Trofej nestačí Musíte vědět, čím za ni zaplatíte
20 ǀ POSITIV MAN 2026
A Trophy Is Not Enough
You Need to Know What You’re Willing to Pay for it
He le home at twenty-two and won the Champions League, but success always comes at a price.
Marek Jankulovski knows exactly what he paid for it. Today, he is focused on business and believes
in one thing above all else – quality. What should you take from his story before you put
everything on the line?
Do you carry anything from sport into business?
The same thing applies in both sport and business – you
need confidence and you have to believe in yourself.
At the same time, you need humility, because nothing
is guaranteed. You cannot keep drifting left and right;
you have to stay focused on your goal. I think that applies
not only to sport or business, but to life as a whole.
What lies behind victory?
People see that I won the Champions League and played
for one of the best clubs in the world. But they do not see
that, at the age of twenty-two, I left home, my parents
and my friends behind. Fun, parties and school all had
to take a back seat. Looking back now, I know education
is important, but back then I only saw football, and my
parents supported me in that.
I knew that, in sport, success and failure can come very
quickly, and the talent that may have been enough
in the Czech Republic was no longer enough abroad.
I had to fully commit to one path. At the same time,
I missed a large part of my daughters’ childhood, which
is not a complaint – it was my choice, and I stood
by it. But today, now that I have a granddaughter,
I make up for it with a full awareness of what was not
possible back then. Success always comes at a cost.
The important thing is knowing what you are paying
for before you sign.
Many athletes struggle after the end of their careers
because they are not prepared for a new identity.
Did you know clearly what you wanted to do?
I have to admit that when I retired from football in 2012,
I did not have a completely clear plan. My vision was
to stay involved in football, and that partly came true,
because I spent two years working as sporting director
at Baník, and I am glad I had the chance to experience
it. But I quickly realised how demanding that job
really is.
To put it simply, as a player you come in for two hours
of training, two hours for a match, give it everything,
and then you still have twenty hours of free time.
In this role, it was exactly the opposite. If I had wanted
to become truly successful and respected in that
position, I would have had to dedicate far more of my
time to it. At that point in my life, I was not ready for that,
which is why I stepped away from the role and stayed
involved more on the management side.
Today, I do different things that are not as time-
consuming, but they enrich me in completely different
ways. Everything follows its own path.
So today, are you involved in business?
I would not call myself a businessman in the traditional
sense of the word. I have connected sport with wine
and fashion, and all of it is tied to me, to Italy, where
I lived, and to things that genuinely make sense to me.
People who know me understand that I would never
do something that does not feel logical or authentic
to me.
I am approaching fifty, and a person always needs
new challenges. Throughout my life, I had challenges
in sport, where I proved something to myself,
and now I have it here. I have my wines, I have my
perfume, and I want to succeed in those areas as well.
The difference is that I know it takes time. Today’s world
moves incredibly fast and everyone wants everything
immediately, but that is not my way.
Former Ostrava-born Czech internaonal footballer
Marek Jankulovski, winner of the 2007 UEFA
Champions League with AC Milan, spent much of his
career in Italy playing for clubs such as SSC Napoli,
Udinese and AC Milan. Following the end of his
professional football career, he moved into business,
became involved in the Wine of the Champions
project, and collaborates with both gastronomic
and sports brands. He sll regularly appears
in matches featuring legends of European football.
Scan me
| Text: Monika Ševčíková, foto: Marek Jankulovski