Matěj Kovář (born 17 May 2000) is a Czech 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 goalkeeper for Sparta Prague, on loan from club

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

. Kovář joined the Manchester United youth system in 2018 from Czech club

1. FC Slovácko 1. FC Slovácko is a Czech football club based in Uherské Hradiště. The team was established in 1927 as SK Staré Město and on 1 July 2000 as 1. FC Synot, which was a merger of the original club with ''FC Slovácká Slavia Uherské Hradiště ...

. He has spent time on loan at Swindon Town, where he made his senior debut, and Burton Albion. A Czech youth international, Kovář has represented his country from under-18 to under-21 level.

Club career

Kovář began his career with

in his native Czech Republic, but moved to England to join

in January 2018 at the age of 17. After being an unused substitute for the under-19s in a

2017–18 UEFA Youth League The 2017–18 UEFA Youth League was the fifth season of the UEFA Youth League, a European youth club football competition organised by UEFA. Barcelona won their second Youth League title following a win over Chelsea in the final. Red Bull Salzb ...

match against rivals Liverpool on 21 February 2018, he made his debut for the club's under-18s side in a 4–1 league win at home to Everton three days later. He played in all but two of the team's remaining matches that season, replacing Alex Fojtíček as first-choice goalkeeper. Kovář was again the first-choice goalkeeper for the reserve team the following season, playing in 17 of their 22 league matches; he also played in six of the seven matches for the under-19s in the

2018–19 UEFA Youth League The 2018–19 UEFA Youth League was the sixth season of the UEFA Youth League, a European youth club football competition organised by UEFA. The final was played on 29 April 2019 at the Colovray Stadium in Nyon, Switzerland, between English side ...

. In 2019–20, he played in 11 of the 17 league matches the reserves played before the season was curtailed by the

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, as well as all four matches they played in the

2019–20 EFL Trophy The 2019–20 EFL Trophy, known as the Leasing.com Trophy for sponsorship reasons, was the 37th season in the history of EFL Trophy, the competition, a knock-out tournament for Football in England, English football clubs in EFL League One, League ...

, in which they came up against the senior sides of the teams in

EFL League One The English Football League One (often referred to as League One for short or Sky Bet League One for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League One from 2004 until 2016) is the second-highest division of the English Football Leag ...

and Two. His performances for the reserves earned him a new contract with the club, signed in October 2019. With the first team's qualification for the knockout phase of the

2019–20 UEFA Europa League The 2019–20 UEFA Europa League was the 49th season of Europe's secondary club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 11th season since it was renamed from the UEFA Cup to the UEFA Europa League. Sevilla defeated Inter Milan in the fina ...

secure, manager Ole Gunnar Solskjær selected a young team for their matchday 5 game against Astana in Kazakhstan on 28 November 2019; Kovář was named on the bench as back-up for Lee Grant, but did not play in the match. Ahead of the 2020–21 season, Kovář moved on loan to Swindon Town in August 2020. He made his debut on 5 September 2020, in a 3–1 defeat against Charlton Athletic in the

EFL Cup The EFL Cup (referred to historically, and colloquially, as the League Cup), currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual knockout competition and major trophy in men's domestic football in England. Organised by the ...

. In January 2021, Kovář was recalled by Manchester United after making 21 appearances for Swindon. Kovář was named in United's final Premier League squad submitted after the end of the transfer deadline for the 2021–22 season. On 31 January 2022, Kovář signed a new contract with United until June 2023 and moved on loan to Burton Albion until the end of the season. On 9 September 2022, Kovář moved on loan to Czech club Sparta Prague. He made his debut on 10 September 2022, in a 2–2 away draw against FK Teplice in the Czech First League.

International career

Kovář has represented the Czech Republic at under-18, under-19,

under-20 Junior is a category of athletics in which athletes compete under the age of 20 years. Countries all around the world compete in athletics. World Junior Athletics Competitions are held every two years which contain the best junior competitors in ...

and under-21 youth levels. He was a member of the Czech squad at the

2021 UEFA European Under-21 Championship The 2021 UEFA European Under-21 Championship (also known as UEFA Under-21 Euro 2021) was the 23rd edition of the UEFA European Under-21 Championship (26th edition if the Under-23 era is also included), the biennial international youth football ch ...

in March 2021, but did not make any appearances in the tournament. He made his debut for the under-21 team in September 2021 against Slovenia. Kovář was first called up to the Czech Republic senior team on 8 September 2021 for a friendly against Ukraine after

Tomáš Vaclík Tomáš Vaclík (; born 29 March 1989) is a Czech professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Major League Soccer club New England Revolution. He represents the Czech Republic national team. Vaclík participated in the 2011 UEFA Europ ...

suffered an injury.

Career statistics

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kovar, Matej 2000 births Living people People from Uherské Hradiště Czech footballers Czech Republic youth international footballers Association football goalkeepers 1. FC Slovácko players Manchester United F.C. players Swindon Town F.C. players Burton Albion F.C. players English Football League players Czech expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in England Czech expatriate sportspeople in England Czech Republic under-21 international footballers Sportspeople from the Zlín Region AC Sparta Prague players Czech First League players