Marek Jankulovski Czech player of year

AC Milan defender Marek Jankulovski was Wednesday voted Czech footballer of the year in a poll of players and coaches in Prague.

Jankulovski, 31, saw off Chelsea keeper Petr Cech and Arsenal midfielder Tomas Rosicky, the latter who will miss Euro 2008 through injury.

Jankulovski, formerly with Banik Ostrava, Napoli and Udinese, has won 63 caps, scoring ten times for his country.

Czech veteran coach Karel Bruckner, 68, was voted coach of the season while Eintracht Frankfurt striker and under-20 world championship runner-up Martin Fenin was elected budding talent of the year.

Having already seen off Lithuania this week in a friendly to open their Euro warm-up programme the Czechs will host Scotland on Friday and then head off to their Austrian base of Seefeld on June 2.

The 1996 runners-up will face tournament co-hosts Switzerland, Portugal and Turkey in their Group A pool games.