four-year contract.
Cerny represented Czech national youth football teams from the under-16 level. He was called up to the Czech Republic under-21 team in August 2015 at the age of 17. This call-up drew media attention as if Cerny played in the against Latvia or Malta in early September, he would become the youngest player to represent the team. Cerny made his U21 debut on 4 September, starting in the 4–1 victory against Malta.
Cerny debuted for the Czech senior national team on 11 November 2020 in a friendly match against Germany. He started and was substituted at half-time in the 1–0 loss.
After missing out the UEFA Euro 2020 due to health issues, Cerny returned to the national team in June 2022 for the 2022–23 UEFA Nations League A matches against Spain, Switzerland, and Portugal. He played only half an hour against the former and assisted on Jan Kuchta's goal, ending in a 2-2 draw.
On 17 November 2022, Cerny scored his first goal in a UEFA Euro 2024 qualifying match against Faroe Islands, ending in a 5-0 win for the Czech Republic. |
