Anton Ondruš (born 27 March 1950 in Solčany,

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

) is a former Slovak football player and considered one of the best

defenders Defender(s) or The Defender(s) may refer to: *Defense (military) *Defense (sports) **Defender (association football) Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''The Defender'' (1989 film), a Canadian documentary * ''The Defender'' (1994 f ...

of the seventies.

Early club career

He started to play regularly for Slovan Bratislava in the fall of 1970. With this club, he won the Czechoslovak League in 1974 and 1975, and he later become the captain of this team, playing in total in 210 matches and scoring 38 goals. The team won the Czechoslovak Cup in 1974.

International career

Ondruš played 58 matches for

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

and scored 9 goals. As a captain, he led the national team in the

1976 UEFA European Championship The 1976 UEFA European Football Championship final tournament was held in Yugoslavia. This was the fifth UEFA European Championship, held every four years and endorsed by UEFA. The final tournament took place between 16 and 20 June 1976. Only f ...

. His superb performance against Cruyff's Netherlands in semi-finals where he scored twice (one own goal) opened his team the door to the final match where Czechoslovakia won the gold medal in the famous Belgrade Night game against the then world champion West Germany. At the

1980 UEFA European Championship The 1980 UEFA European Football Championship finals tournament was held in Italy. This was the sixth UEFA European Championship, which is held every four years and endorsed by UEFA. It was the first European Championship to feature eight teams i ...

, he contributed to the national team's bronze medal.

Later career

1981 Ondruš changed to

Club Brugge K.V. (), known simply as Club Brugge (in English also: ''Club Bruges''), is a Belgian professional football club based in Bruges, Belgium. It was founded in 1891 and its home ground is the Jan Breydel Stadium, which has a capacity of 29,062.

to Belgium, but he played only nine games. From 1983 till 1987 he played in the French club CS Thonon-les-Bains and towards the end of his career at FC Biel-Bienne, Switzerland. 1997 he was a president of Slovan Bratislava for a short period. Currently he works in Switzerland.

Honours

;Czechoslovakia *

UEFA European Championship The UEFA European Football Championship, less formally the European Championship and informally the Euro, is the primary association football tournament organised by the Union of European Football Associations ( UEFA). The competition is conte ...

1976 Events January * January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 11 – The 1976 ...

;Individual * UEFA European Championship Team of the Tournament: 1976

References

* Living people 1950 births People from Topoľčany District Sportspeople from the Nitra Region Slovak footballers Czechoslovak footballers Czechoslovakia men's international footballers Men's association football sweepers ŠK Slovan Bratislava players Club Brugge KV players Belgian Pro League players UEFA Euro 1976 players UEFA Euro 1980 players UEFA European Championship-winning players Czechoslovak expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Belgium Expatriate footballers in Switzerland Czechoslovak expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland Czechoslovak expatriate sportspeople in Belgium FK Dukla Banská Bystrica players FC Biel-Bienne players Czechoslovak expatriate sportspeople in France {{Slovakia-footy-defender-stub