As the Czech team take to the pitch for their Euro 2024 opener tonight, fans may notice something strange.
They will kick off their campaign in Germany against Portugal, live on talkSPORT 2, this evening in Leipzig.
But on the European Championship’s official graphics and social media, Tomas Soucek and co will go by a different name.
Most will know them as the Czech Republic, but they are now known as Czechia.
And despite this being new information for a lot of people, it has actually been the case since 2016…
Why are Czech Republic called Czechia?
The Czech Republic officially switched to Czechia eight years ago.
The country’s government requested that their name be changed to avoid any confusion when it was translated.
So Czechia was chosen as the preferred title as it was viewed as a more universal name.
It was asked by the Czech government that in any sporting context their changed name was used.
The old name of the Czech Republic is only used in official circumstances.
The change in 2016 was actually the second time the country has switched up its title.
Originally, the nation was called Czechoslovakia before there was a split and it became two – Czech Republic and Slovakia.
talkSPORT will bring you live commentary of EVERY game at Euro 2024. Tune in via the website here or the app here, and follow our live Euro 2024 blog for all the latest news, views and reaction to the big moments.
News Summary:
- Why are Czech Republic called Czechia? Country known by new name at Euro 2024 after official change
- Check all news and articles from the latest Football updates.