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PRAGUE, May 9 (Reuters) - Czech Republic captain Tomas Rosicky is out of Euro 2008 and will have an operation next week to fix a recurring hamstring problem, he said on Friday.
The Arsenal midfielder, who has not played for the club since January, told a news conference he faced at least two months on the sidelines following the surgery, ruling him out of the June 7-29 tournament in Austria and Switzerland.
"The injury needs an operation, which I will undergo on Tuesday in London," Rosicky said. "The minimum (recovery time) is two months. I'm going through the worst period of my footballing career."
Rosicky's absence is a big blow for the Czechs, who are also still sorely missing Juventus winger Pavel Nedved who retired from international football after the 2006 World Cup, having come out of retirement to take part.
Czech media have speculated that Nedved could be contemplating a return and the news on Rosicky is likely to increase calls for the former European Footballer of the Year to return to the national squad for the finals.
Rosicky said Czech republic coach Karel Brueckner had plenty of alternatives to fill the key playmaker role.
"The coach has got a lot of options. It could be (Jan) Polak, (Jaroslav) Plasil, (Marek) Matejovsky, (David) Jarolim," he said, adding the ball was in Nedved's court to return.
"If he wants to come back, he needs to say that he wants to come back," added Rosicky.
He has been captain since the 2006 World Cup but said Chelsea goalkeeper Petr Cech or Fiorentina defender Tomas Ujfalusi were the most obvious candidates to take over the armband for the tournament.
Czech Republic have been drawn to play Portugal, Turkey and the tournament's co-hosts Switzerland in Group A.
