FIFPRO backs Czech players who say ex-coach’s sentence is too lenient after covert filming | OneFootball

FIFPRO has thrown its support behind FC Slovacko’s players after they condemned as too lenient the punishment given to former coach Petr Vlachovsky, who secretly filmed them in the dressing room for nearly four years.

Vlachovsky was arrested in September 2023 and, in May 2025, received a suspended sentence plus a five-year national coaching ban from a criminal judge. The players want him barred from coaching for life.

14 players were recorded with a mini camera hidden in his backpack, the youngest was 17. Child sexual abuse material was found in his possession and the current sanctions do not stop him working abroad.

"Wherever I went, whether in a public gym or elsewhere, an alarm went off in my head and I constantly checked for a camera, I also began to struggle with my body image and felt a certain disgust", said Alena Peckova, who has since left the club, telling Seznam Zpravy.

"Some of my team-mates started to worry about being watched, even through the window. They had trouble sleeping, some girls were vomiting", said Kristyna Janku, another former Slovacko player. Team-mates are calling for tougher sporting sanctions to reduce the risk of reoffending.

The Czech players’ union CAFH made the case public at the players’ request after careful consideration. Its chair, Marketa Vochoska Haindlova, described it as an important step to raise awareness of abuse in sport and to work on prevention.

Source: L'Équipe