Matúš Kozáčik (; born 27 December 1983) is a Slovak retired

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 ...

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 ...

who last played for Czech club

Viktoria Plzeň Viktoria usually refers to Viktoria, a name which is the same as Victoria (name), but may also refer to: Places * FK Viktoria Stadion, stadium of Viktoria Žižkov * Viktoria-Luise-Platz, building in Berlin * Viktoriastadt, now known as Victoria ...

, and who now serves as a goalkeeping coach with the club's first team.

Club career

While Kozáčik was playing for

Slavia Prague Sportovní klub Slavia Praha – fotbal (Sports Club Slavia Prague – Football, ), commonly known as Slavia Praha or Slavia Prague, is a Czech professional football club in Prague. Founded in 1892, they are the second most successful club in th ...

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire in England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of England's football league system, and plays its home matches at Elland Road S ...

took him on trial in December 2006.

Anorthosis Famagusta

2010–2011 season

In June 2010 he agreed a two-year contract with the

Cypriot Cypriot (in older sources often "Cypriote") refers to someone or something of, from, or related to the country of Cyprus. * Cypriot people, or of Cypriot descent; this includes: **Armenian Cypriots **Greek Cypriots **Maronite Cypriots **Turkish C ...

side

Anorthosis Famagusta Anorthosis Famagusta ( el, Ανόρθωση Αμμοχώστου, translit=Anorthosi Ammochostou), commonly known as Anorthosis in English or Anorthosi in Greek, is a Cypriot football club, part of the Anorthosis Famagusta multi-sport club fou ...

until the summer of 2012. He took the Number 1 shirt from the previous Anorthosis goalkeeper Arjan Beqaj. Kozáčik made his debut for

in the First qualifying round of the 2010–11 UEFA Europa League against Banants. He kept two clean sheets. Kozáčik lost his place into the starting eleven to the second goalkeeper of the team Marcos Argüello a 0–2 loss against

Šibenik Šibenik () is a historic city in Croatia, located in central Dalmatia, where the river Krka flows into the Adriatic Sea. Šibenik is a political, educational, transport, industrial and tourist center of Šibenik-Knin County, and is also the ...

Antonis Papadopoulos Stadium The Antonis Papadopoulos Stadium ( el, Στάδιο «Αντώνης Παπαδόπουλος») is a football stadium in Larnaca, Cyprus. With a current seating capacity of 10,230, it has been the home stadium of Anorthosis Famagusta since its co ...

. After the January transfer period Argüello moved to Club Bolivar and Kozáčik returned to the starting line-up for the rest of the season.

2011–2012 season

Kozáčik started as first-choice goalkeeper for the club's European matches. Then, Kozáčik lost his position to other club goalkeeper

Dimitar Ivankov Dimitar Ivanov Ivankov ( Bulgarian: Димитър Иванов Иванков; born 30 October 1975) is a former Bulgarian professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. However, he is known for his goals, especially from converting penal ...

for the next two matches. After two matches Ivankov left the club and from this point Kozáčik continued as first-choice goalkeeper.

FC Viktoria Plzeň

In June 2012, Kozáčik signed a three-year deal with

. He quickly established himself as the starting goalkeeper for the club, with which he won the Czech league title in the 2012–2013 season. In February 2014, Kozáčik extended his contract with Plzeň until June 2017.

International career

On 10 December 2006, Kozáčik made his debut for

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 ...

when he played in the first half of a friendly against the

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia (The Middle East). It is located at th ...

. However, his next game for the national team came almost seven years later when he started in a 2014 World Cup qualifier against

Latvia Latvia ( or ; lv, Latvija ; ltg, Latveja; liv, Leţmō), officially the Republic of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Republika, links=no, ltg, Latvejas Republika, links=no, liv, Leţmō Vabāmō, links=no), is a country in the Baltic region of ...

. Kozáčik had been Slovakia's number one goalkeeper in the successful qualification campaign for

UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying The UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying tournament was a football competition that was played from September 2014 to November 2015 to determine the 23 UEFA member men's national teams joining the automatically qualified host team France in the UEFA Euro 2 ...

and was the first choice of coach Ján Kozák. He continued to be preferred in the first half of

2018 FIFA World Cup qualification The 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification process was a series of tournaments organised by the six FIFA confederations to decide 31 of the 32 teams which would play in the 2018 FIFA World Cup, with Russia qualifying automatically as hosts. All 210 ...

, however an injury excluded him from the remainder of the group matches. He only returned on 14 November 2017 to a friendly match against

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

. Since the injury, Kozáčik was only second-choice goalkeeper behind

Martin Dúbravka Martin Dúbravka (born 15 January 1989) is a Slovak professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for club Newcastle United and the Slovakia national team. After playing in the top flights of Slovak, Danish and Czech football, Dúbravka j ...

, making sporadic appearances only. For example, Kozáčik played 90 minutes of a controversial friendly against

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark ...

, who arrived with a squad of lower division players and futsal internationals, maintaining a clean sheet in the 3–0 win. After that, he appeared over almost a year later, in a friendly against

Jordan Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Rive ...

(5-1 win). In this match, Kozáčik conceded a goal from

Musa Al-Taamari Mousa Sulaiman Al-Tamari ( ar, موسى سليمان التعمري; born 10 June 1997) is a Jordanian professional footballer who plays as a winger for Belgian side OH Leuven and the Jordan national team. Club career Shabab Al-Ordon He start ...

after his solo run. In the second half, Kozáčik was replaced by international debutant Dominik Greif.

Managerial career

Since professional retirement in 2019, Kozáčik served in

on various positions. By 2020 he became club's first team's goalkeeping coach. In September 2022, he took on the role of goalkeeping coach with the Slovak national team under first non-Czech nor Slovak coach for the team

Francesco Calzona Francesco Calzona (born 24 October 1968) is an Italian association football coach, currently managing the Slovakia national football team. Playing career Calzona had a very short career as a player, appearing three times with Arezzo in the Se ...

. He also became the sole Slovak in a coaching position with the team. In March 2023, it was announced that Kozáčik will be replaced by his former national team co-goalkeeper and

KFC Komárno KFC Komárno is a Slovak football club in the town of Komárno.KFC KOMÁRNO
22.06.2011, futbalovekluby.sk The clu ...

goalkeeping coach

Ján Novota Ján Novota ( hu, Novota János; born 29 November 1983) is a retired Slovak football goalkeeper and a football coach. A member of the Hungarian minority in Slovakia, Novota made his national team debut against Montenegro on 23 May 2014 (2–0 wi ...

, with Novota already filling-in during the extraordinary December 2022 camp.

Honours

Club

Sparta Prague

Czech First League The Czech First League, known as the Fortuna liga for sponsorship reasons, is a Czech professional league for football clubs. At the top of the Czech football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. Seasons typically r ...

: ** Champion: 2009–10 *

Czech Cup The Czech Cup ( cs, Pohár FAČR), officially known as the MOL Cup for sponsorship reasons, is the major men's football cup competition in the Czech Republic. It is organised by the Czech Football Association. The Czech Cup was first held in 19 ...

: ** Champion: 2007-08

Slavia Prague

: ** Runner-up: 2002-03, 2004-05, 2006-07

Viktoria Plzeň

: ** Champion (4): 2012–13, 2014–15, 2015–16, 2017–18

Career statistics

As of 1 June 2018

References

External links

Statistics on SK Slavia Praha website
* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kozacik, Matus 1983 births Living people Slovak footballers Slovak expatriate footballers FC VSS Košice players Czech First League players SK Slavia Prague players AC Sparta Prague players FC Viktoria Plzeň players Anorthosis Famagusta F.C. players Slovak Super Liga players Cypriot First Division players Association football goalkeepers People from Dolný Kubín Expatriate footballers in the Czech Republic Expatriate footballers in Cyprus Slovakia international footballers UEFA Euro 2016 players Slovak expatriate sportspeople in the Czech Republic