.png)
5 hours ago
10
The Czech player union has called for a lifetime football ban for a coach who avoided jail despite being convicted of secretly filming his female players in the changing rooms and showers with a hidden camera.
Petr Vlachovsky was convicted in May 2025, without a public hearing, and handed a suspended one-year prison sentence and a five-year domestic coaching ban, after being found to have filmed 14 players at FC Slovacko over a four-year period. He was also caught in possession of child sexual abuse material.
Vlachovsky, whose youngest victim at Slovacko was 17 years old, previously coached the Czech under-19 women’s national side and could return to a coaching career in the Czech Republic as early as 2030. He is not currently barred from coaching around the rest of the world, something which the world players union wants to see changed.
“The Czech player union CAFH has been closely supporting the players since Vlachovsky’s arrest,” Fifpro said in a statement on Tuesday. “Because the Czech criminal process and the Czech FA’s administrative proceedings are separate and can run in parallel, the union is challenging the FA to implement a lifetime football ban for Vlachovsky and all sexual offenders. Fifpro is exploring possible legal avenues on behalf of players to achieve a global ban.”
Marketa Vochoska Haindlova, the CAFH chair and a Fifpro Europe board member, said: “After careful consideration and at the players’ direction, we made the entire case public. Even though the media attention created additional pressure on the players, it is also an important step to create awareness of the broader issue of abuse in sports, and work towards the prevention of this happening again.
“The sentence of one year’s suspended imprisonment with a three-year deferral does not send the right signal. The five-year ban on coaching – only applicable in Czech Republic – is also insufficient.
“The ban from coaching is where I really believe our focus should be at, jointly with Fifpro and other stakeholders. There must be a zero-tolerance policy here to send a clear signal that such behaviour will never be tolerated and swiftly eradicated.
“Our goal is to use this case to push for an amendment that will call for a lifetime ban for all sexual offenders. A one strike policy must apply and a lifetime ban must be the only option.”
Fifpro’s announcement comes a week after a former official at an Austrian club was given a suspended prison sentence and fined €1,200 (£1,046) after being found guilty of taking secret videos and photographs from the changing room, gym and showers of the Altach women’s football team. He was also told to pay the victims €625 each in compensation.
As is the case in the Czech Republic, there was anger at the leniency of the sentence with the former Altach player Eleni Rittmann saying: “This leaves me speechless. The perpetrator was not only a top-level referee in Switzerland but also an official at Altach. And that is where he filmed players, including minors. I then ask myself, is this an appropriate punishment?
“I also ask myself, does such a punishment act as a deterrent for others? We felt secure in our dressing room and this hurt our privacy so badly that some of us do not feel safe in public showers even now. For me this is not a strong enough signal for something that is not tolerated in our society. The verdict is not final as the prosecutor has requested additional time to consider an appeal.”
Fifpro is also understood to be pushing for enhanced safeguarding measures in the coaching industry and greater information-sharing between countries when coaches are found guilty in cases such as these, which they feel raise serious questions about the level of punishments handed out for non-contact sexual abuse.
