Dušan Kuciak (; born 21 May 1985) is a Slovak 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 plays as a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

for Polish club Lechia Gdańsk and the Slovakia national team. He is the younger brother of

Martin Kuciak Martin Kuciak (born 15 March 1982) is a Slovak football goalkeeper who last played for Slovak third division team of MŠK Považská Bystrica. He is the elder brother of Lechia Gdańsk and ex-Slovakia goalkeeper Dušan Kuciak. Club career M ...

, who plays as a goalkeeper for

Považská Bystrica Považská Bystrica (; german: Waagbistritz; hu, Vágbeszterce) is a town in northwestern Slovakia. It is located on the Váh river, around 30 km from the city of Žilina. It belongs to Upper Váh region of tourism. Profile Považská B ...

Club career

Dušan Kuciak was part of

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 ...

youth academy. Aged 16, he signed his first contract with the

Slovak Superliga 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 ...

side

AS Trenčín AS Trenčín () is a Slovak sports club in the town of Trenčín, most known for its football department. The first team currently plays in the Fortuna Liga after winning the 2010–11 Slovak First League. The club plays its home games at th ...

MŠK Žilina

After a two-year spell in Trenčín, he returned to Žilina, where he was the second-choice keeper, the first-choice being

Ján Mucha Ján Mucha (born 5 December 1982) is a Slovak former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Club career Everton In January 2010, Mucha signed a pre-contract deal with English Premier League club Everton to join them on 1 July. O ...

. Despite not playing at all, he was linked by the English Premier League side West Ham, where he was loaned for 6 months. In January 2006, he returned to Žilina, and he established himself as the first-choice keeper. He won

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, ...

with Žilina in 2006–07 season.

FC Vaslui

On 26 June 2008, he signed a three-year contract with Romanian side

FC Vaslui CS Sporting Juniorul Vaslui (), commonly known as Sporting Vaslui, Juniorul Vaslui or simply as Vaslui, is a Romanian professional football club based in Vaslui, Vaslui County, founded in 2002 and re-founded in 2014. The club is currently pla ...

. He was bought to replace Cristian Hăisan, while he was suspended, but Kuciak established himself quickly as the first-choice keeper. He was the only player that season, who played every minute, and the first in Vaslui's history who achieved this feat. At the end of the season, he established another record, having the most clean-sheets in Vaslui's short spell in Liga I. Also, he captained the team a few matches, while Cânu was on the bench. On 4 August, he received a red card in the Europa League match against Omonia Nicosia. On 26 September, after a conflict with team's coach, he was relegated on the bench, and seemed to lost his place in the team, but because of Hăisan's poor rating, re-established as the first-choice keeper. At the end of the season, he established another record for Vaslui, saving 4 out of 5 penalties, and also receiving only 17 goals in 23 matches. After three seasons at Vaslui, Kuciak left the club in the summer of 2011.

Legia Warsaw

Kuciak joined the Polish club Legia Warsaw in August 2011. In August 2013, he extended his contract at the club until 2016. West Ham United In January 2013, West Ham United were reported to be in talks with the goalkeeper.

Hull City

On 1 February 2016, Kuciak signed an 18-month contract with

Hull City Hull City Association Football Club is a professional football club based in Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England, that compete in the . They have played home games at the MKM Stadium since moving from Boothferry Park in 2002. The club's t ...

. Kuciak made his debut on 23 August 2016 in the second round of the EFL Cup away to

Exeter City Exeter City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Exeter, Devon, England. The team play in , the third tier of the English football league system. Known as "the Grecians", the origin of their nickname is subject to ...

that City won 3–1.

International career

He made his international debut for the Slovakia national team in a 2–1 away win against

UAE 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 10 December 2006. After a two-year absence in the national team, he was called again in 2009, because of his impressive form at Vaslui. He was named in the provisional 30-man squad for

2010 World Cup , image = 2010 FIFA World Cup.svg , size = 200px , caption = ''Ke Nako. (Tswana and Sotho for "It's time") Celebrate Africa's Humanity'It's time. Celebrate Africa's Humanity'' (English)''Dis tyd. Vier Afrika se mensd ...

. He played in the Slovakia's second warm-up game, where he was replaced in the 85th minute, because of an injury. However, he was kept for the final 23-man squad, for

, where he wore the Number 23 Shirt. He was named in the final Slovakia squad for 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 ...

tournament. Kuciak last appeared in the national team selection under

Štefan Tarkovič Štefan Tarkovič (born 18 February 1973) is a Slovak football manager. He is currently the manager of Slovakia. He previously managed the teams Žilina Žilina (; hu, Zsolna, ; german: Sillein, or ; pl, Żylina , names in other langua ...

in November 2021.

Career statistics

International

Honours

MŠK Žilina *

: 2006–07 *

Slovak Super Cup The Slovak Super Cup (''Slovenský Superpohár'' in Slovak), in the past named as ''Matičný pohár'' or ''Pribinov pohár'', was a football match between the champion of the Corgoň Liga and winner of the Slovak Cup. The cup was played annual ...

: 2007 FC Vaslui * UEFA Intertoto Cup:

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; ...

Legia Warsaw *

Ekstraklasa Poland Ekstraklasa (), meaning "Extra Class" in Polish, named PKO Ekstraklasa since the 2019–20 season due to its sponsorship by PKO Bank Polski, is the top Polish professional league for men's association football teams. Contested by 18 ...

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 ...

, 2013–14, 2015–16 *

Polish Cup The Polish Cup in football ( pl, Puchar Polski w piłce nożnej ) is an elimination tournament for Polish football clubs, held continuously from 1950, and is the second most important national title in Polish football after the Ekstraklasa title. ...

: 2011–12, 2014–15, 2015–16 Hull City *

Football League Championship play-offs The English Football League Championship play-offs are a series of play-off matches contested by the association football teams finishing from third to sixth in the EFL Championship table and are part of the English Football League play-offs. , ...

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 of Dilma Rousseff, impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses duri ...

Lechia Gdańsk *

: 2018–19 *

Polish Super Cup The Polish Super Cup (, ) is an annually held match between the champions of the Ekstraklasa and the Polish Cup winners or, if the Ekstraklasa champions also win the Polish Cup, the Cup's runners-up. As of 2021, the Polish Super Cup has been pl ...

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

Individual

Goalkeeper of the Season: 2019–20

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kuciak, Dusan 1985 births Living people Sportspeople from Žilina Slovak footballers Slovak expatriate footballers Slovakia international footballers Association football goalkeepers AS Trenčín players MŠK Žilina players West Ham United F.C. players FC Vaslui players Legia Warsaw players Ekstraklasa players Hull City A.F.C. players Lechia Gdańsk players Slovak Super Liga players Liga I players 2010 FIFA World Cup players UEFA Euro 2020 players Expatriate footballers in England Slovak expatriate sportspeople in England Expatriate footballers in Poland Slovak expatriate sportspeople in Poland Expatriate footballers in Romania Slovak expatriate sportspeople in Romania