Slovakia Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the s ...

has participated in international

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

as an independent nation ever since 1993 when

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

was

divided Division is one of the four basic operations of arithmetic, the ways that numbers are combined to make new numbers. The other operations are addition, subtraction, and multiplication. At an elementary level the division of two natural numb ...

into two new states. Slovakia qualified to the World Cup for the first time in

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

, where the side upset perennial power

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

and lost in the Round of 16. Since independence, they qualified for the

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 contes ...

for their first time in

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

. Football is the most popular sport in the Slovak Republic.

Football Association

The

Slovak Football Association The Slovak Football Association ( sk, Slovenský futbalový zväz, SFZ) is the governing body of football in Slovakia based in Bratislava. It has the ultimate responsibility for the control and development of football in Slovakia and is the body t ...

was a member of FIFA from April 1939 to 1945 and resumed in 1994.

Domestic football

The Slovak club's football tournament is held every season in the so-called

Fortuna liga The Slovak Super Liga is the top level football league in Slovakia, currently known as the Fortuna Liga due to a sponsorship arrangement. It was formed in 1993 following the dissolution of Czechoslovakia. The record for most titles is eleven, ...

. It is the highest division and is sponsored by

Fortuna Fortuna ( la, Fortūna, equivalent to the Greek goddess Tyche) is the goddess of fortune and the personification of luck in Roman religion who, largely thanks to the Late Antique author Boethius, remained popular through the Middle Ages until at ...

. The first Slovak football league was formed in its current form in 1993, when the common league was discontinued after the end of the federation with the Czech Republic. In 2007-08 it averaged at about 3000 spectators per game. However, it has to be taken into consideration that Slovakia only has 5.5 million inhabitants. The clubs sell their players to financially stronger clubs from western Europe. Examples of players that have succeeded in notable leagues are

Marek Hamšík Marek Hamšík (; born 27 July 1987) is a Slovak professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Süper Lig club Trabzonspor. He formerly captained the Slovakia national team. After beginning his club career with Slovan Bratislava in 20 ...

, who is captain of Italian club SSC Napoli,

Peter Pekarík Peter Pekarík (; born 30 October 1986) is a Slovak professional footballer who plays as a right-back for Bundesliga club Hertha BSC and the Slovakia national team. Club career Žilina Pekarík, born in Žilina, began playing football at the y ...

who captains

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footba ...

side

Hertha BSC Hertha, Berliner Sport-Club e. V., commonly known as Hertha BSC (), and sometimes referred to as Hertha Berlin, Hertha BSC Berlin, or simply Hertha, is a German professional football club based in the locality of Westend of the borough of Charl ...

Martin Škrtel Martin Škrtel (born 15 December 1984) is a Slovak former professional footballer, a former player and captain of the Slovakia national team and Liverpool Football Club. Škrtel previously played for FK AS Trenčín and Zenit Saint Petersburg ...

, a well-known former

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

centre-back currently playing for Fenerbahçe. Moreover, over the last few years more and more youngsters have been given chances to perform regularly in the league and as the result, many transfers were to be seen. For example

Leon Bailey Leon Patrick Bailey (born 9 August 1997) is a Jamaican professional footballer who plays as a right winger for Premier League club Aston Villa and the Jamaica national team. Bailey arrived in Europe at the age of 13 and played for a number of ...

Milan Škriniar Milan Škriniar (born 11 February 1995) is a Slovak professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for Serie A club Inter Milan and captains the Slovakia national team. Club career MŠK Žilina Škriniar began his career in the youth s ...

, Stanislav Lobotka or Samuel Kalu could have been seen playing football at Slovak stadiums recently. The record champion is

ŠK Slovan Bratislava ŠK Slovan Bratislava (, "Bratislava Slav") is a football club based in Bratislava, Slovakia, that plays in the Slovak Super Liga. Founded as 1. ČsŠK Bratislava in 1919, the club changed its name to Slovan Bratislava in 1953. Slovan is the mo ...

with eight titles. Second comes

MŠK Žilina MŠK Žilina () is a Slovak football club based in the town of Žilina, that is playing in the Slovak Superliga. Since the league inception in 1993, the club has won 7 titles and comes second in All-time table that makes them one of the most s ...

with 7 titles. The second-tier football league in Slovakia is called 2. Liga and 16 teams compete in it. The third tier league (known as 3. Liga) consists of four divisions of which three (division East, division Middle & division Bratislava) are of 16 teams and the other one (division West) consists of 18 teams. In

, MŠK Žilina became the third Slovak club to participate in the Champions League, where they were eliminated in the group stage.

Slovak cup

Slovak Cup The Slovak Cup () is the main knockout cup competition in Slovak football. The winner qualifies for the UEFA Europa Conference League. History The competition was first contested in 1969. Until 1993, the winner of the Slovak Cup would face the w ...

is the football cup competition for Slovak club teams. It is organized annually by the Slovak Football Federation (Slovenský futbalový zväz, SFZ). The cup is held since the 1969/70 season, the first winner was the team of Slovan Bratislava. Record winner is Slovan Bratislava with a total of 12 cup victories.

National team

The men's national team has recently been on the move and was able to qualify as a group winner for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. After the Slovak team surprisingly won against the world champions Italy 3–2, the Slovaks also qualified for the knockout stages, where they were eliminated after a 2–1 defeat against the eventual finalists

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

References

External links