František Plánička (; 2 July 1904 – 20 July 1996) was a Czech football goalkeeper and one of the most honoured players in the history of Czechoslovak football. He played all his career for Slavia Prague, during which time the club won the Czech league eight times and the Mitropa Cup once. He also became a member of the Czechoslovakia national team, where his first success as a young goalkeeper was helping Czechoslovakia to become runner-up in the Central European International Cup 1931-32 and later became captain during the World Cup finals of 1934 (where the Czechoslovakia team finished second) and 1938. Plánička was a courageous player, to the extent that in Czechoslovakia's 1938 World Cup match against Brazil, he remained on the field despite having suffered a serious injury. He was a goalkeeper of outstanding reflexes and shot-stopping abilities and was also characterized by his sportsmanship, never once being cautioned or sent off in his career. He was awarded the UNESCO International Fair Play Award in 1985. Regarded as one of the greatest goalkeepers of his generation, and of all time, in 1999, the IFFHS elected him the best Czech goalkeeper – as well as the sixth best in Europe and the ninth best overall – of the twentieth century. In 2003, he was catalogued as the greatest goalkeeper of an era that included other notable keepers such as Ricardo Zamora and Gianpiero Combi. Club career Born in Prague, Plánička played most of his footballing career and lived most of his life in the Czech capital. In the beginning of his career, Plánička played for the clubs Slovan Praha VII, Union VII, Staroměstský SK Olympia, and SK Bubeneč. He played for Slavia Prague from 1923 to 1938, in what has been one of the most successful eras in the club's history. During thirteen seasons with the club between 1925 and 1938, Slavia won seven league titles and Plánička played 196 league matches. He appeared in a total of 969 matches, of which Slavia won 742. Despite being of below-average height for a goalkeeper, at 1.72m (5 ft 8 in),<ref name="trivela"> [http://www.trivela.com/default.asp?pag=ExibirMateria&codMateria=1472&coluna=47 Planicka: Astro do 'fair play] – by André Lacerda, trivela.com, 2006</ref> he was an effective shot stopper, and his acrobatic style earned him the nickname The Cat of Prague'''. In 1932, Slavia reached the semifinals of the Mitropa Cup. In the first leg, they beat Juventus 4–0; in