Jaroslav Silhavy was tasked with getting Oman through the Fifa World Cup 2026 qualifiers after the Oman Football Association (OFA) signed a two-year contract with the former Czech Republic national coach on Thursday.
OFA Chairman Salim bin Said al Wahaibi signed the agreement with the Czech coach, who will lead the technical staff of the Oman national team until 2026, at the OFA headquarters in Seeb.
The position of head coach for the Red Warriors was vacant as Croatian coach Branko Ivankovic’s contract was not renewed after they crashed out of the ongoing AFC Asian Cup Qatar 2023 in the group stage.
The 62-year-old coach served as manager of the Czech national team from 2018-2023.
Silhavy had stepped down as Czech Republic coach after guiding the team to the Euro 2024 finals for a second time in November last year.
The veteran coach had cited the "anger and aggression" shown towards him by critics and fans when the team fails to win matches, for his decision.
Silhavy took charge of the Czech national team in 2018 after they failed to qualify for the World Cup. Under him, the Czech Republic team reached the quarterfinals of the European Championship 2020.
Silhavy made 465 top-flight appearances during his playing career, won the domestic league with Slovan Liberec and Slavia Prague as manager and was an assistant with the national team from 2001 to 2009.
The former Czech national team defender had appeared in four matches for Czechoslovakia, making his debut against Finland on August 29, 1990.
His final appearance for the full national side was on March 27, 1991, when he played eight minutes of a match against Poland.
He also played one match, in 1992, for Czechoslovakia B.
Silhavy played for the Czechoslovakia U21 national team for eight years, some of these as an authorised over-age player. In this time, he made 18 appearances for his country.
DOUBLE QUALIFIERS
The double qualifiers for World Cup 2026 and Asian Cup 2027 are set to restart in March for Oman who play with Malaysia, Kyrgyzstan and Chinese Taipei in Group D.
Oman started with a 2-0 win against Chinese Taipei but fell to a 1-0 defeat against Kyrgyzstan in Bishkek in their second match.
Oman will take on Malaysia in Muscat on March 21 and then play away in Kuala Lumpur on March 26.
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