Ján Kocian (born 13 March 1958) is a Slovak

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 ...

coach and former player who last managed ViOn Zlaté Moravce in

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, ...

and also held managerial positions across

central Europe Central Europe is an area of Europe between Western Europe and Eastern Europe, based on a common historical, social and cultural identity. The Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) between Catholicism and Protestantism significantly shaped the area' ...

and

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...

Playing career

During his playing days, he made 209 appearances for Dukla Banská Bystrica between 1979 and 1988 before moving on to German club

FC St. Pauli Fußball-Club St Pauli von 1910 e.V., commonly known as simply FC St Pauli (), is a German professional football club based in the St. Pauli district of Hamburg, that competes in the 2. Bundesliga. The football department is part of a larger sp ...

, where he made another 147 appearances up to 1993. He was capped 26 times by

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

. Playing at sweeper as the team reached the

1990 FIFA World Cup The 1990 FIFA World Cup was the 14th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was held from 8 June to 8 July 1990 in Italy, the second country to host the event for a second time (the first being Me ...

quarter-finals A single-elimination, knockout, or sudden death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of each match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final matc ...

, Kocian was voted the country's

player of the year Several sports leagues honour their best player with an award called Player of the Year (POY) . In the United States, this type of award is usually called a Most Valuable Player award. Association football In association football, this award is he ...

in 1990.

Managerial career

Kocian began his coaching career with Czech side

Petra Drnovice 1. FK Drnovice was a Czech football club based in the Moravian village of Drnovice near Vyškov, founded in 1932. The club played in the top flight of Czech football, the Czech First League, between 1993 and 2002, and again in the 2004/05 season. ...

before moving to the German Bundesliga clubs Rot-Weiß Erfurt and

Sportfreunde Siegen Sportfreunde Siegen is a German association football club based in Siegen, North Rhine-Westphalia. After going through insolvency in 2008, the first team was forcibly relegated to the fifth-tier NRW-Liga. Promotion to fourth division Regionallig ...

. He worked as an assistant at 1.Bundesliga clubs 1. FC Köln and

Eintracht Frankfurt Eintracht Frankfurt e.V. () is a professional sports club based in Frankfurt, Hesse, Germany. It is best known for its football club, which was founded on 8 March 1899. The team is currently playing in the Bundesliga, the top tier of the Germa ...

. He was appointed the new head coach of the Slovakia national team on 2 November 2006, replacing

Dušan Galis Dušan Galis (born 24 November 1949) is a Slovak politician, a former Czechoslovak football player and a former manager of ŠK Slovan Bratislava. In Czechoslovak league he played 226 matches, scoring 89 goals. He was capped 8 times for Czechoslov ...

. Previously, he had worked as an assistant to former national coach Dr. Jozef Vengloš between 1993 and 1995. He was last seven months Assistant Coach from

Karel Brückner Karel Brückner (; born 13 November 1939, Olomouc) is a Czech retired football coach. Playing career Brückner played as a forward in the lower leagues for MŽ Olomouc, at levels between the Regional Championship and the Second League. He ma ...

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

between 4 March 2009. On 8 December 2010, Kocian was officially announced as the new head coach for the

Chinese Super League The Chinese Football Association Super League, commonly known as Chinese Super League or CSL, currently known as the China Ping An Chinese Football Association Super League for sponsorship reasons, is the highest tier of professional football in ...

team Jiangsu Sainty On 28 June 2011, Kocian was announced as the

Hong Kong First Division League The Hong Kong First Division League () is the second-highest division in the Hong Kong football league system. Established in 1908, it is the third oldest in Asia. The league was formerly the highest division in Hong Kong until the formation o ...

team

South China AA South China Athletic Association (known simply as South China, SCAA, ) is a Hong Kong professional football club that competes in the Hong Kong First Division, the second-tier league in Hong Kong football league system. The club is historic ...

's new head coach. South China finished third in the

2011–12 Hong Kong First Division League The 2011–12 Hong Kong First Division League, also known as 2011–12 bma Hong Kong First Division League season was the 100th since its establishment.Ruch Chorzow Ruch may refer to: Settlements *Ruch, Gironde, a commune in France *Ruch, Oregon, an unincorporated community in Jackson County, Oregon * Ruch-e Olya, a village in Qazvin Province, Iran * Ruch-e Sofla, Qazvin, a village in Qazvin Province, Iran ...

to third position in the Ekstraklasa table and qualified almost in the last qualifying round for Europe League Group stage. After this season was Kocian was voted “Coach of the year 2013–2014” by the

Ekstraklasa Poland Ekstraklasa (), meaning "Extra Class" in Polish, named PKO Ekstraklasa since the 2019–20 season due to its sponsorship by PKO Bank Polski, is the top Polish professional league for men's association football teams. Contested by 18 cl ...

. On 18 April 2019, Kocian returned to Poland and to his former club

Ruch Chorzów Ruch Chorzów () is a Polish association football club based in Chorzów, Upper Silesia. It is one of the most successful football teams in Poland: fourteen-time national champions, and three-time winners of the Polish Cup. Currently the team play ...

as an advisor. On 25 October 2018, Kocian was announced as manager of the Yemen national team. After the

2019 AFC Asian Cup The 2019 AFC Asian Cup was the 17th edition of the AFC Asian Cup, the quadrennial international men's football championship of Asia organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). It was held in the United Arab Emirates from 5 January to 1 ...

, he left the national team. In spring of 2022, he returned to his native

Zlaté Moravce Zlaté Moravce (; 1776 Morawce, hu, Aranyosmarót, german: Goldmorawitz) is a town in south-western Slovakia. Basic data It is the capital and the biggest town of Zlaté Moravce District. It is approximately 120 km from the Slovak capital B ...

to manage local

club FC ViOn and aid in avoiding relegation in 2021–22 season. Successfully completing the mission, the start to the 2022–23 season was largely unsuccessful with the club occupying relegation positions. In early October, Kocian came to terms of release with ViOn Zlaté Moravce due to medical reasons.

Football affiliated activities

Since mid-2010s, Kocian began to feature more prominentnly as an expert analyst in the media, including national broadcaster

RTVS Radio and Television of Slovakia ( sk, Rozhlas a televízia Slovenska ) or RTVS is a nationwide public broadcasting, state-funded organisation in Slovakia. It is headquartered in Bratislava and led by Ľuboš Machaj. History The organization i ...

for national team matches or major tournaments, such as

UEFA Euro 2020 The 2020 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2020 (stylised as UEFA EURO 2020) or simply Euro 2020, was the 16th UEFA European Championship, the quadrennial international men's football championship of Europe ...

2022 FIFA World Cup The 2022 FIFA World Cup is an international association football, football tournament contested by the men's national teams of FIFA's member associations. The 22nd FIFA World Cup is taking place in Qatar from 20 November to 18 December 2022 ...

. He also writes as a

columnist A columnist is a person who writes for publication in a series, creating an article that usually offers commentary and opinions. Column (newspaper), Columns appear in newspapers, magazines and other publications, including blogs. They take the fo ...

contributor to leading Slovak sports daily newspaper ''Denník Šport''.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kocian, Jan 1958 births Living people People from Zlaté Moravce Czechoslovak footballers Slovak footballers Slovak football managers Slovak television people Association football defenders Czechoslovakia international footballers 1990 FIFA World Cup players FC St. Pauli players Bundesliga players 2. Bundesliga players 2019 AFC Asian Cup managers Chinese Super League managers Slovakia national football team managers FK Dukla Banská Bystrica managers FK Drnovice managers FC VSS Košice managers Eintracht Frankfurt non-playing staff FC Rot-Weiß Erfurt managers Sportfreunde Siegen managers Jiangsu F.C. managers Ruch Chorzów managers Pogoń Szczecin managers Podbeskidzie Bielsko-Biała managers Yemen national football team managers FC ViOn Zlaté Moravce managers Slovak Super Liga managers Czechoslovak expatriate footballers Slovak expatriate football managers Czechoslovak expatriate sportspeople in Germany Slovak expatriate sportspeople in Germany Expatriate footballers in Germany Expatriate football managers in Germany Slovak expatriate sportspeople in the Czech Republic Expatriate football managers in the Czech Republic Slovak expatriate sportspeople in Austria Expatriate football managers in Austria Slovak expatriate sportspeople in China Expatriate football managers in China Slovak expatriate sportspeople in Hong Kong Expatriate football managers in Hong Kong Slovak expatriate sportspeople in Poland Expatriate football managers in Poland Slovak expatriate sportspeople in Yemen Expatriate football managers in Yemen