Ján Popluhár (12 September 1935 – 6 March 2011) was a Slovak

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 primarily played as a sweeper for Slovak club

ŠK Slovan Bratislava ŠK Slovan Bratislava (, "Bratislava Slav") is a football club based in Bratislava, Slovakia, that plays in the Slovak Super Liga. Founded as 1. ČsŠK Bratislava in 1919, the club changed its name to Slovan Bratislava in 1953. Slovan is the m ...

. At international level, he was also a member of the Czechoslovakia national team, playing in two World Cups (

1958 Events January * January 1 – The European Economic Community (EEC) comes into being. * January 3 – The West Indies Federation is formed. * January 4 ** Edmund Hillary's Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition completes the third ...

and

1962 Events January * January 1 – Western Samoa becomes independent from New Zealand. * January 3 – Pope John XXIII excommunicates Fidel Castro for preaching communism. * January 8 – Harmelen train disaster: 93 die in the wor ...

Club career

Popluhár started his football career after high school with RH Brno. However, he is best known for the 15 seasons he spent with

where he made 262 competitive appearances in defence, scoring 21 goals, and following further stints with Brno and Zbrojovka Brno finished on 306 Czechoslovak league games and a goalscoring tally of 24. After finishing his career with Slovan in 1968 he moved to French league side Olympique Lyonnais. Two seasons there were enough, but subsequently he spent five years with Austrian amateur club SK Slovan Vienna as player/coach. Many of the thousands of fans in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

thought that Popluhár would be shown up by players twenty years younger than he was, but this did not happen. However, at the age of 44 Popluhár realised that his playing career was over. Slovan Bratislava coach Leopold Šťastný was famous for creating nicknames for his players, and so Popluhár became known in Slovak football circles as 'Bimbo'. "I was called this because I always looked, and indeed was, good-natured, and I would never hurt anybody", recalls Popluhár.

International career

At the

1962 World Cup The 1962 FIFA World Cup was the seventh edition of the FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football championship for senior men's national teams. It was held from 30 May to 17 June 1962 in Chile. The qualification rounds took place bet ...

in Chile, instead of turning the situation to his team's advantage, Popluhár brought the referee's attention to the injured Pelé. In 1997, he was awarded the World Fair Play award for this sporting act. "I met Pelé several times, the first occasion in Chile and then in various international and club games. He was undoubtedly the best, but there were not many one-to-one situations he won and also not many Slovak players who scored in the famous Maracanã stadium. I belong to this lucky group after I scored with a free kick against

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

in June 1966", he remembers. Czechoslovak football was well represented in 1963 at

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium (branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 2002 to 2003. The stadium ...

in a match to mark the centenary of the

English Football Association The Football Association (also known as The FA) is the governing body of association football in England and the Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. Formed in 1863, it is the oldest football association in the world an ...

. Popluhár, along with Svatopluk Pluskal and

Josef Masopust Josef Masopust (9 February 1931 – 29 June 2015) was a Czech football player and coach. He played as midfielder and was a key player for Czechoslovakia, helping them reach the 1962 FIFA World Cup Final. He was capped 63 times, scoring ten g ...

, played in a world team that included

Alfredo Di Stéfano Alfredo (, ) is a cognate of the Anglo-Saxon name Alfred and a common Italian, Galician, Portuguese and Spanish language personal name. People with the given name include: *Alfredo (born 1946), Brazilian footballer born as Alfredo Mostarda Fil ...

, Raymond Kopa,

Uwe Seeler Uwe Seeler (; 5 November 1936 – 21 July 2022) was a German footballer and football official. As a striker, he was a prolific scorer for Hamburger SV and also made 72 appearances for the West Germany national team. Widely regarded as one of ...

, Denis Law,

Eusébio Eusébio da Silva Ferreira (; 25 January 1942 – 5 January 2014), nicknamed the "Black Panther", the "Black Pearl" or "O Rei" ("The King"), was a Portuguese footballer who played as a striker. He is considered one of the greatest players of ...

and Ferenc Puskás against an England eleven. Further appearances in all-star teams followed. Popluhár was elected Footballer of the Year in the former Czechoslovakia for the first time in 1965, despite the great form of his Czechoslovak teammate Josef Masopust. "When I was at my peak, the conditions for a football player were modest here in Czechoslovakia, but the spirit and support of the spectators was incredible. I am not sure that today's players, however, would want to return to my era", he said. After working for a sports company that went bankrupt and suffering prolonged health problems resulting in a modest invalidity pension and an unsuitable job, he returned to his footballing roots.

Honours

Slovan Bratislava *

Czechoslovak Cup The Czechoslovak Cup () was a football cup competition held in Czechoslovakia. It was officially created in 1960 and folded in 1993 with the split between Czech Republic and Slovakia. The cup was played throughout Czechoslovakia until 1968–69. ...

: 1962, 1963, 1968 Czechoslovakia * 1958 FIFA World Cup: Group stage *

1960 European Nations' Cup The 1960 European Nations' Cup was the first edition of the UEFA European Championship, held every four years and organised by UEFA. The first tournament was held in France. It was won by the Soviet Union, who beat Yugoslavia 2–1 in Paris afte ...

: Bronze Medal *

1962 FIFA World Cup The 1962 FIFA World Cup was the seventh edition of the FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football championship for senior men's national teams. It was held from 30 May to 17 June 1962 in Chile. The qualification rounds took place be ...

: Silver Medal Individual * World Soccer World XI: 1964, 1967, 1968"ERIC BATTY’S WORLD XI – THE SIXTIES"
Retrieved on 20 October 2016 *

Czechoslovak Footballer of the Year Czechoslovak may refer to: *A demonym or adjective pertaining to Czechoslovakia (1918–93) **First Czechoslovak Republic (1918–38) ** Second Czechoslovak Republic (1938–39) **Third Czechoslovak Republic (1948–60) **Fourth Czechoslovak Repu ...

: 1965 * In 2000 Popluhár was elected as the best Slovak footballer of the 20th century. * UEFA Slovak Golden Player: 2003 * Asteroid 267585 Popluhár, discovered by

NEAT Neat may refer to: * Neat (bartending), a single, unmixed liquor served in a rocks glass * Neat, an old term for horned oxen * Neat Records, a British record label * Neuroevolution of augmenting topologies (NEAT), a genetic algorithm (GA) for t ...

at Palomar Observatory in 2002, was named in his honor based on a suggestion by Slovak amateur astronomer Stefan Kürti. The official was published by the Minor Planet Center on 15 June 2011 ().

References

External links

*
UEFA.com – Slovakia's Golden Player – Popluhár: The people's choice
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Popluhar, Jan 1935 births 2011 deaths People from Senec District UEFA Golden Players Slovak footballers Czechoslovak footballers Association football sweepers ŠK Slovan Bratislava players Olympique Lyonnais players 1958 FIFA World Cup players 1960 European Nations' Cup players 1962 FIFA World Cup players Czechoslovakia international footballers FC Zbrojovka Brno players Czechoslovak expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in France Czechoslovak expatriate sportspeople in France