Vladimír Coufal says everyone at West Ham United is eager to progress as far as possible through the UEFA Europa Conference League.
The Hammers’ second successive campaign of European football sees the Irons prepare for their first Europa Conference League groups stage match on Thursday evening, as FCSB visit London Stadium.
Having reached the semi-finals of the UEFA Europa League last season, Coufal insists the entire squad is taking the UEFA Europa Conference League just as seriously and are going into the competition to try and win it.
With the Final set to be played in Coufal’s home country – the Czech Republic – in a stadium he knows very well - the Fortuna Arena, the home of SK Slavia Prague – the right-back is ready to battle in every match for the chance to make history with West Ham United…
For all West Ham United, it’s very important to be in European football again.
We are going to do everything we can do to reach the final, at the very least. That would be very important for me. I think it could be a perfect achievement for the whole Club.
That’s why we are taking the UEFA Europa Conference League very seriously.
The final is at the stadium of my former club so it would be something amazing to reach it.
It would be perfect. But we need to work really hard to do that. I think, for Tomáš Souček and me, it is of course something special because we know the country, we know the stadium and the know the people in the Czech Republic. But it’s also a big motivation for all of West Ham United.
This is a chance to win a European competition, which is something special. We could be written into West Ham United history, and it would be something special that the fans would never forget.
We know FCSB have good, quality players.
I know more about the Romanian National Team than I do about FCSB specifically, because I played with Nicolae Stanciu at Slavia Praha. He is my very good friend and sometimes I miss him, his passes and free-kicks.
I also know the goalkeeper, Florin Niță, so I know more about the national team than I do about FCSB.
But we know they have good quality and they have good individuals, especially on the wing. We need to play our way of football and not let their players punish us.
I think every player who has come in has brought amazing qualities to help the team.
At the end of last season, we had a lot of outgoings so we needed to fill out our squad with a few players. I think everyone who has come in is a very good person and they also bring something different to our football here.
I’ve been here almost two years now.
Since I’ve been here, I’ve been more and more interested in the history of this Club; the legends and how this club was formed.
I don’t want to just be here playing football. I want to know all about the West Ham United community, about this part of London, and what is important to our fans. I think that’s important.
