Pavel Mareš

Early career

Mareš started his football journey with Jiskra Otrokovice, VTJ Hulín and Baník Ratíškovice. He played for Czech 2. Liga side FC Svit Zlín before moving to Prague in 1999. He first played top-level football with Bohemians Prague in the 1999–2000 season, and was reported to have signed for Slovan Liberec in June 2000, although he never transferred to the club and remained a Bohemians player. Mareš was part of his side's good start to the 2001–02 season, where they led the league before the first international break of the season. In August 2001, he scored an injury-time winner for Bohemians in their 1–0 victory against Drnovice. Mareš signed for Sparta Prague in December 2001 as a replacement for defender Vladimír Labant, who subsequently left the club. Mareš sustained an ankle injury in his second match for Sparta Prague, which caused him to be unavailable for Sparta's UEFA Champions League game against Porto in March 2002. Mareš scored in the 2002–03 UEFA Champions League qualifying rounds; after hitting the post in the first half, he scored his team's fourth goal in a 4–2 win against Belgian side Genk, although Sparta exited the competition on the away goals rule, with the game's aggregate score being 4–4. In December 2002, Sparta rejected an approach from Russian side Zenit Saint Petersburg to sign Mareš. In spite of that, Zenit's Czech manager Vlastimil Petržela, who had been manager when Mareš played for Bohemians, made Mareš his third Czech signing…

Mareš first played for the Czech Republic in 2002, and later returned to the national team before a friendly match against Japan in April 2004, having played in no international matches since the February 2002 tournament in Cyprus. Having just three international caps, Mareš was included in the Czech Republic's squad for Euro 2004. At the tournament, at which his nation reached the semi-finals, his only appearance came in a group match against Germany, among a group of players the BBC described as "very much a Czech second string". Mareš was part of the Czech Republic squad for the 2006 FIFA World Cup, but did not play in the tournament. He finished his career having played ten matches for the Czech Republic between 2002 and 2006.

Although described as a midfielder early in his career, Mareš became known as a defender who could play as a centre-back or left-back. Following his nomination for the Czech Republic's 2006 World Cup squad, Reuters described Mareš as "reliable backup to Jankulovski [who was his nation's first-choice in the same position], but less supporting in the attack". Vysočina Jihlava director Zdeněk Tulis described Mareš as an "honest player".

Mareš' parents are called Jindřiška and Bohuslav. He has an older brother, Jan, with whom he grew up. Mareš has a daughter, Linda, and a son, Dominik. After concluding his professional football career in 2009, Mareš spent time real estate investing before establishing his own company called SportClient, supporting professional sportspeople in their transition from being full-time sports professionals to their non-playing future.