Sparta Prague Fined After Pretending White Ex-Tottenham Player Was Black

Sparta Prague are facing disciplinary action after lying about the fitness, and skin colour, of former Tottenham striker Tomas Pekhart. 

The Czech top-flight champions withdrew Pekhart, as well as Manuel Pamic and Vaclav Kadlec, from representing their countries for "fitness reasons" this week. They then fielded all three in a friendly against Zenit St Petersburg in Spain on Wednesday.

And in an apparent attempt to disguise the players’ identities, their names didn’t appear on the teamsheet, and the three wore jerseys with teammates’ names on them.

Pamic played as Jakub Podany and Kadlec as Pavel Kaderabek as the Sparta technical staff tried to get away with what they thought was a foolproof plan in the low-key affair.

But such a plan was foiled by a Czech journalist who recognised the players in photos on Zenit's official website.

That, and the fact that Spurs academy graduate Pekhart, a white Czech Republic international, wore the shirt of Martin Abena, a black player who plays for Cameroon.

It led Sparta to publish an official apology on their website, with the club conveniently pinning the blame on their head coach Josef Chovanec, as he apparently didn't tell the team's directors about the decision to hide the players' identities. 

"I didn't realize at the moment what consequences my decision could have," the Sparta boss said, who was clearly willing to be the scapegoat in this situation. 

The club originally said a "relatively unknown Pavel Kaderabek scored both goals in a 2-1 win over Zenit", and only later acknowledged that Kadlec, playing in Kaderabek's jersey, was the scorer.

That was before trying to dig themselves out of a hole again, claiming the proper jerseys were not immediately available due to Chovanec's last-minute decision.

Sparta Prague were taking on Zenit St Petersburg as a warm-up match for next week's UEFA Europa League clash with Liverpool.

21-year-old Pekhart, on loan at Sparta from FK Baumit Jablonec, is considered a hot prospect for the future, having scored 14 goals in 28 league matches last season.  

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