Samuel Slovák (born 17 October 1975) is a Slovak former

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 an

attacking midfielder A midfielder is an Glossary of association football terms#O, 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 #Cent ...

and currently serves as an assistant coach of

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 ...

. Best known for his technical and passing abilities, his career was mostly associated with Slovan Bratislava, which he also captained for several years.

Club career

Slovák was born in

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 ...

. After a brief spell at local

FC Nitra FC Nitra is a Slovak association football club, playing in the town of Nitra. Established in 1909, FC Nitra is one of the oldest football clubs in Slovakia. History Czechoslovak era Nitra were promoted and relegated 4 times from the Czechoslov ...

, the 19-year-old signed with

ŠK Slovan Bratislava ŠK Slovan Bratislava (, "Bratislava Slav") is a football club based in Bratislava, Slovakia, that plays in the Slovak Super Liga. Founded as 1. ČsŠK Bratislava in 1919, the club changed its name to Slovan Bratislava in 1953. Slovan is the mo ...

, where he appeared regularly from an early age. In the summer of 1997, Slovák moved abroad, joining Spain's

CD Tenerife Club Deportivo Tenerife, S.A.D. is a Spanish football club based in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Tenerife, in the Canary Islands. Founded in 1912, the club plays in the Segunda División, holding home matches at the Estadio Heliodoro Rodríguez Lóp ...

. During his spell, he was sparingly used whilst the club was in

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 ...

(with a maximum input of 27 matches in 1999–2000's

Segunda División The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Segunda División, commercially known as LaLiga SmartBank for sponsorship reasons, is the men's second professional association football division of the Spanish football league system. Administrated by the Lig ...

, without promotion), also being loaned for one year to former side Slovan. Slovák moved in 2002 to neighbouring Czech Republic, signing for

Gambrinus liga 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 ru ...

title holders

FC Slovan Liberec FC Slovan Liberec (), commonly referred to as Slovan Liberec or simply Slovan, is a Czech football club based in the city of Liberec. The club is one of the most successful in the Czech Republic, having won three league titles and the domestic ...

. After six games and three goals, his

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and pol ...

was finished after he suffered a serious knee injury. In the January 2004 transfer window, when fully recovered, Slovák changed countries again, signing for 1. FC Nürnberg, where he teamed up with compatriots

Marek Mintál Marek Mintál (; born 2 September 1977) is a Slovak former professional Association football, footballer who played as a attacking midfielder or forward (association football), forward. He is the current manager of 1. FC Nürnberg II and assista ...

and

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 ...

, being the least successful player of the trio. In mid-October of the following year, the 30-year-old left the Germans and returned to Slovan Bratislava. In the 2006–07 campaign he helped the team to a third-place finish, scoring twice from 27 appearances. After having appeared in less than half of the matches in 2009–10, with Slovan finishing in second position in the

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 ...

, Slovák retired from football due to recurring knee problems, aged nearly 35. He returned to his main club in 2011, being appointed manager of the reserves. In the 2012–13 season, Slovák led Slovan to the double. He left the ''

Štadión Pasienky Stadion Pasienky is a multi-purpose stadium in Bratislava, Slovakia. The stadium holds 11,591 people. It is used mostly for football matches and is the home ground of Slovan Bratislava from 2009 to 2018. The intensity of the floodlighting is 1,40 ...

'', however, being appointed at Liberec.

International career

Slovák won his first

cap A cap is a flat headgear, usually with a visor. Caps have crowns that fit very close to the head. They made their first appearance as early as 3200 BC. Caps typically have a visor, or no brim at all. They are popular in casual and informal se ...

for

at the age of 20, going on to appear in a further 19 games in the following decade, although he went through a large period of international inactivity, playing no matches from 2002 to 2004.

Honours

Player

Slovan Bratislava *

: 1994–95, 1995–96, 2008–09 *

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, 2009–10

Manager

Slovan Bratislava *

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Slovak, Samuel 1975 births Living people Sportspeople from Nitra Slovak footballers Association football midfielders Slovak Super Liga players ŠK Slovan Bratislava players FC Slovan Liberec players La Liga players Segunda División players CD Tenerife players Bundesliga players 2. Bundesliga players 1. FC Nürnberg players Slovakia international footballers Slovak expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Spain Expatriate footballers in the Czech Republic Expatriate footballers in Germany Slovak expatriate sportspeople in Spain Slovak expatriate sportspeople in Germany Slovak football managers FC Slovan Liberec managers Expatriate football managers in the Czech Republic