Martin Valjent (born 11 December 1995) 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 le ...

who plays as a

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

for

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known simply as Primera División in Spain, and as La Liga in English-speaking countries and officially as LaLiga Santander for sponsorship reasons, stylized as LaLiga, is the men's ...

club

Mallorca Mallorca, or Majorca, is the largest island in the Balearic Islands, which are part of Spain and located in the Mediterranean. The capital of the island, Palma, is also the capital of the autonomous community of the Balearic Islands. The Bal ...

and the Slovakia national team.

Club career

Ternana Calcio

Valjent made his professional debut for

Ternana Ternana Calcio, commonly referred to as Ternana, is an Italian football club based in Terni, Umbria. The club was founded in 1925 and refounded in 1993. In its history, Ternana has twice played in Serie A (in the 1972–73 and 1974–75 seas ...

against

Varese Varese ( , , or ; lmo, label= Varesino, Varés ; la, Baretium; archaic german: Väris) is a city and ''comune'' in north-western Lombardy, northern Italy, north-west of Milan. The population of Varese in 2018 has reached 80,559. It is the c ...

on 28 September 2013.

Chievo Verona

In 2017, the defender signed for

Chievo Verona Associazione Calcio ChievoVerona, commonly referred to as ChievoVerona or simply Chievo , is a former professional Football in Italy, Italian football club named after and based in Chievo, a suburb of 4,500 inhabitants in Verona, Veneto, and o ...

just to be sent on loan to his former club for the 2017/18 season.

Mallorca

In August 2018, Valjent moved on loan to

to reinforce the Balearic defense during the

2018–19 Segunda División The 2018–19 Segunda División season, also known as LaLiga 1, 2, 3 for sponsorship reasons, was the 88th season of the Spanish football second division since its establishment. Summary On 18 January 2019, just one day before the start of the s ...

campaign. On 26 June 2019, following Mallorca’s promotion to

, the club exercised the option to buy the Slovak for €1.5 million.

International career

Valjent was first called up to the Slovakia national team by Ján Kozák sr. for a double fixture against

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 ...

and

Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to ...

on 31 May and 4 June respectively. He was additionally nominated as a result of Gyömbér's (rescheduled club fixture) and Štetina's (injury) unavailability. Although Valjent was benched in the home fixture against Netherlands (1–1), he replaced

Tomáš Hubočan Tomáš Hubočan (; born 17 September 1985) is a Slovak professional footballer who plays as a defender for Cypriot club Karmiotissa. He made his senior international debut in 2006. He has gone on to make 73 appearances for Slovakia, represe ...

in the 79th minute of the fixture against Morocco in

Geneva Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaki ...

, to mark his debut in Slovakia's senior national team. He was fielded when the score was 1–2 and Slovakia failed to equalize the game. His first competitive start came in a Euro 2020 qualifying fixture against

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...

on 6 September 2019 in Trnava, with Valjent playing as a right-back. Slovakia lost the game 4–0. It was noted, that Valjent had a difficult task in defending

Dejan Lovren Dejan Lovren (; born 5 July 1989) is a Croatian professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for Russian Premier League club Zenit Saint Petersburg and the Croatia national team. Lovren began his career at Dinamo Zagreb before moving to ...

at the side-line, as his preferred post is the one of a

. In October, Valjent returned to the national team in a friendly against

Paraguay Paraguay (; ), officially the Republic of Paraguay ( es, República del Paraguay, links=no; gn, Tavakuairetã Paraguái, links=si), is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to th ...

on his preferred post. This time his performance was reported on very positively, receiving praise from RTVS' commentary expert

Marián Zeman Marián Zeman (born 7 July 1974) is a Slovak former footballer who played at both professional and international levels as a central defender. Active at club level in Slovakia, Turkey, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Greece and Portugal, Zeman made ...

during the farewell game for

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, ...

, with whom he starred in the starting XI, as well as Hubočan and

Adam Nemec Adam Nemec (; born 2 September 1985) is a Slovak professional footballer who plays as a forward for Liga I side FC Voluntari. In his career, he has played in seven different countries but mostly for teams in Germany and Romania. During 13 years o ...

. This game also coincided with a return to

Tehelné pole Tehelné pole or National football stadium ( sk, Národný futbalový štadión) is a multi-use stadium in Bratislava, Slovakia. It was completed in 2019 and is used for football (soccer), football matches, including the home matches of ŠK Slov ...

after some ten years and concluded with a 1–1 tie. On 26 August 2020, the Mallorca defender was called up by the Slovakia national team to take part in the two opening matches of the

UEFA Nations League The UEFA Nations League is a biennial international football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the member associations of UEFA, the sport's European governing body. The first tournament began in September 2018. The ...

against

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

and

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

Career statistics

Club

International

References

External links

Profile
at the RCD Mallorca website
Eurofotbal profile

Futbalnet profile
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Valjent, Martin 1995 births Living people People from Dubnica nad Váhom Footballers from the Trenčín Region Slovak men's footballers Men's association football central defenders 2. Liga (Slovakia) players FK Dubnica players Serie B players Ternana Calcio players AC ChievoVerona players La Liga players Segunda División players RCD Mallorca players Slovak expatriate men's footballers Slovak expatriate sportspeople in Spain Slovak expatriate sportspeople in Italy Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Slovakia men's youth international footballers Slovakia men's under-21 international footballers Slovakia men's international footballers UEFA Euro 2020 players