Miroslav Karhan (born 21 June 1976) 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 ...

manager and former player who played as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

. Karhan started and finished his career at

Spartak Trnava FC Spartak Trnava () is a Slovak professional football club based in Trnava. Historically, it is one of the most successful clubs in the country, having won the Czechoslovak First League five times and the Czechoslovak Cup on four occasions, and ...

; in between, he played in Spain, Turkey and Germany, where he spent ten seasons. Karhan was a regular member of the Slovakia national team and with 107 appearances, played the second most matches of any player to represent them.

Club career

Karhan began his career with local club

. In 1999 he signed a four-year contract with

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

Real Betis Real Betis Balompié, known as Real Betis () or just Betis, is a Spanish professional football club based in Seville in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded in 1907, it plays in La Liga. It holds home games at the Estadio Benito Vill ...

, becoming the third Slovak player to join a Spanish league club in the 1990s after Peter Dubovský and

Samuel Slovák Samuel Slovák (born 17 October 1975) is a Slovak former Association footballer, footballer who played as an Midfielder#Attacking midfielder, attacking midfielder and currently serves as an assistant coach of Slovak national football team, Slovaki ...

. After a season he moved to Turkish side

Beşiktaş Beşiktaş () is a district and municipality of Istanbul, Turkey, located on the European shore of the Bosphorus strait. It is bordered on the north by Sarıyer and Şişli, on the west by Kağıthane and Şişli, on the south by Beyoğlu, and ...

, before joining German side

VfL Wolfsburg Verein für Leibesübungen Wolfsburg e. V., commonly known as VfL Wolfsburg () or Wolfsburg, is a German professional sports club based in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony. The club grew out of a multi-sports club for Volkswagen workers in the city of W ...

in 2001. In 2002 he was named

Slovak Footballer of the Year The award was first presented in 1965, as an award for the whole of Czechoslovakia ( Czechoslovak Footballer of the Year). It was won by Ján Popluhár. Ján Popluhár Award Slovak Footballer of the Year an annual title awarded to the best Slovak ...

. Karhan joined

Mainz 05 1. Fußball- und Sportverein Mainz 05 e. V., usually shortened to 1. FSV Mainz 05, Mainz 05 () or simply Mainz (), is a German sports club, founded in 1905 and based in Mainz, Rhineland-Palatinate. 1. FSV Mainz 05 play in the Bundesliga, the top ...

of the

2. Bundesliga The 2. Bundesliga ( ) is the second division of professional football in Germany. It was implemented 11 years after the founding of the Fußball-Bundesliga as the new second division for professional football. The 2. Bundesliga is ranked below ...

on a free transfer from Wolfsburg in July 2007, signing a two-year contract. He returned to Spartak Trnava in June 2011 having spent four seasons with Mainz. Karhan played for Trnava for two more seasons, taking on the role of club captain. In August 2013, he announced his retirement from playing, and that he would move to a role of sports director of Spartak Trnava.

International career

Karhan made 107 appearances 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 ...

over a period of 16 years and was the most capped Slovak footballer of all time, until his record was surpassed by

Marek Hamšík Marek Hamšík (; born 27 July 1987) is a Slovak professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Süper Lig club Trabzonspor. He formerly captained the Slovakia national team. After beginning his club career with Slovan Bratislava in 20 ...

in October 2018. He captained the national team. He was an ever-present part of the side during the country's qualification for the

2010 World Cup , image = 2010 FIFA World Cup.svg , size = 200px , caption = ''Ke Nako. (Tswana and Sotho for "It's time") Celebrate Africa's Humanity'It's time. Celebrate Africa's Humanity'' (English)''Dis tyd. Vier Afrika se mensd ...

for the first time in its history, but sustained an injury and was unable to feature during the actual tournament. Karhan is the father of two boys:

Patrick Patrick may refer to: * Patrick (given name), list of people and fictional characters with this name * Patrick (surname), list of people with this name People * Saint Patrick (c. 385–c. 461), Christian saint *Gilla Pátraic (died 1084), Patrick ...

, who currently plays for

and represented Slovakia at youth international level, and Alex Thomas.

Career statistics

International

:''Scores and results list Slovakia's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Karhan goal.''

Honours

Mainz 05 *

: runner-up 2008–09 (promoted) Spartak Trnava *

Slovak Super 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, he ...

: runner-up 2011–12 Individual *

: 2002

References

External links

* *
Miroslav Karhan
at RSSSF {{DEFAULTSORT:Karhan, Miroslav 1976 births Living people People from Hlohovec Association football midfielders Slovak footballers Slovakia international footballers Slovak football managers FC Spartak Trnava players Real Betis players Beşiktaş J.K. footballers VfL Wolfsburg players 1. FSV Mainz 05 players OFK Malženice players La Liga players Slovak Super Liga players Bundesliga players 2. Bundesliga players Süper Lig players 5. Liga players 4. Liga (Slovakia) players FIFA Century Club FC Spartak Trnava managers Slovak Super Liga managers ŠK Báhoň managers 3. Liga (Slovakia) managers KFC Komárno managers 2. Liga (Slovakia) managers Slovak expatriate footballers Slovak expatriate sportspeople in Spain Expatriate footballers in Spain Slovak expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Expatriate footballers in Turkey Slovak expatriate sportspeople in Germany Expatriate footballers in Germany