Szilárd Németh (; ; born 8 August 1977) is a Slovak former 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 played as a striker. After playing for clubs in Slovakia and the Czech Republic, he spent four-and-a-half seasons at

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the a ...

of the

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

from 2001 to 2006. After a brief stint at France's

RC Strasbourg Racing Club de Strasbourg Alsace (commonly known as RC Strasbourg, Racing Straßburg, RCSA, RCS, or simply Strasbourg; Alsatian: ''Füeßbàllmànnschàft Vu Stroßburri'') is a French association football club founded in 1906, based in the c ...

, he played for

Alemannia Aachen Alemannia Aachen () or ATSV Alemannia 1900 is a football in Germany, German football club from the western city of Aachen, North Rhine-Westphalia. A long term fixture of the country's 2. Bundesliga, second division, ''Alemannia'' enjoyed a three- ...

in Germany until his retirement in 2010. Németh was at that time the highest scorer in the history of the Slovakia national team, with 22 goals in 58 matches from 1997 to 2006.

Club career

Early career

Németh started his career with Slovan Bratislava before moving to eastern Slovakia to join 1. FC Košice. At both clubs he played well, he moved to giants of the region, Czech team

Sparta Prague ) but refer to Spartans as "''Rudí''" ( en, The Dark Reds/The Maroons).'' Letenští'' , ground = Generali Česká pojišťovna Arena , capacity = 19,416 , clubname = Sparta Prague , image = Sparta Praha logo.png , image_size = 160px , fu ...

for record fee 35 million

CZK The koruna, or crown, ( sign: Kč; code: CZK, cs, koruna česká) has been the currency of the Czech Republic since 1993. The koruna is one of the European Union's 9 currencies, and the Czech Republic is legally bound to adopt the euro curre ...

(€1.3 million) From here he moved back to Slovakia with one of the top teams in the country,

Inter Bratislava FK Inter Bratislava () is a football club based in Bratislava, Slovakia, temporarily playing its home matches in Stupava. History Inter Bratislava was founded in 1940 by the Apollo refinery (later renamed Slovnaft). Following the end of World Wa ...

. He won consecutive

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 ...

titles in 1999–2000 and 2000–01, finishing as top-scorer in both.

Middlesbrough

Amid rumoured interest from

Inter Milan Football Club Internazionale Milano, commonly referred to as Internazionale () or simply Inter, and colloquially known as Inter Milan in English-speaking countries, is an Football in Italy, Italian professional Association football, football ...

, he eventually signed for English side

on 12 April 2001 for £2.1 million on a five-year contract. Earlier that season, he had a trial at their local rivals

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...

. Németh scored 23 goals in 117 Premier League appearances for the club. He became known as the ''Lizard King of Teesside'' and ''Slovakian Express'' for scoring regularly off the bench. Németh was part of Middlesbrough's 2004 League Cup-winning team, despite not making the squad for the final. He also featured as they contested the

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store Solid, solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, porcela ...

in the next two seasons. During his time in the Premier League, he scored in wins over

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

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 ...

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

and

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional association football, football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English footba ...

. The 2005–06 season saw Németh turn down numerous transfer offers, including

winners

CSKA Moscow CSKA Moscow (russian: ЦСКА Москва) is a Russian sports club based in Moscow. It was created in 1911 in the Russian Empire on base of OLLS (Skiing Society, founded 1901). Later, during the Soviet Union, Soviet era, it was a central piece ...

. He faced competition up-front that season from

Yakubu Yakubu is an English transliteration of a West African name and is a cognate of Jacob and James. Notable people with the name include: ;Given name * Yakubu (born 1982 as Yakubu Ayegbeni), Nigerian footballer * Yakubu (Gobir ruler), historical ruler ...

Mark Viduka Mark Antony Viduka ( ; born 9 October 1975) is an Australian retired football player who played as a centre forward. He captained the Australia national team to the Round of 16 at the 2006 FIFA World Cup which remains their best ever performance ...

Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink Jerrel Floyd "Jimmy" Hasselbaink ( ; born 27 March 1972) is a Dutch professional football manager and former player who was most recently the manager of League One club Burton Albion. Born in Suriname, he and his family would later move to th ...

and

Massimo Maccarone Massimo Maccarone (; born 6 September 1979) is an Italian football coach and former player, who played as a striker. He was nicknamed ''Big Mac'' during his playing days. He is currently in charge as head coach of Serie D amateurs Ghiviborgo. ...

, leading to his exit in January.

Later career

On 25 January 2006, Németh was sold to French club

for a 'nominal fee'. Their season ended with relegation from

Ligue 1 Ligue 1, officially known as Ligue 1 Uber Eats for sponsorship reasons, is a French professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the French football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. A ...

, and he was released. On 28 August 2006, he agreed to join the German

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footba ...

club

in a two-year deal. Németh spent most of his first season on the sidelines because of a

pulmonary embolism Pulmonary embolism (PE) is a blockage of an pulmonary artery, artery in the lungs by a substance that has moved from elsewhere in the body through the bloodstream (embolism). Symptoms of a PE may include dyspnea, shortness of breath, chest pain p ...

. On 19 May 2008, he signed a contract extension with Aachen until the end of the 2009–10 season. In the winter of 2010–11, he opted to retire from football due to health problems.

International career

Németh scored 22 times in 58 matches 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 ...

between 1997 and 2006. His debut was a 4–0 friendly win against

Belarus Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by R ...

at the

Štadión pod Zoborom Štadión pod Zoborom is a multi-use stadium in Nitra, Slovakia. It is used mostly for football matches and is the home ground of FC Nitra. The Capacity is 7.480. Reconstruction In 2018, the reconstruction of the stadium began. The estimated co ...

Nitra Nitra (; also known by other alternative names) is a city in western Slovakia, situated at the foot of Zobor Mountain in the valley of the river Nitra. It is located 95 km east of Bratislava. With a population of about 78,353, it is the fifth la ...

on 2 February 1997, replacing Róbert Semeník for the final 26 minutes. He scored his first goal on his third cap on 5 February 1997, in a 2–2 draw away against

Costa Rica Costa Rica (, ; ; literally "Rich Coast"), officially the Republic of Costa Rica ( es, República de Costa Rica), is a country in the Central American region of North America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the no ...

. Németh's last goal came in his 55th international on 1 March 2006, in an away friendly win over

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. His last game was on 6 September 2006, in qualification for

Euro 2008 The 2008 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2008 or simply Euro 2008, was the 13th UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial football tournament contested by the member nations of UEFA (the Union of European ...

, a 3–0 home defeat to the

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 ...

. He was the country's highest-scorer until

Róbert Vittek Róbert Vittek (; born 1 April 1982) is a Slovak former professional footballer who played as a forward. With 23 goals in 82 matches since 2001, Vittek is the second top scorer in the history of the Slovakia national football team. He played fo ...

broke the record, and is their seventh most-capped player.

Personal life

Németh belongs to the

Hungarian minority in Slovakia Hungarians are the largest ethnic minority in Slovakia. According to th2021 Slovak census 422,065 people (or 7.75% of the population) declared themselves Hungarians, while 462,175 (8.48% of the population) stated that Hungarian language, Hu ...

Career statistics

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

Honours

Slovan Bratislava *

: 1994-95, 1995-96 *

Slovak Cup The Slovak Cup () is the main knockout cup competition in Slovak football. The winner qualifies for the UEFA Europa Conference League. History The competition was first contested in 1969. Until 1993, the winner of the Slovak Cup would face the w ...

: 1996-97 Inter Bratislava *Slovak Super Liga: 1999–2000, 2000–01 *Slovak Cup: 1999–2000, 2000–01 Middlesbrough *

Football League 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 ...

: 2003–04 Individual *

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 ...

: 2000 *Slovak Super Liga top scorer: 1999–2000, 2000–01

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Nemeth, Szilard Living people 1977 births People from Komárno Hungarians in Slovakia Association football forwards Slovak footballers ŠK Slovan Bratislava players FC VSS Košice players Czech First League players AC Sparta Prague players FK Inter Bratislava players Middlesbrough F.C. players RC Strasbourg Alsace players Alemannia Aachen players Slovak Super Liga players Premier League players Ligue 1 players Bundesliga players 2. Bundesliga players Slovakia international footballers Slovakia under-21 international footballers Slovak expatriate footballers Slovak expatriate sportspeople in the Czech Republic Slovak expatriate sportspeople in England Slovak expatriate sportspeople in France Slovak expatriate sportspeople in Germany Expatriate footballers in the Czech Republic Expatriate footballers in England Expatriate footballers in France Expatriate footballers in Germany Slovak people of Hungarian descent