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Hello. Today, we’re explaining how a man convicted of secretly filming female footballers could be free to continue his coaching career — and the fight to make sure that doesn’t happen.
Plus: a big USMNT setback, Lincoln City’s American revolution, and Italy’s struggle against reality.
Secret footage: Coach filmed women players undressing, but can still work in game
Petr Vlachovsky was once regarded as a promising coach in women’s football circles and one of the Czech Republic’s best. He took 1. FC Slovacko, a first division club there, into the Champions League and quickly built a solid reputation.
Then, in 2025, Vlachovsky was convicted by a criminal court of secretly filming 15 of his players (the youngest aged 17) changing and showering in dressing rooms before and after training and matches. Child pornography was also found on his computer. He received a suspended one-year jail sentence. Thirteen of his victims were awarded compensation of less than $1,000 (roughly £700) each.
Offences of that nature should, in theory, end a managerial career. And in reality, they might well have done. Very few teams would rush to recruit a man convicted of Vlachovsky’s offences, but the reality of his situation, which Charlotte Harpur has covered in depth for The Athletic today, is that he could conceivably pick up where he left off — because technically, Vlachovsky is still qualified to work.
His suspended prison term came with a five-year coaching ban, applying only to the Czech Republic. UEFA hasn’t stripped Vlachovsky of his badges, and there is nothing beyond common decency stopping a club in other parts of Europe or further abroad from employing him. The women he targeted are understandably appalled.
Some were physically sick when they first learned of the allegations against Vlachovsky. Some felt they had to leave Slovacko and others sought psychological support. FIFPro, the global players’ union, is leading calls for world governing body FIFA to impose a lifetime suspension on Vlachovsky, to protect players elsewhere.
‘Ridiculous’ punishment
Charlotte’s article is an eye-opener when it comes to the levels of safeguarding within football. They’re nowhere near as stringent as I thought they would be. As examples, FIFPro told her that:
- National federations are under no legal obligation to report cases like Vlachovsky’s to FIFA.
- There is no global database for identifying convicted offenders like him.
- Coaches are not strictly required to complete safeguarding courses, although many in the sport do. UEFA, for instance, expects associations to provide education on safeguarding.
In response, FIFA said it “takes any allegation of misconduct extremely seriously and has a clear process in place for anyone in football who wants to report an incident”. Kristyna Janku, above, one of Vlachovsky’s victims, spoke to Charlotte and described his punishment as “ridiculous”. None of the footballers involved had any right of appeal against the court’s verdict.
Janku, 31, moved away from Slovacko to join a team in Poland. She is more wary of her privacy than ever, and she is adamant that Vlachovsky should never be allowed to coach again. Football, after all, is supposed to be a safe space, and nothing about his case suggests the space is safe enough.
News round-up
- Confirmation of a major blow for the USMNT has dropped in the past hour: Derby County striker Patrick Agyemang is out of the World Cup. He ruptured an Achilles tendon in their Championship win over Stoke City yesterday. Mauricio Pochettino would have been counting on him.
- Further to previous reporting by The Athletic, it’s been confirmed that Boston will dramatically hike travel costs for the World Cup. Train tickets are to quadruple in price and bus passes won’t be much cheaper, if at all.
- Harry Maguire has agreed a new one-year deal with Manchester United, keeping him at Old Trafford until 2027 at least. The agreement includes the option of an additional 12 months.
- Vinicius Junior is getting very close to the final year of his contract at Real Madrid, but he’s indicating that he’d like to sign a long-term extension. He’s also spoken frankly about Xabi Alonso’s short reign as Madrid’s head coach, admitting he “didn’t connect the way (Alonso) wanted”.
Italian job: Will ex-president of federation, 75, return after World Cup mess?
The trouble with Italy, or part of the trouble anyway, is a comical lack of self-awareness. You’d think that missing out on three consecutive World Cups would prompt an urgent review of operations, but reading James Horncastle this morning, it doesn’t sound likely.
Gabriele Gravina, the president of the Italian Football Federation (FIGC), resigned from his post after the latest qualifying debacle last week, but only with great reluctance. He was of the view — expressed publicly — that head coach Gennaro Gattuso and head of delegation Gianluigi Buffon should carry on in their roles regardless. Both men had the sense to ignore his advice and quit.
Gattuso will be replaced in the technical area, but in light of Gravina walking the plank, the FIGC needs a new president, too. One of the leading contenders is Giancarlo Abete, a 75-year-old who previously held the post between 2007 and 2014.
It was Abete who, in 2013, accepted Roberto Baggio’s resignation from a technical role after Baggio produced a highly detailed, 900-page guide to revamping and future-proofing the Italian game — only for the FIGC to ignore it completely. Sounds like the man for the job.
Lincoln’s American dream: U.S. investors help seal rise to Championship on £5m budget
Lincoln City players celebrate promotion (Jacob King/PA Images via Getty Images)
Lincoln is a quaint and historic city in the rural east of England. Its professional football club, Lincoln City, haven’t ever bothered the upper reaches of the country’s pyramid. But yesterday, with five games to spare, they sealed promotion to the Championship.
As is the way with so many English teams these days, Lincoln are American-owned. Ex-USMNT international Landon Donovan is an investor. And their success, all told by Adam Crafton, has been hard-earned: achieved through an uncanny knack of scoring from set pieces, a laser focus on the opening goal (they’ve trailed to the opposition for just eight per cent of minutes this season, a mad stat), and with a highest individual player salary of £3,500 a week.
Their overall budget stands at £5m — for context, Wrexham came up from the same division last season with a wage bill of £19.9m. A £10,000 investment in data analytics has paid for itself many times over. I wouldn’t exactly class Lincoln’s story as a fairytale, but they’ve cleverly turned slender odds in their favour.
Around TAFC
- Patrice Evra, the former Manchester United defender, broached difficult but important subjects in this excellent interview by Adam Crafton. Evra talks about toxic masculinity, his experience of childhood sexual abuse, and the extreme pressures of pro sport. It’s an absorbing read.
- The Champions League is back tonight, and Real Madrid versus Bayern Munich is the pick of this evening’s quarter-final ties. Liam Tharme had the delightful job of checking out Bayern’s front three: Harry Kane, Michael Olise, and Luis Diaz. Between them, they’ve scored 86 goals. Woof.
- So much of the USMNT narrative focuses on Christian Pulisic, but there can’t be a more important American player than Folarin Balogun. He’s up to 10 league goals for Monaco this season, and 16 in all club competitions. Our USMNT tracker has the latest.
- In a bid to end more than a decade without a domestic title, Turkish side Fenerbahce made German Devin Ozek the youngest sporting director in Europe’s major leagues. He’s barely into his thirties, but it’s not going badly for him: the club are a point behind leaders Galatasaray as it stands.
- Most clicked in Monday’s TAFC: our (pretty tricky) quiz question.
Catch a match
Selected games (kick-offs 3pm ET/8pm UK time).
UEFA Champions League quarter-finals, first leg: Real Madrid vs Bayern Munich — Paramount+, DAZN, ViX/TNT Sports, HBO Max; Sporting CP vs Arsenal — Paramount+, ViX/Amazon Prime.
Championship: Wrexham vs Southampton — Paramount+/Sky Sports.
And finally…
Preston North End’s season is as good as over. They’ll finish somewhere around mid-table in the Championship, neither here nor there. And what a way to kill their campaign yesterday — a stinking own goal from Thierry Small (above) gift-wrapping a point for Queens Park Rangers in a useless 1-1 draw. There really is no excusing that one.
