Midfielder/Forward.

Born: 17 July 1979.

Height: 178cm.

A creative midfielder, Rudi has appeared seven times for the Czech Republic and the experienced playmaker is still a member of his national squad.

Rudi was a youth player with his home-town club FK Trutnov before moving to SK Hradec Kralove, whom he helped return to the top level of Czech football. In July 2001, Rudi signed for SK Slavia and in May 2002 he was in the team that won the Czech Cup. That month he was also in the Czech Republic side that won the European U21 Championship, scoring in the successful penalty shoot-out against France in the Final.

After Slavia finished second in the League, Rudi gained more European experience before making a big-money move to Olympique Marseille in August 2003. The strong and skilful midfielder then stepped up from the Czech Republic U21 side to earn his first full cap in December 2003. A year later, Rudi went on loan to Panathinaikos and played regularly in the Champions League. In addition, he was unlucky not to gain a League medal, as the Athens club lost the Greek title by only one point.

In July 2005, Rudi joined Hearts on a year's loan and made such a huge impact with his clever football and power shooting, that he earned a return to the international scene. Rudi was also a potent goal scorer and he hit 17 in 40 competitive games in 2005-06, many in spectacular fashion. Accordingly, the Czech playmaker made a massive contribution towards Hearts securing a Champions League qualifying place and, of course, he scored in the Scottish Cup Final against Gretna and also in the penalty shoot-out that brought the trophy to Edinburgh.

Hearts arranged his permanent transfer in April 2006 but in July a fee of £1.6 million took him to Southampton. Rudi was loaned to Hertha Berlin from January to May 2008 and then, after Southampton was relegated to the third level of English football, he went back to SK Slavia in October 2009.

Three months later Rudi joined the Greek club, AE Larissa, but recently became a free agent and made a welcome return to Hearts in September 2010, making his debut against Motherwell in the Clydesdale Bank Premier League. He scored his first goal on his return against Rangers the following weekend.

Rudi has continued his goalscoring feats during his second spell with the club, and recently extended his deal until Summer 2012.