Kryštof Daněk

A week's trial at Nottingham Forest came and went while Kryštof Daněk was still in the Sigma Olomouc academy, and he stayed at home. He had joined that academy in 2014 after five years at SK Chvalkovice, and by May 2020 he was in the senior side. Fifty-five league appearances and five goals followed before Sparta Prague paid roughly 30 million CZK for him in June 2022.

His first season in Prague ended with the Czech First League title, but the minutes did not follow. In September 2023 Sparta sent him to FK Pardubice, and there the goals came: eight in 25 league matches across 2023–24.

The move to LASK in February 2025 began as a loan with an option. Daněk played a central part in the Austrian side's league and cup double that season, and on 30 May 2026 LASK exercised the option for €1.8 million and signed him to a three-year contract.

He has worn Czech colours at U15, U16 and U17 level, then 15 times for the under-21s, scoring twice and featuring at the 2023 UEFA U21 Championship. The senior call came on 13 November 2025 in a 1–0 win over San Marino; four days later he won a second cap in a 6–0 win against Gibraltar.

Twice, in 2022 and 2023, he was a finalist for the Czech Talent of the Year award. It took him from Olomouc to Prague to Linz inside four years.