Ceh to check out at GAK
Thursday, May 22, 2003
Article summary
Former Slovenian international Ales Ceh has decided to end his eleven-year relationship with Grazer AK.
Article body
Carrying on
The 35-year-old midfield player will leave GAK in the summer to continue his playing career, despite being offered a job coaching the club's youth teams.
'Too young to retire'
"I want to carry on playing for one or two more years because I feel too young to retire, but later on, I'd like to return. It is a dream of mine to coach GAK," he said. "GAK has been my life during the past eleven years and I owe them a lot, even my career with Slovenia."
Long service
After joining GAK from NK Olimpija Ljubljana in 1992, Ceh inspired the club to promotion to the Bundesliga in 1994/95 and then to their Austrian Cup successes of 2000 and 2002 which remain GAK's greatest achievements. Ceh has played a total of 314 games for the club.
'An ideal professional'
GAK president Rudi Roth thanked the playmaker for his commitment and said he had been a role model to the club's young players. "Ales Ceh has been, and continues to be, a wonderful human being and an ideal professional," said Roth.
Slovenian stalwart
In addition to his career in Austria, Ceh was also a mainstay of the Slovenian national side which impressed under coach Srecko Katanec at the finals of UEFA EURO 2000™. He retired from international football after the 2002 FIFA World Cup finals.
