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 lea ...

who plays as a

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), 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 i ...

. He is the younger brother of Martin Kuciak, who plays as a goalkeeper for

Považská Bystrica Považská Bystrica (; ; ) 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 Bystrica is situated in a fold of mounta ...

Club career

In February 2005, while under contract with

Žilina Žilina (; ; ; ; Names of European cities in different languages: U-Z#Z, 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 List of cities ...

, Kuciak joined English club

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is a professional Association football, football club based in Stratford, London, Stratford, East London, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English f ...

on loan until the end of the 2005–06 season, although he left without playing for the club. On 26 June 2008, Kuciak signed a three-year contract with Romanian club

FC Vaslui Fotbal Club Vaslui, commonly known as FC Vaslui, or simply as Vaslui (), was a Romanian professional football club based in Vaslui, Vaslui County, founded in 2002 and dissolved in 2014. Its official club colours were yellow and green, hence t ...

. He joined the Polish club

Legia Warsaw Legia Warszawa (), commonly referred to as Legia Warsaw or simply Legia, is a professional football club based in Warsaw, Poland. Legia is the most successful Polish football club in history, winning a record 15 champions titles, a record 2 ...

in August 2011, later extending his contract in August 2013 until 2016. By November 2011, Kuciak had already put together the fifth-longest ever series of not conceding in the Polish league, not letting in a goal for 735 minutes. In January 2013, West Ham United were reported to be in talks with him. On 24 March 2014, Kuciak made his 100th appearance for Legia Warsaw in a 2–1 victory against

Piast Gliwice Gliwicki Klub Sportowy Piast Gliwice () is a Polish professional football club based in Gliwice. In the 2018–19 season, Piast won its first Polish championship. As of 2025–26, it competes in the Ekstraklasa, Poland's top division. Histo ...

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

Hull City Hull City Association Football Club is a professional association football club based in Kingston upon Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England. They compete in the , the second level of the English football league system. They play their home ...

. He made his debut for the club on 23 August of that year in the second round of

EFL Cup The English Football League Cup, often referred to as the League Cup and currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout competition in men's domestic football in England. Orga ...

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 level of the English football league system. Known as "the Grecians", the origin of their nickname is subject to ...

, in a match that City won 3–1. Having made a single appearance for Hull, Kuciak left the club on a free transfer in February 2017, returning to Poland to sign for

Lechia Gdańsk Lechia Gdańsk () is a Polish football (soccer), football club based in Gdańsk. As of the 2025–26 Ekstraklasa, 2025–26 season, they compete in the Ekstraklasa. The club was founded in 1945 by people Polish population transfers (1944–1946 ...

International career

On 10 December 2006, Kuciak debuted for the Slovak senior squad in a 2–1 away friendly victory against the

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE), or simply the Emirates, is a country in West Asia, in the Middle East, at the eastern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is a Federal monarchy, federal elective monarchy made up of Emirates of the United Arab E ...

. 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 or simply Euro 2020, was the 16th UEFA European Championship, the Anniversary#Latin-derived numerical names, quadrennial international men's association footb ...

tournament. Kuciak last appeared in the national team selection under

Štefan Tarkovič Štefan Tarkovič (born 18 February 1973) is a Slovak football manager and a former player. He currently manages Kyrgyzstan. Previously, he headed the national team of Slovakia as well as various Slovak clubs such as Žilina, Tatran Prešov an ...

in November 2021.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

MŠK Žilina *

Slovak Superliga The Slovak First Football League (), officially known as Niké liga for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Slovakia and the highest level of the Slovak football league system. It was formed in 1993 following th ...

: 2006–07 *

Slovak Super Cup The Slovak Super Cup (''Slovenský Superpohár'' in Slovak), in the past named as or , was a match between the champion of the Slovak First Football League and winner of the Slovak Cup. The match was played annually besides years when a club cl ...

: 2007 Legia Warsaw *

Ekstraklasa (; meaning "Extra Class" in Polish), officially known as PKO Bank Polski Ekstraklasa due to its Sponsor (commercial), sponsorship by PKO Bank Polski, is a professional association football league in Poland and the highest level of the Polish foo ...

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

, 2013–14, 2015–16 *

Polish Cup The Polish Cup in Association football, football ( ) is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout football competition for Polish football club (association football), football clubs, held continuously since 1950, and is the second most i ...

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

Football League Championship play-offs The English Football League (EFL) 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-of ...

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

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 2024, the Polish Super Cup has been ...

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

Individual *

Goalkeeper of the Season: 2013–14, 2019–20 * ''Piłka Nożna'' Foreigner of the Year: 2013

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kuciak, Dusan 1985 births Living people Footballers from Žilina Slovak men's footballers Slovak expatriate men's footballers Slovakia men's international footballers Men's association football goalkeepers AS Trenčín players MŠK Žilina players West Ham United F.C. players FC Vaslui players Legia Warsaw players Hull City A.F.C. players Lechia Gdańsk players Raków Częstochowa players Slovak First Football League players Liga I players Ekstraklasa players 2010 FIFA World Cup players UEFA Euro 2020 players Expatriate men's footballers in England Slovak expatriate sportspeople in England Expatriate men's footballers in Romania Slovak expatriate sportspeople in Romania Expatriate men's footballers in Poland Slovak expatriate sportspeople in Poland 21st-century Slovak sportsmen