Two weeks after the death of Slovak football legend Jan Popluhar, , his Czech teammate from the 1962 World Cup final team, Ladislav Novak (79), has now joined him.
Novak captained Czechoslovakia to the 1962 World Cup final in Chile, where they were eventually beaten 3-1 by Brazil. He also played in the two preceding World Cups in 1958 and 1954.
Novak gained a total of 75 caps for Czechoslovakia over the space of 14 years, while wearing the captain’s armband for 71 of them, and even managed the side later for a time.