He played two seasons in the Czechoslovak First League, scoring 27 goals in 51 games for Spartak Plzeň.
[2] As a player, Lopata scored 16 goals in the 1961–62 season for Spartak Plzeň, a record which had still not been surpassed in 2006.
During his time in the first league he scored two hat-tricks, the first coming in a 5–0 home win against Tatran Prešov.
[3] He celebrated promotion with them and continued in the First League before leaving in the 1983–84 season in order to take over at Plastika Nitra.
[4] The last First League club Lopata managed was Bohemians Prague, where his engagement ran out in 1993.