A newcomer to Michal Bílek's Czech Republic squad, Theodor Gebre Selassie ended the UEFA EURO 2012 qualifying campaign as the team's first-choice right-back, starting both of the play-off legs against Montenegro. He is Czech by birth but – as his name suggests – of East African ancestry on his paternal side.

• Born in Trebic, a small town in the south of the Czech Republic, to a Czech mother and Ethiopian father, he joined local club FC Vysočina Jihlava as a youth and made his debut in the second division in 2006/07 following a loan spell at FC Velké Meziříčí.

• Having left for the capital in 2007 when SK Slavia Praha lured him away from Vysočina, he helped the club win the 1. Liga title in his debut season but played only nine times and was not used in Europe, where Slavia competed in both the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League.

• After just one term with Slavia, during which he graduated to Czech Under-21 honours, he left for FC Slovan Liberec two games into the 2008/09 campaign.

• Helped Liberec qualify for the UEFA Europa League via a third-place finish that season and was an ever present in 2011/12 – playing all 2,700 minutes – as the Blue-Whites won the Czech title for the first time in 11 years.

• Handed his first senior caps in June 2011 on an end-of-season tour to Japan, he started each of the Czech Republic's last four UEFA EURO 2012 qualifiers, replacing Zdeněk Pospech at right-back.