The son of Premier League goalkeeping legend Petr Cech has signed a professional deal with a London club – but it’s surprisingly not Chelsea or Arsenal.
Now 43, the Premier League icon spent more than a decade with the Blues, joining in 2004 from French side Rennes and going onto make just short of 500 appearances before moving across London.
After leaving Chelsea, he signed for Arsenal and went onto play 139 times in goal for the Gunners, donning his famous helmet that he had to wear due to an injury sustained earlier in his career.
Now, while he continues to make headlines due to his ice hockey interest and other work in football, his children are following in his footsteps, with his 17-year-old daughter playing for Fulham and Czechia.
Now, his son has penned professional terms with the same club, making it a family affair at Craven Cottage.
Damian Cech, 16, has penned a deal to take the first steps of his professional career, having joined Fulham in 2024.
The son of Premier League legend Petr Cech has signed his first professional terms with a club
It is not Chelsea or Arsenal, though – Damian Cech is instead now a professional at Fulham
Petr made his name with Chelsea, playing nearly 500 times and another 139 with Arsenal
Prior to the move across London, Damian played for Chelsea before making the swap from blue to white.
Petr, meanwhile, told indnes.cz: ‘I didn’t push my children into football, but they found it anyway. They just live with my name, so they have been the target of comparison since they were young.’
Damian had joined Fulham’s Under-15 set-up, and made his debut for his country’s Under-18s in August last year at just 15.
The youngster took to Instagram to announce the news, posting: ‘Forever grateful’ alongside a picture of himself signing a contract, accompanied by his father.
While Damian is a goalkeeper, Adela Cechova, the footballing legend’s daughter, is a defender.
She made her debut for Czechia’s youth side in February against Mexico in the MIMA Cup.
Cechova is described by her coach, Daniel Smejkal, as ‘a promising defender’ who the set-up wanted to ‘get to know better’ during the camp in Spain.
She came on during the second half of her side’s game against Mexico, though Czechia were on the wrong side of a 3-0 scoreline.
Adela Cechova, the daughter of Cech, also plays for Fulham and recently made her international debut
Cech reportedly doesn’t want either of his children to play for Chelsea and said he didn’t put either of them into football
Having missed her birth in 2008, Cech told the People magazine: ‘It was the best day of my life and at the same time the saddest. I was happy to be a father and proud of my wife, but sad to have missed the birth.
‘My daughter decided she would come in the middle of the night without me being able to do anything, so I had to wait glued to the phone.’
Cech was absent from the birth because he was with the Chelsea squad ahead of a League Cup semi-final against Everton.
According to Czech publication idnes.cz, meanwhile, Cech does not want either of his children to play for Chelsea.
