Ján Ďurica (born 10 December 1981) 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

central defender 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 worked as assistant manager of FC Petržalka.

Club career

Ďurica moved to FC Saturn Moscow Oblast after a highly successful

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competi ...

campaign with FC Artmedia Bratislava. On 31 January 2009, Ďurica signed a three-year contract with

Lokomotiv Moscow FC Lokomotiv Moscow (''FC Lokomotiv Moskva'', russian: link=no, Футбольный клуб "Локомотив" Москва, ) is a Russian professional football club based in Moscow. Lokomotiv have won the Russian Premier League on three oc ...

, who have paid around €3.5 million to overtake Celtic and Panathinaikos in the auction for the Slovakia national. On 13 January 2010, it was confirmed that he would join Hannover 96 on-loan until the end of the season.

International career

On 9 July 2004, Ďurica made his national team debut against Japan at the 2004 Kirin Cup. He was picked for the Slovak squad for their first

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament ha ...

ever, held in South Africa. He played all four matches at the

2010 FIFA 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 also remained a regular center-back for the upcoming years, forming a solid defensive duo with Martin Škrtel (for a majority of his career - both players debuting in the same match). After contributing to Slovakia's first appearance at a

UEFA European Championship The UEFA European Football Championship, less formally the European Championship and informally the Euro, is the primary association football tournament organised by the Union of European Football Associations ( UEFA). The competition is conte ...

he was one of the players who completed all of Slovakia's four matches of the tournament. After the tournament, he hinted the intention to retire from international football after the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia, where he spent a notable part of his career. However, as Slovakia failed to qualify, Ďurica retired on 14 November 2017, in a home friendly match against

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(1–0 win), with a final statistic of 91 caps and 4 goals.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list Slovakia's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Ďurica goal.''

Personal life

Born in Dunajská Streda, he belongs to the Hungarian minority in Slovakia through her mother.

Honours

Artmedia Petržalka * Slovak Cup: 2003–04 *

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 ...

: 2004–05 Lokomotiv Moscow * Russian Cup: 2014–15 Individual * List of 33 top players of the Russian league: #1 (2007), #2 (2013–14)

References

External links

* * * Living people 1981 births People from Dunajská Streda Slovak footballers Slovak people of Hungarian descent Association football central defenders Slovakia international footballers 2010 FIFA World Cup players UEFA Euro 2016 players FC DAC 1904 Dunajská Streda players FC Petržalka players FC Saturn Ramenskoye players FC Lokomotiv Moscow players Hannover 96 players Trabzonspor footballers FK Dukla Prague players Slovak Super Liga players Russian Premier League players Bundesliga players Süper Lig players Slovak expatriate footballers Slovak expatriate sportspeople in Russia Expatriate footballers in Russia Slovak expatriate sportspeople in Germany Expatriate footballers in Germany Slovak expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Expatriate footballers in Turkey Expatriate footballers in the Czech Republic {{Slovakia-footy-defender-stub