Pavel Bucha, born on 11 March 1998 in Mělník, came through the Slavia Prague academy among others and grew from a promising young footballer into a professional respected around the world. He began his professional career in Slavia Prague's first team in 2018. He then played a major part at Viktoria Plzeň, where he made his debut in October 2018. In the 2021/22 season he helped Plzeň to the Czech title, scoring three goals in 31 league matches. In 2022/23 he played against Inter Milan in the Champions League group stage and helped his team to third place in the Czech league in the same season.
In January 2024 Bucha took on one of the biggest challenges of his life: a move to America's top football league, Major League Soccer (MLS), and specifically to the historically very successful FC Cincinnati in Ohio, where he recently made history of his own with his first goal in the competition. Pavel Bucha is an inspiration to young players who dream of succeeding in international football. His story shows that with hard work and dedication, exceptional results are possible, whether at home or across the pond.
"Honestly, when I first heard about it I thought it was nonsense, I did not even really know where Ohio was. But after all those meetings I am really glad it came off."
How is Pavel settling into his new surroundings, and what are the biggest differences between Czech and American football? How are American training sessions different? How is he getting on with the language and the culture? What surprised him as soon as he arrived? Are the pitches and the facilities better or worse overall? That is just a small selection of what the seasoned Czech footballer Pavel Bucha explained in this interview.
Had you ever been to the USA before your move to FC Cincinnati?
I had never been to America before signing. I had been across the pond once before, on holiday in the Dominican Republic. That was it. But my wife and I had always planned to save up for a trip to America, that we would want to travel it one day, and that is how it worked out.
What part did the culture here in the USA play in your decision? Does it suit you, or not so much?
I was drawn by the football boom America is going through at the moment. I was drawn by the location. We were looking at a move out of Czechia and there were a few approaches from teams in Europe, but FC Cincinnati showed by far the most interest. The way they dealt with it and how the whole process went, I simply felt they really wanted me and were counting on me. That helped me decide: seeing that they had followed my style of play and wanted to involve me fully in the team.
Honestly though, when I first heard about it I thought it was nonsense, I did not even really know where Ohio was. But after all those meetings I am really glad it came off. I have not had time to take in much of the culture yet, but I can say people here are very driven and direct, and at the same time very pleasant and talkative; they make an effort to engage with you. So from the point of view of the people, it suits me very well.
"Back in Czechia I was used to the idea that unless you are basically on your knees, it does not count as a good session. It is not like that here; they look more at the data and the tactical side. It was not the pre-season I knew, where I could barely walk afterwards: it was all about technique with the ball, and it made complete sense."
How are you getting on with English?
What surprised me about the language is how widespread Spanish is here, both in our team and in the others. I would say it is almost half and half with English. I thought I was going into an English-speaking environment, but in our team specifically there are something like eight players who speak Spanish, and our coaches have to speak Spanish too. That genuinely surprised me. I have always learned English. I had German as a second language at school as well, so English is not a problem for me. Some of the backroom staff are from England, where the accent comes through and it sometimes takes me a little longer to follow everything, but I am managing well so far. Sometimes I struggle to hold a conversation as fast as the locals do, but that is only a matter of time. In Plzeň I went to a language school for English and German and I am carrying that on online, to keep the level up.
So have you thought about learning Spanish too?
I do not know, I think it would all just get mixed up together, so not for now.
What do you remember from your very first sessions with FC Cincinnati? How would you describe their level and intensity compared with training in Czechia?
I had two weeks of the hardest pre-season in Czechia behind me before I came here. There is no comparison, because the sessions, especially in pre-season, are built completely differently. In Czechia I was used to the first two weeks being nothing but running and the gym. When I arrived for my first week of pre-season here we went to a training camp in Florida and nothing of the sort happened. The whole pre-season took place on the pitch; the sessions were intense but shorter than in Czechia. Afterwards I would think to myself that I still had plenty of energy left. Back in Czechia I was used to the idea that unless you are basically on your knees, it does not count as a good session. It is not like that here. They look more at the data and the tactical side. It was not the pre-season I knew, where I could barely walk afterwards: it was all about technique with the ball, and it made complete sense.
"We have two grass pitches for the first team alone, and an artificial pitch in case anything happens to them. Everything is a short walk from everything else, like a little village. I think the only comparable place in Czechia is Sparta at Strahov, where they also have one big building for everyone."
Where would you say the biggest difference in playing style is between Czechia and the USA? Which players does this style suit?
As for training in Czechia, there are a lot of shooting drills. You set up the cones. It is all quite staged. You pass, then you shoot, the odd cross and so on. In my time in the USA I have not done that even once. At Cincinnati everything is built on actual match situations. You work in a specific eleven in the match formation. You mostly play on the full pitch, or on half of it, but in any case in a space that simulates the match itself. For me as a midfielder that is excellent, because I know how and where I will be moving. We also work a lot on building from the goalkeeper: how we want to construct attacks, how we want to beat the opposition's initial press, how we will press and defend. In Czechia I was used to shooting and passing drills. Here that really is not done at all. You play in shorter sequences and it resembles a match.
From what the younger lads who came through college football here have told me, I get the sense they focus heavily on physical attributes. There is a lot of testing here: vertical jump, sprint speed and so on. I could not describe a typical MLS player, there are several types. One is the South Americans: quick and agile, good with the ball, happy to take people on one-v-one, but real showmen, you could say fairly unpredictable. Another type is the American players: usually tall, aggressive, quick with a great leap, and heavily muscled: real "bulldogs".
"The facilities are not that different from Czechia, but what is worth mentioning is how much store they set by nutrition, hydration and sleep. In Czechia nobody cares about any of that, but here you fill in a questionnaire every morning about how you slept, how you feel, how many hours you got and what your energy level is. Every other day we give the club a urine sample so they can check whether we are properly hydrated."
How would you compare the facilities at Czech and American clubs? Are the pitches, gyms or rehab facilities noticeably worse anywhere, or is it similar?
I do not know exactly what facilities the other clubs have, so I can only go by our training centre and our stadium, and that is hard to compare with Czechia. The stadium in Cincinnati is brand new: built four years ago, I think, and it is thought through down to the last detail; they really put a lot of work into it. Both the training centre and the stadium itself are beautiful inside and out. We have several pitches and associated buildings here: changing rooms, a rehab centre, a clubhouse, a games room, a canteen and more. We have two grass pitches for the first team alone, and an artificial pitch in case anything happens to them. Everything is a short walk from everything else, like a little village. I think the only comparable place in Czechia is Sparta at Strahov, where they also have one big building for everyone.
Recovery is similar, but here it seems to me they use hot and cold water more often. They set great store by ice baths, and we also have saunas, hot tubs and all sorts of devices and aids: Normatecs, compression trousers, masseurs and several physiotherapists. The facilities are not that different from Czechia, but what is worth mentioning is how much store they set by nutrition, hydration and sleep. In Czechia nobody cares about any of that, but here you fill in a questionnaire every morning about how you slept, how you feel, how many hours you got and what your energy level is. Every other day we give the club a urine sample so they can check whether we are properly hydrated. We have nutrition advisers who put together our meal plans and advise what to eat before and after a match and on ordinary training days, tailored precisely to whether a player wants to lose weight, put it on or build muscle. A chef is always on hand and cooks our lunches exactly to our requirements. I can then take a box home from lunch for dinner, so I do not have to think about it and have no room to eat anything I should not, because I have the most suitable, highest-quality food for me right there.
"I think MLS is a great route both for young players and for older, more experienced ones."
At the moment every young player still wants to play in Europe above all. But do you think playing in the USA could be a good route for young players, including from Czechia? Why, or why not?
I talked about exactly this at some length with my team-mate Matt Miazga, who is American but played in Europe for five or six years. As a young player he turned out for New York and then went to Chelsea. He said he does not really miss Europe: that comparing it with where he played, Spain, the Netherlands and a few matches in England, the standard of the competition is now similar. On top of that they have better, more modern facilities here, beautiful stadiums. The sport itself is developing quickly and attendances keep growing. Honestly, I feel it is great to be part of something like that.
I think MLS is a great route both for young players and for older, more experienced ones.
Johana Karbanová, manager at SportujUSA, conducted this interview with Pavel Bucha online in 2024.