Prague - It was widely anticipated that Jozef Chovanec would be elected the new coach of the Czech national football team.

The Football Federation´s (ČMFS) election of Petr Rada, however, came as an unexpected surprise. The 48-year-old Rada couches the Teplice football team, and has been Brücker's assistant since 2006. 

Rada's chances to become Karel Brückner´s successor were considered low, even though he was placed on the list of candidates from the very beginning.

Not a likely winner

On the contrary, Sport Director General of the AC Sparta Prague football club, Jozef Chovanec, was concidered the almost-certain winner, especially after German coach Klaus Toppmöller withdrew his candidacy on Tuesday this week.

Jozef Chovanec already coached the Czech team in 1998-2001.

Read more: German coach a candidate for Czech national team job

Karel Brückner, 68, took over the national team after Chovanec when they failed to qualify for the 2002 World Cup.

Brückner announced his retirement in March of this year, ending a seven-year career as the national team coach after the Euro championship in June.

Read more: Czechs kicked out of Euro 2008 in a shocker

The selection of his succesor was carried out by 13 members of the Czech Football Federation (ČMFS). Nine of them voted for Petr Rada, two for Jozef Chovanec, the remaining two abstained. 

Zdeněk Zeman suggested

Initially, the Vice President of the ČMFS Vlastimil Košťál had a list of four candidates: Ivan Hašek, Karel Jarolím, Vítězslav Lavička and Petr Rada.

But for various reasons the first three names were eventually ruled out and Petr Rada remained as the only candidate.

Subsequently, he was accompanied by Jozef Chovanec and German coach Klaus Toppmöller. Toppmöller withdrew two days ago after learning his chances to be elected were minimal.

Other international coaches were suggested by some, such as notorious Czech-Italian coach Zdeněk Zeman who rather opted for Red Star Belgrade, or Brasilian coach Carlos Albert Torres.