"I totally fell in love with all the details of the concept and the people here." That's not a local booster talking. That's David Trunda — president of the Czech Football Association, FIFA development committee member, and owner of top-flight Czech club FK Mladá Boleslav — sitting in the great hall of Oklahoma City's First National Center after watching OKC United unveil its name, crest, and colors to the world.
Trunda has now made two trips to Oklahoma City in the space of a month. The second was a deliberate pit stop on his way to the World Cup Final in New Jersey. He ran along the Oklahoma River in the mornings. He toured the future stadium site. He met the club's key power brokers. This isn't a casual endorsement — it's genuine engagement from someone who has seen soccer infrastructure built and broken across dozens of countries.
More than a handshake partnership
OKC United's public story so far is a 2028 USL launch, timed to the opening of a downtown MAPS 4 multi-purpose stadium. What owner Christian Kanady and sporting director Sead Karaselimovic haven't spelled out publicly is the ambition that sits underneath that: a full soccer pyramid reaching down to the youth level. That's exactly where Trunda's value lies.
Trunda is currently rebuilding the Czech Republic's youth development system — and he's candid about the mistakes that created the need for that rebuild. "It's important to not only have the A-team and the new arena, but also the ground base of the pyramid which you are going to build," he said. OKC United gets to skip some painful lessons by learning from a country that already made them.
Karaselimovic, a Bosnian-born exec who came through Sporting Kansas City, met Trunda through a mutual contact. The Czech Republic national team was based in Dallas during the World Cup, which gave Trunda the chance to drive up I-35 and see what was taking shape in the 405. He liked it enough to come back.
Why this matters beyond the headline
A club that hasn't kicked a competitive ball yet attracting this level of international attention says something real about how the project is being positioned. USL clubs don't typically land FIFA committee members as development partners before they've played a single game.
Czech soccer has genuine pedigree to offer here. Petr Cech. Pavel Nedvěd, the 2003 Ballon d'Or winner. A domestic league that has consistently punched above its weight in European competition. Trunda isn't bringing goodwill alone — he's bringing a working model, warts and all.
For OKC United, getting the youth infrastructure right from day one is the difference between building a real club and building a stadium tenant. Trunda put it plainly: "I haven't seen such huge support from all sides." Whether that support translates into a formal partnership or stays at the level of advice and good will, the connection is already shaping how this project thinks about its future.
"I came just to support this idea," Trunda said, "and to maybe give a little bit of my energy to the people who stand behind it."
For a club four years away from its first match, that's a notable endorsement to already have in the bank.
