Vladimír Labant (born 8 June 1974) 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 ...

who played as a

left-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

. He represented the Slovakia national team.

Club career

Labant was a much sought after

after a successful spell with Czech club

Slavia Prague Sportovní klub Slavia Praha – fotbal (Sports Club Slavia Prague – Football, ), commonly known as Slavia Praha or Slavia Prague, is a Czech professional football club in Prague. Founded in 1892, they are the second most successful club in ...

. He joined rivals

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 ...

in 1999 and was touted around Europe to several teams including

PSV Eindhoven Philips Sport Vereniging (; en, Philips Sports Association ), abbreviated as PSV and internationally known as PSV Eindhoven (), is a Dutch sports club from Eindhoven, Netherlands. It is best known for its professional football department, w ...

of the Netherlands. He eventually moved to

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium, hav ...

for a fee just under £1 million in January 2002. He made his debut when he came on as a substitute in an

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

tie against

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 ...

. His cross led to West Ham's equaliser from

Frédéric Kanouté Frédéric Oumar Kanouté (born 2 September 1977) is a former professional footballer who played as a striker for several top-tier clubs in Europe, enjoying his greatest success with La Liga side Sevilla. Kanouté was named the 2007 African Foo ...

. He ended the 2001-02 season with 14 first team appearances for West Ham. The following season he was shunned even as the club fell into a relegation battle. Having made just one appearance for West Ham in the 2002-03 season thus far, in a 4–0 loss at Newcastle United, he rejoined Sparta Prague on loan in December 2002, and eventually re-signed with them permanently the following summer. Labant finished his playing career with

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, an ...

in the Slovak

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, ...

International career

Labant made 27 appearances for the senior Slovakia national team. He made his debut against

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, and ...

in a

UEFA Euro 2000 The 2000 UEFA European Football Championship, also known as Euro 2000, was the 11th UEFA European Championship, a football tournament held every four years and organised by UEFA, the sport's governing body in Europe. The finals tournament wa ...

qualifier on 27 March 1999, a match in which he was sent off after receiving two yellow cards. Labant's final cap came against

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

on 31 March 2004.

Honours

Slavia Prague *

Czech Cup The Czech Cup ( cs, Pohár FAČR), officially known as the MOL Cup for sponsorship reasons, is the major men's football cup competition in the Czech Republic. It is organised by the Czech Football Association. The Czech Cup was first held in 19 ...

: 1998–99 Sparta Prague *

Czech First League 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 r ...

: 1999–2000, 2000–01, 2002–03 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 ...

: 1999

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Labant, Vladimir 1974 births Living people People from Čadca Footballers from the Žilina Region Slovak men's footballers Men's association football defenders Slovakia men's international footballers Slovak First Football League players Czech First League players Premier League players Austrian Football Bundesliga players MŠK Žilina players FK Dukla Banská Bystrica players FC VSS Košice players SK Slavia Prague players AC Sparta Prague players West Ham United F.C. players FC Admira Wacker Mödling players SK Rapid Wien players FC Spartak Trnava players Slovak expatriate men's footballers Slovak expatriate sportspeople in the Czech Republic Expatriate men's footballers in the Czech Republic Slovak expatriate sportspeople in England Expatriate men's footballers in England Slovak expatriate sportspeople in Austria Expatriate men's footballers in Austria