Jiří Smejkal

Jiří Smejkal was born on November 5, 1996 in České Budějovice. He is a Czech ice hockey center/left winger currently playing with the Tappara of the Liiga.

Club career
Smejkal began his junior career with the HC České Budějovice (later Motor České Budějovice) organisation.

In 2014, Smejkal moved to North America to play with the Moose Jaw Warriors of the WHL. Smejkal began the next season with the Jaw Warriors again, but in the middle of the season, after 28 games played, Smejkal moved to the Kamloops Blazers of the WHL to finish the season there. He played 30 regular season games and 7 play-off games with the Blazers.

In 2016, Smejkal moved back to Europe and made his senior debut with the Medveščak Zagreb of the KHL, but in the middle of the 2016-17 season, after 26 games played, Smejkal ended in the Medveščak due to his not so good performance. Smejkal moved to his native Czech Republic to finish the season with the HC Sparta Praha of the Tipsport Extraliga where he played 9 regular season games and 1 play-off game in this season.

Smejkal continued with the HC Sparta Praha of the Tipsport Extraliga in the next season, but after 26 games played, he was loaned to the Piráti Chomutov of the Tipsport Extraliga and Smejkal finished this season there with 17 regular season games and 5 relegation games played.

For the 2018-19 season, Smejkal moved back to the Sparta and he played there until the end of the 2019-20 season.

In 2020, Smejkal signed a one-year contract with the Tappara of the Liiga.

International career
Smejkal played with the Czech National Team at the 2014 World U18 Championship winning there the silver medal and at the 2016 World Junior Championship.