Tomáš Hubočan (; born 17 September 1985) is a Slovak professional footballer who plays as a defender for Cypriot club Karmiotissa. He made his senior international debut in 2006. He has gone on to make 73 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 ...

, representing his nation at the

UEFA Euro 2016 The 2016 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2016 (stylised as UEFA EURO 2016) or simply Euro 2016, was the 15th UEFA European Championship, the quadrennial international men's football championship of Europe o ...

and the

UEFA Euro 2020 The 2020 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2020 (stylised as UEFA EURO 2020) or simply Euro 2020, was the 16th UEFA European Championship, the quadrennial international men's football championship of Europe ...

tournaments. He retired as 9th most capped international footballer in December 2021.

Club career

MŠK Žilina

Hubočan began in

MŠK Žilina MŠK Žilina () is a Slovak football club based in the town of Žilina, that is playing in the Slovak Superliga. Since the league inception in 1993, the club has won 7 titles and comes second in All-time table that makes them one of the most s ...

since his youth years, beyond the time when he was on loan in ViOn Zlaté Moravce since January 2006 until June 2006. After the end of loan he came back to

Žilina Žilina (; hu, Zsolna, ; german: Sillein, or ; pl, Żylina , names in other languages) is a city in north-western Slovakia, around from the capital Bratislava, close to both the Czech and Polish borders. It is the fourth largest city of Sl ...

and he worked up for one of the best

defenders Defender(s) or The Defender(s) may refer to: *Defense (military) *Defense (sports) **Defender (association football) Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''The Defender'' (1989 film), a Canadian documentary * ''The Defender'' (1994 f ...

Corgoň 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 ...

. In the 2006–07 season, he won the league with ''Šošoni''.

Zenit

Hubočan signed for Zenit on 11 February 2008 on a three-year contract for €3.8 million, the highest ever paid to a Slovak club. Hubočan is hoped to fill the vacancy in the center of Zenit's defense created by fellow Slovak defender

Martin Škrtel Martin Škrtel (born 15 December 1984) is a Slovak former professional footballer, a former player and captain of the Slovakia national team and Liverpool Football Club. Škrtel previously played for FK AS Trenčín and Zenit Saint Petersburg, ...

being sold 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 ...

. As Zenit's star center-backs

Ivica Križanac Ivica Križanac (born 13 April 1979) is a Croatian retired professional footballer who played as a defender. Club career Križanac was born in Split. He played for Górnik Zabrze of Poland where he became one of Polish league's best players. ...

and

Nicolas Lombaerts Nicolas Robert Christian Lombaerts (born 20 March 1985) is a Belgian former professional footballer who played as a centre-back and current assistant manager of K.A.A. Gent. Career Club Brugge Lombaerts joined Club Brugge at young age where h ...

were still on the injured list, and defenders

Kim Dong-Jin Kim Dong-jin (born 29 January 1982) is a former South Korean footballer who played as a full-back or a wing-back. He is currently the assistant coach of Hong Kong Premier League club Kitchee. Club career Kim started his professional caree ...

and

Roman Shirokov Roman Nikolayevich Shirokov (russian: Роман Николаевич Широ́ков ; born 6 July 1981) is a Russian international football official and a former player. As a player, he was described as "a deep-lying midfielder with an aptitu ...

were not quite ready to make their comebacks, Hubočan received his first taste of Champions League football against Real Madrid (at the Petrovsky stadium) on 30 September 2008. Only having played a total of 11 games for Zenit, it was a rude awakening as he conceded a disastrous own-goal in the 4th minute. Having only played in 22 league games over two seasons, Hubočan was not quite trusted by former head coaches

Dick Advocaat Dirk Nicolaas Advocaat (; born 27 September 1947) is a Dutch former football player and coach who is currently the head coach of Eerste Divisie side ADO Den Haag. Advocaat was successful as a football player and as a coach, including three sti ...

and

Anatoli Davydov Anatoli Viktorovich Davydov (russian: Анатолий Викторович Давыдов; born 13 November 1953) is a Russian professional football coach and a former player. He is the director of the academy for FC Zenit Saint Petersburg. Ca ...

. He finally broke through to the starting eleven in 2010 under Italian

Luciano Spalletti Luciano Spalletti (; born 7 March 1959) is an Italian football manager and a former player. He is currently the manager of Italian Serie A club Napoli. Playing career Born in Certaldo, Metropolitan City of Florence, Spalletti started his career ...

, winning the competition for the unfamiliar left back spot over the likes of Michael Lumb and

Radek Šírl Radek Šírl (born 20 March 1981) is a Czech former professional footballer who played as a left midfielder or left-back. Career Club Šírl was born in Rudná. Šírl and Zenit St. Petersburg agreed to the mutual termination of his contract ...

. Spalletti rated Hubočan as a hot prospect for the future. On 30 September 2010, he scored his first goal for Zenit in a UEFA Europa League match against

AEK Athens F.C. AEK FC ( el, ΠΑΕ A.E.K. ; Αθλητική Ένωσις Κωνσταντινουπόλεως; ''Athlitikí Énosis Konstantinoupόleos'', meaning ''Athletic Union of Constantinople'') is a Greek professional football club based in Nea Filade ...

Trabzonspor

On 7 September 2017, he joined Turkish club

Trabzonspor Trabzonspor Kulübü is a Turkish sports club located in the city of Trabzon. Formed in 1967 through a merger of several local clubs, the men's football team has won seven Süper Lig championships. Trabzonspor also have a women's football team, ...

on loan.

Omonia

On 4 September 2019, Hubočan joined Omonia on a one-year deal. He would later sign 2 one-year extensions, thus staying at the club until 2022. During his time at Omonia, Hubočan won the domestic league, the

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 solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, clay, ...

, and the

Super Cup A super cup is a competition, usually but not exclusively in association football, which often forms the 'curtain raiser' to a season, and typically involves only two teams who have qualified through success in other competitions during the prev ...

. He also helped the club reach the group stage of a European competition for the first time in its history, competing in the group stage of the

2020–21 Europa League The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

and the 2021–22 Europa Conference League.

International career

Hubočan played his first international match for

against

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia (The Middle East). It is located at th ...

on 11 December 2006. He was a part of Slovakia's squad for the country's first European Championship tournament in

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

. Hubočan announced his national team retirement on 22 February 2019, at age 33 along with another national team defender and captain

and forward

Adam Nemec Adam Nemec (; born 2 September 1985) is a Slovak professional footballer who plays as a forward for Liga I side FC Voluntari. In his career, he has played in seven different countries but mostly for teams in Germany and Romania. During 13 years o ...

. The trio shared a farewell game on 13 October 2019 in a friendly against

Paraguay Paraguay (; ), officially the Republic of Paraguay ( es, República del Paraguay, links=no; gn, Tavakuairetã Paraguái, links=si), is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to th ...

, which coincided with a national team return to

Tehelné pole Tehelné pole or National football stadium ( sk, Národný futbalový štadión) is a multi-use stadium in Bratislava, Slovakia. It was completed in 2019 and is used for football (soccer), football matches, including the home matches of ŠK Slov ...

, after 10 years. Although Nemec and Škrtel had starred from the start of the game, Hubočan only entered the game symbolically in the 87th minute, due to a

sprain A sprain, also known as a torn ligament, is an acute soft tissue injury of the ligaments within a joint, often caused by a sudden movement abruptly forcing the joint to exceed its functional range of motion. Ligaments are tough, inelastic fibers ...

. He entered with the game at 1–1. Ironically, this was Hubočan's first international game at the famed Slovakian stadium, home to the national team for a number of years. The game concluded in the same score. In November 2020, he came out of retirement, playing in the

UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying play-offs The play-offs of the UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying tournament decided the last four teams that qualified for the UEFA Euro 2020 final tournament, to be staged across Europe in June and July 2021. Unlike previous editions, the participants of the play- ...

clinching game against

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

. In June 2021, he was included in the final 26-man roster for the rescheduled

tournament. After Slovakia failed to qualify for the

2022 FIFA World Cup The 2022 FIFA World Cup is an international association football, football tournament contested by the men's national teams of FIFA's member associations. The 22nd FIFA World Cup is taking place in Qatar from 20 November to 18 December 2022 ...

, Hubočan announced his second and definitive retirement in an interview with ''Denník Šport'', citing age and family commitments as main motivations.

Career statistics

Honours

MŠK Žilina *

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 ...

: 2003–04, 2006–07 Zenit St. Petersburg *

Russian Premier League The Russian Premier League (RPL; russian: Российская премьер-лига; РПЛ), also written as Russian Premier Liga, is the top division professional association football league in Russia. It was established at the end of 2001 ...

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

, 2011–12 * Russian Cup: 2009–10 *

Russian Super Cup The Russian Super Cup () is a one-match football annual competition. Its official sponsored name is ''OLIMPBET Russian Supercup'' (). The two participating clubs are the Russian Premier League champions and the Russian Cup winners. If the Premie ...

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

Omonia *

Cypriot First Division The Cypriot First Division ( el, Πρωτάθλημα Α΄ Κατηγορίας) is the top tier football league competition in Cyprus, run by the Cyprus Football Association. Since February 2016, it is sponsored by Cyta and is thus officially ...

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

Cypriot Super Cup The Cypriot Super Cup is a Cypriot football trophy, contested in an annual match between the previous season's Cypriot First Division champions, and the Cypriot Cup winners. The match is contested at the beginning of the football season, and is us ...

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October–November 2021 ...

Cypriot Cup The Cypriot Cup () is the main cup competition in Cypriot football, run by the Cyprus Football Association (CFA). It began in 1934, the same season with the Cypriot Championship. It is the second most important competition for Cypriot club team ...

: 2021–22 Slovakia *

King's Cup __NOTOC__ King's Cup (incl. translations), may refer to: Sports Football * Copa del Rey, Spanish for "King's Cup," the main national knockout tournament in men's football * King Cup (sometimes named King's Cup), Saudi Arabian men's football nati ...

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

References

External links

Profile at the official FC Zenit St. Petersburg website
*
MŠK Žilina players
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hubocan, Tomas 1985 births Living people Sportspeople from Žilina Association football defenders Slovak footballers Slovak expatriate footballers Slovakia international footballers MŠK Žilina players FC ViOn Zlaté Moravce players FC Zenit Saint Petersburg players FC Dynamo Moscow players Olympique de Marseille players Trabzonspor footballers AC Omonia players Karmiotissa FC players Slovak Super Liga players Russian Premier League players Ligue 1 players Süper Lig players Cypriot First Division players UEFA Euro 2016 players UEFA Euro 2020 players Slovak expatriate sportspeople in Russia Slovak expatriate sportspeople in France Slovak expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Slovak expatriate sportspeople in Cyprus Expatriate footballers in Russia Expatriate footballers in France Expatriate footballers in Turkey Expatriate footballers in Cyprus