Marek Čech (born 26 January 1983) is a retired 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, rugb ...

. He primarily played as an attacking left-sided full-back or wing-back. He won the

Primeira Liga The Primeira Liga (; English: Premier League, also written as Liga Portugal 1), also known as Liga Portugal Bwin for sponsorship reasons, is the top level of the Portuguese football league system. Organised and supervised by the Liga Portugal, ...

in each of his three seasons at

Porto Porto or Oporto () is the second-largest city in Portugal, the capital of the Porto District, and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto city proper, which is the entire municipality of Porto, is small compared to its metropo ...

, in addition to titles at Slovan Bratislava and

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 ...

earlier in his career. He also spent time at

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club () is an English professional football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was formed in 1878 and has pl ...

in England and

Trabzonspor Trabzonspor Kulübü is a Turkish sports club located in the city of Trabzon. Formed in 1967 through a merger of several local clubs, the men's football team has won seven Süper Lig championships. Trabzonspor also have a women's football team, ...

in Turkey, in addition to two brief spells in Italy at the end of his career. Čech earned 52 caps for

Slovakia Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the ...

, having made his debut in 2004. He represented the nation 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 ...

Club career

Early career

Born in

Trebišov Trebišov ( hu, Tőketerebes; german: Trebischau; russian: Требишев) is a small industrial town in the easternmost part of Slovakia, with a population of around 25,000. The town is an administrative, economic and cultural center with machi ...

, Čech began his career with

Inter Bratislava FK Inter Bratislava () is a football club based in Bratislava, Slovakia, temporarily playing its home matches in Stupava. History Inter Bratislava was founded in 1940 by the Apollo refinery (later renamed Slovnaft). Following the end of World W ...

, where he won a league and cup double in 2000–01. After helping

to the

2004–05 Czech First League The 2004–05 Czech First League, known as the Gambrinus liga for sponsorship reasons, was the twelfth season of top-tier football in the Czech Republic. Stadia and locations League table Results Top goalscorers See also * 2004–05 Cze ...

, he transferred to

on 31 August 2005 in an undisclosed deal. In the 2005–06 season, he was part of Co Adriaanse's triumphant

- and

Taça de Portugal The Taça de Portugal (; "Cup of Portugal") is an annual association football competition and the premier knockout tournament in Portuguese football. For sponsorship reasons, it has been known as Taça de Portugal Placard since the 2015–16 sea ...

-winning Porto team, and also won the league in his two subsequent seasons.

West Bromwich Albion

On 15 July 2008, Čech signed for

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

for £1.4 million, on a three-year contract with the option of a fourth. He made his debut the following month, playing in midfield in a 1–0 defeat to

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostl ...

in the opening match of the

2008–09 Premier League The 2008–09 Premier League (known as the Barclays Premier League for sponsorship reasons) was the 17th season since the establishment of the Premier League in 1992. Manchester United became champions for the 11th time on the penultimate wee ...

season. Manager

Tony Mowbray Anthony Mark Mowbray (born 22 November 1963) is an English former professional footballer who is currently the manager of Sunderland. Mowbray played for Middlesbrough, Celtic and Ipswich Town as a defender. He began his coaching career with Ip ...

referred to him as a "model professional" and said that he had brought the player in to create competition for left-back Paul Robinson. However, he was unable to command a regular place in the side, making just 11 appearances all season. Following the departure of Mowbray and the sale of Robinson, Čech established himself as an important member of

Roberto Di Matteo Roberto Di Matteo (; born 29 May 1970) is an Italian professional football manager and former player. During his playing career as a midfielder, he played for Swiss clubs Schaffhausen, Zürich and Aarau before joining Lazio of Italy and Chels ...

's squad. He scored his first two goals for West Brom in a 3–1 win over

Plymouth Argyle Plymouth Argyle Football Club is a professional football club based in the city of Plymouth, Devon, England. As of the 2021–22 season, the team are competing in League One, the third tier of English football. They have played at Home Park ...

on 12 September 2009. In May 2011, Čech signed a one-year contract extension with West Brom, along with teammate

Roman Bednář Roman Bednář (born 26 March 1983) is a Czech former professional footballer. Club career Czech Republic Born in Prague, Bednář started his career as a youth player at ČAFC Prague before he stepped up to Gambrinus liga side FC Bohemians ...

Later career

On 31 August 2011, Čech signed for Turkish

Süper Lig The Süper Lig (, ''Super League''), officially known as Spor Toto Süper Lig for sponsorship reasons, is a Turkish professional league for association football clubs. It is the top-flight of the Turkish football league system and is run by the ...

club

, on a three-year deal worth

€ The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone and unilaterally adopted by Kosovo and Montenegro. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists o ...

1 million per year. Čech signed for

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 ...

club

Bologna Bologna (, , ; egl, label= Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different na ...

for a €500,000 fee on 19 August 2013, on a contract of one season with the option of a second. On 5 January 2015 he returned to the city of

, signing for Boavista for the remainder of the season as injury cover for their defence. He played 16 games for the ''Panteras Negras'' and scored once, equalising in a 3–1 comeback win at home to

Vitória S.C. Vitória Sport Clube, commonly known as Vitória de Guimarães, is a Portuguese professional football club based in Guimarães that competes in the Primeira Liga, the top-flight of football in Portugal. Vitória de Guimarães have finished thir ...

on 15 March. He went back to Italy in March 2016, signing for

Como Como (, ; lmo, Còmm, label= Comasco , or ; lat, Novum Comum; rm, Com; french: Côme) is a city and '' comune'' in Lombardy, Italy. It is the administrative capital of the Province of Como. Its proximity to Lake Como and to the Alps ...

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 ...

International career

Čech made his senior international debut for

on 9 July 2004 at the

Kirin Cup The is an association football tournament organised in Japan by the Kirin Brewery Company. The host, Japan, is a participant in every edition. The tournament was founded in 1978 then known as Japan Cup (International competition which nationa ...

in Japan, playing the full 90 minutes of a 3–1 loss to the hosts. He scored his first goal on 8 September 2007 in a 2–2 home draw with the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern side of the island. ...

in UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying, and added two more on 21 November in a 5–0 win away to

San Marino San Marino (, ), officially the Republic of San Marino ( it, Repubblica di San Marino; ), also known as the Most Serene Republic of San Marino ( it, Serenissima Repubblica di San Marino, links=no), is the fifth-smallest country in the world an ...

. On 6 June 2009, Čech scored another two goals as the Slovaks won 7–0 at home to the same opponents in

2010 FIFA World Cup qualification Qualifying for the 2010 FIFA World Cup was a series of tournaments organised by the six FIFA confederations. Each confederation — the AFC (Asia), CAF (Africa), CONCACAF (North, Central America and Caribbean), CONMEBOL (South America), OFC (Oc ...

. Manager Vladimír Weiss named him in the 23-man squad for the final tournament in South Africa, their first tournament as an independent nation. The team reached the last 16, but he played only once, the opening 1–1 draw with

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island coun ...

Rustenburg Rustenburg (; , Afrikaans and Dutch: ''City of Rest'') is a city at the foot of the Magaliesberg mountain range. Rustenburg is the most populous city in North West province, South Africa (549,575 in 2011 and 626,522 in the 2016 census). In 20 ...

, where he lined up against his West Bromwich teammate Chris Wood. He criticised the

vuvuzela The vuvuzela is a horn, with an inexpensive injection-molded plastic shell about long, which produces a loud monotone note, typically around B♭ 3 (the first B♭ below middle C). Some models are made in two parts to facilitate storage, a ...

s in the crowd for making communication difficult.

Career statistics

International goals

Honours

Club

;Inter Bratislava * Slovak Superliga: 2000–01 *

Slovak Cup The Slovak Cup () is the main knockout cup competition in Slovak football. The winner qualifies for the UEFA Europa Conference League. History The competition was first contested in 1969. Until 1993, the winner of the Slovak Cup would face the w ...

: 2000–01 ;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 ...

: 2004–05 ;Porto *

: 2005–06, 2006–07, 2007–08 *

: 2005–06 *

Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira The Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira (; English: Cândido de Oliveira Super Cup, or simply Portuguese Super Cup) is an annual Portuguese football match played since 1979 between the winners of the Portuguese League (Primeira Liga) and Portuguese ...

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro votes to declare independence from Serbia; The 2006 ...

International

;Slovakia U19 *

2002 UEFA European Under-19 Football Championship The 2002 UEFA European Under-19 Championship was the first edition of the UEFA European Under-19 Championship, after the previous Under-18 competition was reclassified. The tournament was held in Norway, between 21 July and 28 July 2002. The top t ...

– Third place

References

External links

Marek Čech player profile
at wba.co.uk *
BBC Sport profile of Marek Čech
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cech, Marek 1983 births Living people Sportspeople from Trebišov Association football defenders Slovak footballers Slovakia international footballers Slovakia youth international footballers Slovak expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in the Czech Republic Slovak expatriate sportspeople in the Czech Republic Expatriate footballers in Portugal Slovak expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Expatriate footballers in England Slovak expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Expatriate footballers in Turkey Expatriate footballers in Italy Slovak expatriate sportspeople in England Slovak expatriate sportspeople in Italy FK Inter Bratislava players AC Sparta Prague players FC Porto players West Bromwich Albion F.C. players Trabzonspor footballers Bologna F.C. 1909 players Boavista F.C. players Como 1907 players Slovak Super Liga players Czech First League players Primeira Liga players Premier League players Süper Lig players Serie A players Serie B players 2010 FIFA World Cup players English Football League players