As every week, OneFootball shines a light on a young talent on the rise. This time, the focus is on a 17-year-old Czech talent, on the verge of experiencing his first World Cup.
Just a few months ago, Hugo Sochůrek was playing with Sparta Prague’s reserve team in the Czech second division. This year, he is part of the 26-man squad called up to represent the Czech Republic at the World Cup in North America!
The absolute youngest player in the tournament. He became the youngest player in the history of the Czech national team during the warm-up match against Kosovo, coming on as a substitute at just 17 years old.
Born on June 7, 2008, in Tábor, Hugo Sochůrek started out in the youth teams of his local club, Táborsko, before joining Sparta Prague’s academy in 2020 at the age of 12.
What stands out about him is that his profile is completely different from what you usually see in Czech football today. A Czech media outlet wrote in 2026 that his player profile is unusual in the Chance Liga, and certainly among Czech footballers, players like Hugo Sochůrek are rare.
A central midfielder standing at 1.83m, he plays on the ball, looks for spaces, and distributes intelligently. At barely 17, he is already posting crazy numbers for his age: 3.4 successful dribbles and 3 successful tackles per 90 minutes, a combination that brings to mind more of a Premier League midfielder than a Czech league teenager.
Remember the name well: Hugo Sochůrek, 17, Czech Republic.
This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇫🇷 here.