For any young footballer, the call to represent your country is a monumental moment. For Lukas Hornicek, SC Braga’s 23-year-old goalkeeper, that dream became a reality when he earned his first-ever call-up to the Czech Republic national team. It’s a day he certainly won’t forget, marking a huge step forward in his promising career. He didn’t shy away from sharing just how much it meant.
Hornicek, speaking at a press conference, called the initial call-up “a great honor.” He added that it felt like another milestone achieved, a reward for the daily grind. “This is because of everything I put into football every single day,” he explained, “from how I train to how I approach the game. It’s simply a beautiful thing that has come true for me.” Now, with his foot in the door, he has a clear goal: “I want to show the coaches my quality so they call me more often.”
To properly mark this achievement, Hornicek hopes to hold onto his first national team jersey. It would be a special keepsake, a tangible reminder of this next chapter. However, he also joked about a potential problem. If he gets more jerseys, he already has plenty of people lining up for them. “I definitely want to keep my first national team jersey,” he confirmed. “It’s a reminder of this step in my career. But if I get more, many people are already interested. My Braga teammates, for example. I’ll probably be under a lot of pressure to give them my first jersey,” he quipped with a smile.
Life in Minho, the region where SC Braga is based, has been good for Hornicek. He’s especially happy with the team’s performances in the Europa League. “It has been a great start, no doubt, with incredible experiences,” he admitted. He vividly remembers the home match against Feyenoord, the top team in the Dutch league, calling it “great.” Then there was the away game against Celtic, where Braga secured a 2-0 victory in a massive stadium. “Winning in front of nearly 50,000 fans against Celtic was incredible,” he recalled. “I will keep those memories for the rest of my life.”