Blažek blazes a trail to Nürnberg

Veteran AC Sparta Praha goalkeeper Jaromír Blažek will join 1. FC Nürnberg this summer after Raphael Schäfer decided to leave for VfB Stuttgart.

Two-year deal
The 34-year-old has agreed a two-year contract with Nürnberg which will bind him to the Bundesliga club until the summer of 2009. Capped five times for the Czech Republic, Blažek has won five domestic titles and seen plenty of action in the UEFA Champions League. He is expected to become first-choice goalkeeper with current No1 Schäfer having decided to move on.

Czech career
Coach Hans Meyer said: "I have been following his career for six years now, since I was at [VfL] Borussia Mönchengladbach. I am pleased we could get him to fill this spot." Former SK Slavia Praha, SK Dynamo České Budějovice, FK Viktoria Žižkov, CU Bohemians Praha and FC Příbram shot-stopper Blažek has never played club football outside his home country. He will join international team-mates Jan Polák and Tomáš Galásek at Nürnberg.

Extended deals
Meanwhile, defenders Dominik Reinhardt and Glauber have extended their existing contracts for two years, committing to the cause until 2011. The 22-year old Reinhardt joined the club in 1999 and has played 75 Bundesliga games, scoring once, while Brazilian Glauber arrived in January 2006 from SE Palmeiras and has featured 30 times in the league.

European prospects
Meyer's men are set to play UEFA Cup football next season, with Nürnberg on target to finish fifth to claim a place in the first round of the competition. They also take on Stuttgart in the German Cup final on 26 May. Nürnberg have not played in Europe since the 1988/89 season when they lost 4-3 on aggregate to AS Roma in the UEFA Cup first round. The club's greatest European campaigns to date saw them reach the 1961/62 European Champion Clubs' Cup quarter-finals and the semi-finals of the 1962/63 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup.