Bican against Cap

This revelatory, narrative and exceptional monograph analyses Czechoslovak football in the grip of the Cold War between 1948 and 1956 and presents the fate of footballers in the cycle of political trials, repression and persecution. The work is loosely based on the author's book Bican against Hitler. Football in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia (PROSTOR 2020), and thus allows a comparison of the actions of both totalitarianisms, Nazism and Stalinism, in the abuse, politicization and ideologization of the most popular sport.

The author makes available unknown facts from investigation files, trials and cadre reports of players, coaches and officials accused of treason, espionage or cooperation with foreign intelligence. It details the stories of emigration, describing the dramatic escapes, successes and peripeties of famous footballers who left the republic.

However, it does not overlook the progress that has gradually been made during this period, with its many detours and dead ends. In mid-1956, the consensus abroad was that the best team in the world was - Czechoslovakia! The author explains, like something out of the Stalinist dark ages, that has led football astray, and the edge of the abyss, a decade has come and gone, which will be the most successful in the history of our football.

Zdeněk Zikmund (1964) studied international relations and journalism. In his books, he looks at the political, economic and social context of football, examining the most popular sport in the context of ideas, media and culture. He did so in his monographs Football in the Shadow of the Duce. The Story of the Golden Boys (2004), Edvard Beneš on the Left Wing. The President on the Playground and at the Castle (2015), Bican against Hitler. Football in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia (PROSTOR 2020) and Bican against Čepička. Football in Stalinist Czechoslovakia (PROSTOR 2023).