CONTRACT - Petr Čech, goalkeeper for the national soccer team, has signed an extended contract with English Premiership champion Chelsea that will make him the highest paid Czech athlete. The 23-year-old's new contract runs until 2010 and is worth 260 million Kč ($11 million) a year.

RECORD - American basketball player William Chavis, who plays for Czech team Mlékárna Kunín, has set a new scoring record in the Mattoni league. Chavis, a shooting guard, scored 61 points in Kunín's Feb. 4 win over Sparta Praha.

SWISS - Shortly after bringing defender Tomáš Řepka back from England's West Ham United, the Sparta Praha soccer team introduced another strong edition to the squad Jan. 30 — Swiss striker Mauro Lustrinelli. The 30-year-old played for FC Thun during the fall season. Trailing in ninth place in the16-team Gambrinus liga, Sparta hired eight new players and released four during the winter break.

RETIREMENT - Three-time Olympic javelin champion Jan Železný announced he will retire this season. The 39-year-old Železný, who holds the world record in the javelin event, said he will focus on his work with the International Olympic Committee after leaving professional sports.

STADIUM - The government may contribute as much as 1 billion Kč to the construction of a new National Soccer Stadium, according to Prime Minister Jiří Paroubek. The location for the stadium has yet to be decided. Pavel Mokrý, chairman of the Czech Soccer Association, said it should have at least 47,000 seats and cost approximately 3 billion Kč.

HEARTS - Viktoria Žižkov midfielder Luděk Stracený and Sparta Praha defender Martin Petras have left their respective Gambrinus liga teams for a club in Scotland, the Edinburgh-based Heart of Midlothian. The club, which is ranked second in the Scottish league, has hired five Czech players this season.

CANDIDACY - To boost its chances of hosting the Olympics, Prague should start filing bids to host major sporting events such as the world and European championships, Milan Jirásek, chairman of the Czech Olympic Committee, said at the beginning of February. Prague is expected to bid to host the Summer Olympics in 2020 or 2024.

BIRTHDAY - Legendary Czech soccer player Josef Masopust, who was named the best Czech soccer player of the century in 2000, celebrated his 75th birthday Feb. 9. In 1962, Masopust scored a goal in the World Cup final game against Brazil, which the Czech team ended up losing by two goals. That year Masopust won the Golden Ball Trophy for the best player in Europe.

WARMUP - The Czech Soccer Association recently announced three of the four opponents the national team will face in the warm-up games to the World Cup in Germany. The team will play Saudi Arabia May 26, Costa Rica May 31 and Trinidad and Tobago June 3. The association hasn't specified when it will announce the last opponent.