Dávid Attila Gróf (born 17 April 1989) is a Hungarian professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who plays as a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

for Greek Super League 2 club

Levadiakos Levadiakos Football Club ( el, ΠΑΕ Λεβαδειακός) is a Greek professional football club that plays in the Super League Greece. Based in Livadeia, Greece, the club was promoted to the Alpha Ethniki, forerunner of the Super League, afte ...

. Gróf started his senior career with Scottish club Hibernian, making one appearance during the 2008–09 season before being released from his contract. He subsequently played in England for Notts County, Tamworth,

Mansfield Town Mansfield Town Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in the town of Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, England. The team competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Nicknamed 'The Stags', they ...

and

Walsall Walsall (, or ; locally ) is a market town and administrative centre in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands County, England. Historic counties of England, Historically part of Staffordshire, it is located north-west of Birmingham, east ...

Career

Hibernian

Gróf started his professional career with Hibernian, making his professional debut in their 4–3 defeat by

Greenock Morton Greenock Morton Football Club is a Scottish professional football club, which plays in the Scottish Championship. The club was founded as Morton Football Club in 1874, making it one of the oldest senior Scottish clubs. Morton was renamed Greeno ...

in the

Scottish League Cup The Scottish League Cup (also known as the Viaplay Cup for sponsorship reasons) is a football competition open to all Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) clubs. First held in 1946–47, it is the oldest national League Cup in existen ...

on 26 August 2008. Later that season, Gróf was convicted of a drink driving offence and was consequently banned from driving for two years. Hibs also disciplined the player, who made a public apology through the club's website. He was relegated to the status of fourth choice goalkeeper at Hibs after the arrival of

Grzegorz Szamotulski Grzegorz Szamotulski (; born 13 May 1976) is a Polish former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He was most recently the goalkeeping coach for Zagłębie Lubin. He has had a nomadic career, playing for 15 clubs in seven countrie ...

during January 2009. Gróf went on trial at

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club () is an English professional football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was formed in 1878 and has pla ...

, but was released by Hibs towards the end of the 2008–09 season, despite having 18 months left on his contract. Following his release by Hibs, Gróf trained with English

League Two The English Football League Two (often referred to as League Two for short or Sky Bet League Two for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League Two from 2004 until 2016) is the third and lowest division of the English Football Lea ...

side Gillingham, featuring in a

reserve team In sports, a reserve team is a team composed of players under contract to a club but who do not normally play in matches for the first team. Reserve teams often include back-up players from the first team, young players who need playing time to i ...

match against

Lewes Lewes () is the county town of East Sussex, England. It is the police and judicial centre for all of Sussex and is home to Sussex Police, East Sussex Fire & Rescue Service, Lewes Crown Court and HMP Lewes. The civil parish is the centre of ...

Notts County

Gróf went on trial with League One club Notts County in July 2010. He agreed a deal to sign for the club, subject to medical. On the same day as the deal with Notts County was announced, Gróf played for Tamworth in a

friendly match An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, a scrimmage, a demonstration, a preseason game, a warmup match, or a preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sporting event whose prize money and impact on the player's or ...

against

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...

. He completed the move on 26 July. On 4 August 2010 it was confirmed that Gróf would be joining The Lambs on a one-month loan deal in time for the new season. Just six days later Gróf was recalled by his parent club. Gróf signed on loan with

Conference National The National League, known as the Vanarama National League for sponsorship reasons, is the highest level of the National League System and fifth-highest of the overall English football league system. It is the highest league that is semi-profes ...

club

on 31 January 2011. Grof played an integral part in Mansfield's

FA Trophy The Football Association Challenge Trophy, commonly known as the FA Trophy, is a men's football knockout cup competition run by and named after the English Football Association and competed for primarily by semi-professional teams. The compet ...

run which saw the Stags lose to

Darlington Darlington is a market town in the Borough of Darlington, County Durham, England. The River Skerne flows through the town; it is a tributary of the River Tees. The Tees itself flows south of the town. In the 19th century, Darlington underwen ...

in the final at Wembley on 7 May. Despite not being permitted to play in the final itself, Grof became a hero to the Mansfield fans due to his performances in both the FA Trophy and the

, and appeared before the game against Darlington to a standing ovation from the 15000 strong travelling Mansfield fans. Despite rave reviews of his performances at Mansfield, Grof was waived by Notts County at the end of the season alongside defender Graeme Lee..

Walsall

Following a trial spell, Gróf signed a one-year contract with

Football League One The English Football League One (often referred to as League One for short or Sky Bet League One for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League One from 2004 until 2016) is the second-highest division of the English Football Leag ...

side

in July 2011. Gróf made his full Walsall debut against

Bournemouth Bournemouth () is a coastal resort town in the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole council area of Dorset, England. At the 2011 census, the town had a population of 183,491, making it the largest town in Dorset. It is situated on the Southern ...

, keeping a cleen sheet in a 2–0 win, and then made his home debut the following game—a

Football League Trophy The English Football League Trophy, known for sponsorship purposes as the Papa Johns Trophy after restaurant chain Papa John's Pizza, is an annual English association football knockout competition open to all clubs in EFL League One and EFL Leag ...

first round fixture against Shrewsbury Town, which Walsall won 2–1. On 17 March 2013, Gróf announced that he was moving to France to pursue a career away from the Saddlers, having fallen down the pecking order at Walsall behind a string of successive loan goalkeepers manager Dean Smith had signed due to his poor early season form.

Clermont

On 18 March 2013, Gróf began his trial with Clermont, successfully completing the first part of his medical and training with the first team later that day.

Germany

In November 2013, Gróf moved to German side

Goslarer SC The Goslarer SC 08 is a German association football club from the city of Goslar, Lower Saxony. The club's most notable achievement was winning the tier-five Niedersachsenliga and earning promotion to the Regionalliga Nord in 2009 and 2012. A ...

, where he remained until the end of the season before signing for Berliner AK.

Ferencváros

On 16 June 2020, he became champion with Ferencváros by beating Budapest Honvéd FC at the

Hidegkuti Nándor Stadion Hidegkuti Nándor Stadion is a multi-purpose stadium in Józsefváros, Budapest, Hungary. The stadium was opened on 13 October 2016. It was renamed after the MTK Budapest and Hungary footballer Nándor Hidegkuti (1922–2002). It is currently use ...

on the 30th match day of the

2019–20 Nemzeti Bajnokság I The 2019–20 Nemzeti Bajnokság I (also known as 2019–20 OTP Bank Liga), also known as NB I, was the 121st season of top-tier football in Hungary. The league was officially named ''OTP Bank Liga'' for sponsorship reasons. Ferencváros were the ...

season.

Debrecen and Levadiakos

On 4 September 2020, he was transferred to the

Debrecen Debrecen ( , is Hungary's second-largest city, after Budapest, the regional centre of the Northern Great Plain region and the seat of Hajdú-Bihar County. A city with county rights, it was the largest Hungarian city in the 18th century and i ...

on loan. He became a player of the On 4September 2020, he was transferred to the Debrecen on loan. He became a player of the Debrecen team from July 1, 2021, the club exercised the option after the end of the one-year loan contract. On 31 January 2023, Gróf became a new

player.

Personal life

Gróf was born in

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...

. His father

Attila Attila (, ; ), frequently called Attila the Hun, was the ruler of the Huns The Huns were a nomadic people who lived in Central Asia, the Caucasus, and Eastern Europe between the 4th and 6th century AD. According to European traditio ...

also played professionally as a goalkeeper, for Vasas Budapest, Újpesti Dózsa, Videoton. Gróf was convicted of a drink driving offence and banned from driving for two years. He was charged with another drink driving offence in April 2009. Married to Klaudia Gróf-Komsa on 3 August 2017. She is a Hungarian handball player.https://www.kelet.hu/sport/2016/04/10/meg-kellett-izzadni-erte.kelet

Club statistics

''Updated to games played as of 15 May 2022.''

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Grof, David 1989 births Living people Footballers from Budapest Hungarian men's footballers Hungarian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Scotland Expatriate men's footballers in England Expatriate men's footballers in Germany Hungarian expatriate sportspeople in Scotland Hungarian expatriate sportspeople in England Hungarian expatriate sportspeople in Germany Men's association football goalkeepers Hibernian F.C. players Notts County F.C. players Tamworth F.C. players Mansfield Town F.C. players Walsall F.C. players Berliner AK 07 players Aqvital FC Csákvár players Budapest Honvéd FC players National League (English football) players English Football League players Nemzeti Bajnokság I players Ferencvárosi TC footballers Debreceni VSC players