Tomáš Ujfaluši (, born 24 March 1978) is a Czech 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 ...

. He operated as either a central defender or a right back. Other than in his country he played professionally in Germany (four years), Italy (four), Spain (three) and Turkey (two), winning six major titles between Hamburger SV,

Atlético Madrid Club Atlético de Madrid, Sociedad Anónima Deportiva, S.A.D. (; meaning "Athletic Club of Madrid"), known simply as Atleti in the Spanish-speaking world and commonly referred to at international level as Atlético Madrid, is a Spanish profess ...

and Galatasaray. He started his career in 1996 with

Sigma Olomouc SK Sigma Olomouc is a Czech football club from the city of Olomouc. The club currently plays in the Czech First League, the first tier of Czech football. The club played in the first tier league for 30 years between 1984 and 2014, winning the Czec ...

. Ujfaluši played seventy eight times for the Czech Republic, representing the nation at the

2006 World Cup The 2006 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Germany 2006, was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to host the ...

and two

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Club career

Early years / Hamburg / Fiorentina

Born in

Rýmařov Rýmařov (; german: Römerstadt) is a town in Bruntál District in the Moravian-Silesian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 8,000 inhabitants. The historic town centre is well preserved and is protected by law as an urban monument zone. ...

, Czechoslovakia of Hungarian roots – Ujfaluši made his professional debut with SK Sigma Olomouc, at the age of 18. In December 2000, he moved abroad and signed with German club Hamburger SV: his debut came on 10 December by playing 90 minutes in a 2–1 home win against FC Energie Cottbus, and 16 of his 17 appearances in that season were complete, but the team could only rank 13th and 11th the following campaign, with respectively 58 and 57 goals conceded. In 2002–03 Ujfaluši helped Hamburg finish in fourth position, but the team fared worse in the following season (again conceding in the region of 50 Bundesliga goals). Subsequently, he signed with

ACF Fiorentina ACF Fiorentina, commonly referred to as Fiorentina (), is an Italian professional football club based in Florence, Tuscany, Italy. The original team was founded by a merger in August 1926, while the actual club was refounded in August 2002 fo ...

, freshly returned to Serie A after successfully emerging from a bankruptcy situation.

Atlético Madrid

After nearly 150 official appearances for the ''Viola'' (albeit without silverware), being mainly used as a centre back by coach

Cesare Prandelli Claudio Cesare Prandelli (; born 19 August 1957) is an Italian football coach and former player. He was most recently head coach of Fiorentina. Career Player Prandelli was a midfielder who moved from Atalanta to Juventus in 1979. His first game ...

, Ujfaluši joined

as a free agent, helping the

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team repeat its fourth position in La Liga in his debut season, subsequently qualifying for the

2009–10 UEFA Champions League The 2009–10 UEFA Champions League was the 55th season of Europe's premier club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 18th under the current UEFA Champions League format. The final was played on 22 May 2010, at the Santiago Bernabéu St ...

. In the 2009–10 league campaign Atlético only finished ninth, but

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the newly created UEFA Europa League, with Ujfaluši appearing in eight complete matches in the latter competition. On 19 September 2010, during injury time of a 1–2 league loss against FC Barcelona at the Vicente Calderón Stadium, he made a late challenge on Lionel Messi, injuring his right ankle. The defender received a straight

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for his foul, and was subsequently banned for two games by the Spanish League's disciplinary committee; he was an undisputed starter during the season – mostly as right-back – as the ''Colchoneros'' finished seventh and qualified to the Europa League.

Galatasaray

On 20 June 2011, aged 33, Ujfaluši signed for Süper Lig club Galatasaray, for a

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2 million transfer fee. He was an undisputed starter in his first season, being sent off in the final game of the campaign, a 0–0 away draw against Fenerbahçe SK, as ''Gala'' won a record-equalling 18th league title. Ujfaluši left Galatasaray at the end of

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 ...

, after a lengthy injury. He retired in December at the age of 35, after a few months back in his homeland with AC Sparta Prague. On 18 December 2013 Ujfaluši returned to Galatasaray, being appointed director of football. He left his post in June of the following year.

International career

Ujfaluši gained his first cap for the Czech Republic in 2001, whilst at Hamburg. He represented the nation at UEFA Euro 2004 (appearing in four matches for the semifinalists), the

2006 FIFA World Cup The 2006 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Germany 2006, was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to host the ...

– being sent off against Ghana in an eventual group stage exit– and Euro 2008 (three games, being named Man of the match in the first game of the tournament, a 1–0 win against

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

). After nine years with the national team, during which he eventually gained

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, Ujfaluši ended his international career on 8 April 2009 after being criticised for visiting a restaurant, accompanied by five other players, following the Czech Republic's defeat to Slovakia on 1 April for the

World Cup qualification The FIFA World Cup qualification is a competitive match that a national association football team takes in order to qualify for one of the available berths at the final tournament of the (men's) FIFA World Cup. Qualifying tournaments are hel ...

Career statistics

Club

International

International goals

Honours

Hamburger SV * DFB-Ligapokal:

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Atlético Madrid * UEFA Europa League: 2009–10 * UEFA Super Cup:

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Galatasaray * Süper Lig: 2011–12,

* Turkish Super Cup:

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Individual *Süper Lig Defender of the Year: 2011–12 * Fiorentina All-time XI

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ujfalusi, Tomas 1978 births Living people People from Rýmařov Czech people of Hungarian descent Czech footballers Association football defenders Czech First League players SK Sigma Olomouc players AC Sparta Prague players Bundesliga players Hamburger SV players Serie A players ACF Fiorentina players La Liga players Atlético Madrid footballers Süper Lig players Galatasaray S.K. footballers Czech Republic youth international footballers Czech Republic under-21 international footballers Czech Republic international footballers UEFA Euro 2004 players 2006 FIFA World Cup players UEFA Euro 2008 players Olympic footballers of the Czech Republic Footballers at the 2000 Summer Olympics Czech expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Germany Expatriate footballers in Italy Expatriate footballers in Spain Expatriate footballers in Turkey Czech expatriate sportspeople in Germany Czech expatriate sportspeople in Italy Czech expatriate sportspeople in Spain Czech expatriate sportspeople in Turkey UEFA Europa League winning players Sportspeople from the Moravian-Silesian Region