Marek Rodák (born 13 December 1996) is a Slovak 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 lea ...

who plays as a

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), 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 i ...

for

Saudi Pro League The Saudi Pro League (SPL), also known as the Roshn Saudi League (RSL) for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Saudi Arabia and the highest level of the Saudi football league system. The SPL is regarded as th ...

club

Al-Ettifaq Al-Ettifaq Club (), commonly known as Al-Ettifaq or simply Ettifaq, is a professional football club in Dammam, Saudi Arabia, which competes in the Saudi Pro League. The club was established by the merger of three Dammam-based clubs in 1945. Al- ...

and the Slovakia national team.

Club career

Rodák began his career in his homeland with

MFK Košice MFK or mfk may refer to: * Movement for the Future of Curaçao, a political party in the island of Curaçao * Beigan Airport, an airport in Beigan, Taiwan, by IATA code * North Mofu language, a language spoken in northern Cameroon, by ISO 639 code ...

before being offered a trial with Fulham in 2013. He was signed permanently by the

Fulham Academy The Fulham F.C. Academy is a football academy based at Motspur Park in London. The Academy, headed by director Sean Cullen, runs along the lines of many of the English football academies as deemed appropriate by the national governing body, and r ...

in July 2013 at the age of 16. Despite his young age, he became part of the Under-18 side and played in the 2014 Final of the

FA Youth Cup The Football Association Youth Challenge Cup is an English football competition run by The Football Association for under-18 sides. Only those players between the age of 15 and 18 on 31 August of the current season are eligible to take part. It ...

against Chelsea. A short two-month loan to Farnborough in January 2015 was followed by a progression to Fulham's Under-21 side. On 15 January 2016, he joined

Welling United Welling United Football Club is a semi-professional association football club, based in Welling in the London Borough of Bexley, England. The most prominent aspect of the club is its men's first team, who play in the , the seventh level of the E ...

on loan for the remainder of the season. Rodák joined

Accrington Stanley Accrington Stanley Football Club is a professional association football club based in Accrington, Lancashire, England, that compete in the , the fourth level of the English football league system. They have spent their entire history playing a ...

on loan from Fulham until the end of the 2016–17 season in January 2017. He made his

English Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in Association football around the world, the w ...

debut on 14 January 2017 against

Cheltenham Town Cheltenham Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England. The team competes in EFL League Two, the fourth level of the English football league system. Founded in 1887, ...

Whaddon Road Whaddon Road, known as the EV Charger Points Stadium for sponsorship reasons, is a football stadium in Cheltenham, England. It is the home ground of Cheltenham Town F.C. It has a total capacity of 7,066, with a mixture of seating and terracing ...

. Rodák had a significant role in Accrington Stanley's move from the relegation zone to a comfortably mid-table position, courtesy of a 13 match unbeaten run. Rodák made his Fulham debut in a League Cup tie against

Wycombe Wanderers Wycombe Wanderers Football Club () is a professional association football club based in the town of High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third level of the English football league system. Founded in 188 ...

on 8 August 2017. Later that month Rodak joined

Rotherham United Rotherham United Football Club, nicknamed The Millers, is a professional association football club based in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England. The team plays in EFL League One, the third tier of English football, after suffering relegation fr ...

on loan for the rest of the season and made his debut in a 3–2 win at home to Bury. He then re-joined the club for a further season-long loan on 25 July 2018. Rodák made his Premier League debut on 12 September 2020 in a 0–3 loss to

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

in the first round of 2020–21 season. He then spent the rest of the season as a backup for

Alphonse Areola Alphonse Francis Areola (; born 27 February 1993) is a French professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for club West Ham United and the France national team. An academy graduate of PSG, he spent the early parts of his career on loa ...

and made only one additional league appearance in 0–2 loss to

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. Since th ...

on the last day of the season. Rodák made his 2022-23 Premier League debut on 6 August 2022, playing the entire 2–2 home draw against

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

., but was demoted to second-choice goalkeeper following the arrival of

Bernd Leno Bernd Leno (born 4 March 1992) is a German professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for club Fulham. Early and personal life Bernd Leno was born on 4 March 1992 in Bietigheim-Bissingen, Baden-Württemberg. His father is Russian-Germ ...

from

. On 5 June 2024, Fulham announced that Rodák would leave the club following the expiration of his contract, ending his ten-year spell at the club. On 25 July 2024, Rodák joined

club

on a three-year deal.

International career

Rodák was called up to the Slovakia senior team in June 2018, but did not appear. In September 2018, Rodák scored a 94th minute winner for Slovakia U21s in a crucial 2019 European Under-21 Championship qualifying game against Iceland U21s. This wasn't his first goal scored at under-21 level, having previously scored for

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies in a loop on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea, London, Chelsea ...

against

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club (commonly referred to as simply Villa) is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club, founded in 1874, compete in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The team have p ...

in the U21s Premier League in 2014. On 7 September 2020, Rodák made his senior team debut in a

UEFA Nations League The UEFA Nations League is an international European football competition played by the senior men's national teams of the member associations of UEFA, the sport's European governing body. The competition was devised to minimise friendlies a ...

match against

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

, which ended in 1–1 draw. He went on to start in another four matches in 2020, including two Euro 2020 qualification play-off matches. He made a save in the penalty shootout against

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

on 8 October 2020, and helped the team to secure 2–1 win

after extra time Overtime (OT) or extra time (ET) is an additional period of play to bring a game to a decision and avoid declaring the match a Tie (draw), tie or draw where the scores are the same. In some sports, this extra period is played only if the game is ...

against

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

on 12 November 2020, which qualified Slovakia for Euro 2020. Rodák was called up to the Slovakia squad for the

UEFA Euro 2024 The 2024 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2024 (stylised as UEFA EURO 2024) or simply Euro 2024, was the 17th UEFA European Championship, the quadrennial international Association football, football champ ...

tournament.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Rotherham United *

EFL League One play-offs The EFL League One play-offs are a series of play-off matches contested by the association football teams finishing from third to sixth in the EFL League One table and are part of the English Football League play-offs. , the play-offs comprise tw ...

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

Fulham *

EFL Championship The English Football League Championship, known simply as the Championship and for sponsorship purposes as Sky Bet Championship, is a professional association football league in England and Wales. Contested by 24 clubs, it is the highest divi ...

: 2021–22 *

EFL Championship play-offs The English Football League (EFL) Championship play-offs are a series of play-off matches contested by the association football teams finishing from third to sixth in the EFL Championship table and are part of the English Football League play-o ...

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rodak, Marek 1996 births Living people Footballers from Košice Slovak men's footballers Men's association football goalkeepers Fulham F.C. players Farnborough F.C. players Welling United F.C. players Accrington Stanley F.C. players Rotherham United F.C. players Al-Ettifaq FC players English Football League players Premier League players Saudi Pro League players Slovakia men's youth international footballers Slovakia men's under-21 international footballers Slovakia men's international footballers UEFA Euro 2020 players Slovak expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in England Slovak expatriate sportspeople in England Expatriate men's footballers in Saudi Arabia Slovak expatriate sportspeople in Saudi Arabia UEFA Euro 2024 players 21st-century Slovak sportsmen