Ted Lasso: Football, Friendship & Heartbreak

It’s hard to believe, but 21 long years have passed since the case collectively known as Ivanka, my friend. It was a shame that outraged and made the nation laugh, also thanks to the play of the same name by Petr Čtvrtníček with Jiří Lábus. We are talking about the corruption case of the bribery system uncovered thanks to police wiretapping, which is back on track. And that’s thanks to the series Štěstíčku oppás broadcast on the Oneplay platform.

The series is a mixture of comedy, true crime and live documentary. It succeeded what it did 21 years ago: Events revolving around football caught the attention of even those who are not deeply interested in football. Apart from the shocking practices so far, everyone involved is responsible for this. Actors, direction, script and others are aligned at the same high level. The result is a deadly serious satire, from which we do not feel such a wink at the viewer as from the humor in the scripts of Petr Koleček and Jan Prušinovský, especially from the thematically similar (and iconic) District Championship. Fortunately, on the other hand, it looks more like it was written purely according to what happened. It’s hilarious, but also a very sad story.

Marko Najbrt’s new bar lowered

That it appears that way is thanks to the quality work of screenwriters Ondřej Gabriel and Tomáš Vávra. A similar impression was created by Petr Čtvrtníček when he composed the legendary play Ivánka, Comrade from parts of police wiretaps. Štěstíčko is a six-part series, which is a bit chilling at the same time, but the acting is a joy to look at. They were all put together by Marek Najbrt, who years ago directed another specific satirical piece, the hockey comedy Masters. He is also behind the remarkable minimalist project Kancelář Blaník with Marko Daniel in the title role of Tonda Blaník. And it is Marek Daniel who also has the main part in Štěstíček opposite.

Ivanka, thanks

He is playing a role strongly inspired by Ivan Horník, who is probably one of the few who does not enjoy the brilliant series. The already mentioned game Ivanka, friend tore to pieces what was left of his good name. Ivan Horník was sentenced for influencing the results of football matches to seven months along with a fine, but it did not end there for him. Stirring up the whole story, which has almost ceased to interest people, at a time when he is once again representing a football club as a manager, is nothing to be envied. Ivan Horník cannot shed his past like Marek Daniel his permanent one. At the same time, Ivan Horník is to be thanked for the authorship of today’s popular messages and the enrichment of the language. Enjoy their lyrics for yourself on Oneplay, as most of them are more vulgar than this article can handle.