Libor Kozák (born 30 May 1989) is a Czech 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, rugb ...

who last played as a striker for Slovácko.

Club career

SFC Opava

Kozák started his career in 2001 with Czech club Slezský FC Opava, first playing with its youth teams before being promoted to the first team in 2007. Considered a promising talent, Kozák was a prolific goalscorer in the Czech Second Division with Opava. In October 2007, he scored his first

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three w ...

, coming in a 5–1 Opava win against FC Zenit Čáslav in the second division. In January 2008, Kozák went on trial with English

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Fo ...

club

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most d ...

, however he did not join Pompey. At the end of the season, Italian giants Lazio came calling and Kozák accepted a move to

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus ( legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

Lazio

Kozák joined

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in July 2008, signing a five-year contract, with rumours that Lazio club president

Claudio Lotito Claudio Lotito (born 9 May 1957 in Rome) is an Italian entrepreneur and politician. He is the owner and president of the Serie A football club S.S. Lazio since 2004. Lotito earned his high school diploma in Classics at Ugo Foscolo Classical L ...

paid a €1.2 million ($1.8 million) transfer fee. Kozák made his

Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Cop ...

debut on 2 May 2009, coming on as a substitute for

Mauro Zárate Mauro Matías Zárate (; born 13 March 1987) is an Argentine professional footballer who plays as a forward Argentine Primera División club Club Atlético Platense Zárate started his career with Vélez Sarsfield in his native country, play ...

in the 84th minute against Inter at the

San Siro Stadio Giuseppe Meazza, commonly known as San Siro, is a football stadium in the San Siro district of Milan, Italy, which is the home of A.C. Milan and Inter Milan. It has a seating capacity of 80,018, making it one of the largest stadiums ...

. Lazio lost the match 0–2. After a season at Lazio, the club loaned him to

Serie B The Serie B (), currently named Serie BKT for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie A. It has been operating for over ninety years since the 1929–30 season. It had been ...

side

Brescia Brescia (, locally ; lmo, link=no, label= Lombard, Brèsa ; lat, Brixia; vec, Bressa) is a city and '' comune'' in the region of Lombardy, Northern Italy. It is situated at the foot of the Alps, a few kilometers from the lakes Garda and Iseo ...

for the 2009–10 season, to gain experience and regular playing time. On 26 September 2009, Kozák scored his first goal in Italy against

Grosseto Grosseto () is a city and ''comune'' in the central Italian region of Tuscany, the capital of the Province of Grosseto. The city lies from the Tyrrhenian Sea, in the Maremma, at the centre of an alluvial plain on the Ombrone river. It is the ...

. At the end of his loan spell, he returned to Lazio. He scored his first goal for the ''Biancocelesti'' on 18 September 2010 which turned out to be the winner against

Fiorentina ACF Fiorentina, commonly referred to as Fiorentina (), is an Italian professional football club based in Florence, Tuscany, Italy. The original team was founded by a merger in August 1926, while the actual club was refounded in August 2002 fol ...

. On 16 January 2011, he netted the deciding goal against Sampdoria before registering his third and fourth goals for Lazio two weeks later, against Fiorentina once again. Having achieved four goals in nine starts for Lazio of which four goals came in January,

Michal Bílek Michal Bílek (born 13 April 1965) is a football manager and former player. He led the Czech Republic national football team for four years between 2009 and 2013. As a player, he represented Czechoslovakia and the Czech Republic at internation ...

, manager of the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

, suggested Kozak would be called up to the national team and announced he would be make a special trip to the

Stadio Olimpico The Stadio Olimpico (English: ''Olympic Stadium'') is the largest sports facility in Rome, Italy, seating over 70,000 spectators. It is located within the Foro Italico sports complex, north of the city. The structure is owned by the Italian N ...

to watch his game against A.S. Bari. In the 2012–13 season Kozák, under coach Vladimir Petković, experienced a two-faced season failing to score in 19 appearances in Serie A, but finishing the season as the leading goal scorer in the Europa League with 8 goals. He scored his first club

hat trick A hat is a head covering which is worn for various reasons, including protection against weather conditions, ceremonial reasons such as university graduation, religious reasons, safety, or as a fashion accessory. Hats which incorporate mecha ...

against

VfB Stuttgart Verein für Bewegungsspiele Stuttgart 1893 e. V., commonly known as VfB Stuttgart (), is a German sports club based in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg. The club's football team is currently part of Germany's first division, the Bundesliga. VfB S ...

on 14 March 2013, helping his team reach the last eight by an aggregate score of 5–1.

Aston Villa

On 2 September 2013, Kozák signed a four-year deal with English side

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club competes in the , the top tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1874, they have played at their home ground, Villa Park, ...

for €6.5 million transfer fee, being assigned the number 27 shirt. On 14 September 2013, he made his Aston Villa debut at Villa Park, but couldn't prevent the side from losing 2–1 to

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Newcastle upon Tyne, that plays in the Premier League – the top flight of English football. The club was founded in 1892 by the merger of Newcastle East En ...

. On 21 September 2013, he scored his first goal for Villa, seconds after replacing

Christian Benteke Christian Benteke Liolo (born 3 December 1990) is a Belgian professional footballer who plays as a striker for Major League Soccer club D.C. United and the Belgium national team. Benteke began his career at Standard Liège, playing a part in ...

, against Norwich City which proved to be the winning goal in a 1–0 victory. On 9 November 2013, he scored his second Villa goal with a header in a 2–0 victory against

Cardiff City Cardiff City Football Club ( cy, Clwb Pêl-droed Dinas Caerdydd) is a professional association football club based in Cardiff, Wales. It competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1899 as R ...

. On 4 December 2013, he scored the second goal in a 3–2 victory over

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

. On 21 December 2013, he scored the only goal for Villa in a 2–1 loss to

Stoke City Stoke City Football Club is a professional football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England, which competes in the . Founded as Stoke Ramblers in 1863, it changed its name to Stoke in 1878 and then to Stoke City in 1925 after Stoke ...

at the

Britannia Stadium The Bet365 Stadium (stylised as ''bet365 Stadium'') is an all-seater football stadium in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England and the home of EFL Championship club Stoke City. The stadium was previously called the Britannia Stadium but was ...

. On 2 January 2014 Villa announced that Kozak had broken his right leg in a training ground collision with teammate

Ciaran Clark Ciaran Clark (born 26 September 1989) is a professional footballer who plays as a central defender, central midfielder and left-back for Championship club Sheffield United, on loan from Premier League club Newcastle United and the Republic of I ...

, and would miss the rest of the 2013–14 season. Complications and further injuries saw him miss the entire 2014–15 season as well. He eventually made his come back 15 months after the initial leg break in March 2015 in an under-21 match against

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club (), commonly known as Wolves, is a professional football club based in Wolverhampton, England, which compete in the . The club has played at Molineux Stadium since moving from Dudley Road in 1889. The club' ...

. He made his first team comeback in July 2015 in a 3–1 pre-season defeat to

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea. The area faces Wandswor ...

, in which he scored for the first time since December 2013. In February 2017, with Kozak's contract running out at the end of season, Aston Villa announced that he would miss the rest of the season undergoing surgery on his ankle. Kozák was released by Aston Villa at the end of the 2016–17 season.

Bari

On 30 August 2017, Kozak joined

team

Bari Bari ( , ; nap, label= Barese, Bare ; lat, Barium) is the capital city of the Metropolitan City of Bari and of the Apulia region, on the Adriatic Sea, southern Italy. It is the second most important economic centre of mainland Southern Ital ...

Livorno

On 16 July 2018, Kozák signed with

Livorno Livorno () is a port city on the Ligurian Sea on the western coast of Tuscany, Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Livorno, having a population of 158,493 residents in December 2017. It is traditionally known in English as Leghorn (pronou ...

Sparta Prague

On 28 May 2019, Kozák signed with Sparta Prague.

Puskás Akadémia

In the summer of 2021, Kozák joined Puskás Akadémia in the Hungarian Nemzeti Bajnokság I.

Slovácko

On 17 June 2022, Kozák signed with Slovácko.

International career

Kozák played for the Czech under-21 team, representing the team at the

2011 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship Eleven or 11 may refer to: *11 (number), the natural number following 10 and preceding 12 * one of the years 11 BC, AD 11, 1911, 2011, or any year ending in 11 Literature * ''Eleven'' (novel), a 2006 novel by British author David Llewellyn *''E ...

. Kozák received his first call up for the senior Czech national team on 15 March 2011, when coach

selected him in his squad to take on

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , ...

and

Liechtenstein Liechtenstein (), officially the Principality of Liechtenstein (german: link=no, Fürstentum Liechtenstein), is a German language, German-speaking microstate located in the Alps between Austria and Switzerland. Liechtenstein is a semi-constit ...

, however Kozák did not make his senior international debut.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list the Czech Republic's goal tally first.''

Honours

Club

Lazio *

Coppa Italia The ("Italy Cup") is an annual knockout cup competition in Italian football organized by the FIGC until the 2009–10 season and the Lega Serie A ever since. History The beginning of the tournament was turbulent, due to the complexity of ...

: 2008–09, 2012–13

International

Czech Republic U21 *

UEFA European Under-21 Championship The UEFA European Under-21 Championship, the UEFA Under-21 Championship or simply the Euro Under-21, is a biennial Association football, football competition contested by the European men's under-21 national teams of the UEFA member associations. ...

bronze:

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 celebrates ...

Individual

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. ...

top scorer: 2012–13

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kozak, Libor 1989 births Living people Sportspeople from Opava Czech footballers Czech Republic youth international footballers Czech Republic under-21 international footballers Association football forwards SFC Opava players S.S. Lazio players Brescia Calcio players Aston Villa F.C. players S.S.C. Bari players U.S. Livorno 1915 players FC Slovan Liberec players AC Sparta Prague players Serie A players Serie B players Premier League players Czech First League players Czech expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Italy Expatriate footballers in England Czech Republic international footballers Czech expatriate sportspeople in Italy Czech expatriate sportspeople in England Puskás Akadémia FC players Expatriate footballers in Hungary Czech expatriate sportspeople in Hungary Nemzeti Bajnokság I players 1. FC Slovácko players