Dávid Attila Gróf (born 17 April 1989) is a Hungarian 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 ...

for Nemzeti Bajnokság club Ferencvárosi. Gróf started his senior career with Scottish club Hibernian, making one appearance during the 2008–09 season before being released from his contract. He subsequently played in England for

Notts County Notts County Football Club is a professional association football, football club in Nottingham, England, which competes in EFL League Two, the fourth tier of Football in England, English football, following promotion and relegation, promotion ...

, Tamworth,

Mansfield Town Mansfield Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, England. The team competes in , the third level of the English football league system. The club was formed in 1897 as Mans ...

and

Walsall Walsall (, or ; locally ) is a market town and administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall, in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. Historic counties of England, Historically part of Staffordshire, it is located ...

Career

Hibernian

Gróf started his professional career with Hibernian, making his professional debut in their 4–3 defeat by

Greenock Morton Greenock Morton Football Club is a Scottish professional football club, which plays in the . The club was founded as Morton Football Club in 1874, making it one of the oldest Scottish clubs. Morton was renamed Greenock Morton in 1994 to celebr ...

in the

Scottish League Cup The Scottish League Cup, also known as the Premier Sports Cup for sponsorship reasons, is a football competition open to all Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) clubs. First held in 1946–47, it is the oldest national League cup in ...

on 26 August 2008. Later that season, Gróf was convicted of a drink driving offence and was consequently banned from driving for two years. Hibs also disciplined the player, who made a public apology through the club's website. He was relegated to the status of fourth choice goalkeeper at Hibs after the arrival of Grzegorz Szamotulski during January 2009. Gróf went on trial at

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club (), commonly known as West Brom or The Albion, is a professional association football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the Englis ...

, but was released by Hibs towards the end of the 2008–09 season, despite having 18 months left on his contract. Following his release by Hibs, Gróf trained with English League Two side Gillingham, featuring in a

reserve team In sports, a reserve team is a team composed of players who are under contract to a club but who do not regularly play in matches for the club's primary team. Reserve teams usually include players who are part of the larger first-team squad but ...

match against

Lewes Lewes () is the county town of East Sussex, England. The town is the administrative centre of the wider Lewes (district), district of the same name. It lies on the River Ouse, Sussex, River Ouse at the point where the river cuts through the Sou ...

Notts County

Gróf went on trial with League One club

in July 2010. He agreed a deal to sign for the club, subject to medical. On the same day as the deal with Notts County was announced, Gróf played for Tamworth in a

friendly match An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, scrimmage, demonstration, training match, pre-season game, warmup match, or preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sport, sporting event whose prize money and impact on th ...

against

Aberdeen Aberdeen ( ; ; ) is a port city in North East Scotland, and is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, third most populous Cities of Scotland, Scottish city. Historically, Aberdeen was within the historic county of Aberdeensh ...

. He completed the move on 26 July. On 4 August 2010 it was confirmed that Gróf would be joining The Lambs on a one-month loan deal in time for the new season. Just six days later Gróf was recalled by his parent club. Gróf signed on loan with

Conference National The National League, officially known as Vanarama National League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in England. The National League is the first division of the National League (English football), National Le ...

club

on 31 January 2011. Grof played an integral part in Mansfield's

FA Trophy The Football Association Challenge Trophy, also known as the Isuzu FA Trophy for sponsorship reasons, is a men's football knockout cup competition run by and named after The Football Association (the FA) and competed by mainly National League ...

run which saw the Stags lose to

Darlington Darlington is a market town in the Borough of Darlington, County Durham, England. It lies on the River Skerne, west of Middlesbrough and south of Durham. Darlington had a population of 107,800 at the 2021 Census, making it a "large town" ...

in the final at Wembley on 7 May. Despite not being permitted to play in the final itself, Grof became a hero to the Mansfield fans due to his performances in both the FA Trophy and the

, and appeared before the game against Darlington to a standing ovation from the 15000 strong travelling Mansfield fans. Despite rave reviews of his performances at Mansfield, Grof was waived by Notts County at the end of the season alongside defender Graeme Lee..

Walsall

Following a trial spell, Gróf signed a one-year contract with

Football League One The English Football League One, known as Sky Bet League One for sponsorship reasons, or simply League One, is a professional association football league in England. EFL League One is the second-highest division of the English Football League an ...

side

in July 2011. Gróf made his full Walsall debut against

Bournemouth Bournemouth ( ) is a coastal resort town in the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole unitary authority area, in the ceremonial county of Dorset, England. At the 2021 census, the built-up area had a population of 196,455, making it the largest ...

, keeping a cleen sheet in a 2–0 win, and then made his home debut the following game—a

Football League Trophy The English Football League Trophy, officially known as the Vertu Trophy for sponsorship reasons, is an annual English football knockout competition open to all clubs in EFL League One and EFL League Two and U-21 teams from the Premier Le ...

first round fixture against

Shrewsbury Town Shrewsbury Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England. The team currently competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1886, the club were inaugur ...

, which Walsall won 2–1. On 17 March 2013, Gróf announced that he was moving to France to pursue a career away from the Saddlers, having fallen down the pecking order at Walsall behind a string of successive loan goalkeepers manager Dean Smith had signed due to his poor early season form.

Clermont

On 18 March 2013, Gróf began his trial with Clermont, successfully completing the first part of his medical and training with the first team later that day.

Germany

In November 2013, Gróf moved to German side

Goslarer SC The Goslarer SC 08 is a German association football club from the city of Goslar, Lower Saxony. The club's most notable achievement was winning the tier-five Niedersachsenliga and earning promotion to the Regionalliga Nord in 2009 and 2012. A ...

, where he remained until the end of the season before signing for Berliner AK.

Ferencváros

On 16 June 2020, he became champion with Ferencváros by beating

Budapest Honvéd FC Budapest Honvéd Football Club (), commonly known as Budapest Honvéd or simply Honvéd, is a Hungarian sports club based in Kispest, Budapest, with the colours of red and black. The club is best known for its football team. ''Honvéd'' means ...

at the

Hidegkuti Nándor Stadion Hidegkuti Nándor Stadion () is a multi-purpose stadium in Józsefváros, Budapest, Hungary. The stadium was opened on 13 October 2016. It was renamed after the MTK Budapest FC, MTK Budapest and Hungary national football team, Hungary footballer ...

on the 30th match day of the

2019–20 Nemzeti Bajnokság I The 2019–20 Nemzeti Bajnokság I (also known as 2019–20 OTP Bank Liga), also known as NB I, was the 121st season of top-tier football in Hungary. The league was officially named ''OTP Bank Liga'' for sponsorship reasons. Ferencváros were the ...

season.

Debrecen and Levadiakos

On 4 September 2020, he was transferred to the

Debrecen Debrecen ( ; ; ; ) is Hungary's cities of Hungary, second-largest city, after Budapest, the regional centre of the Northern Great Plain Regions of Hungary, region and the seat of Hajdú-Bihar County. A city with county rights, it was the large ...

on loan. He became a player of the On 4September 2020, he was transferred to the Debrecen on loan. He became a player of the Debrecen team from July 1, 2021, the club exercised the option after the end of the one-year loan contract. On 31 January 2023, Gróf became a new

Levadiakos Levadiakos Football Club (officially romanized: ''Levadeiakos'' ) is a Greek professional football club that plays in the Super League Greece. Based in Livadeia, Greece, the club was promoted to the Alpha Ethniki, forerunner of the Super League, ...

player.

Personal life

Gróf was born in

Budapest Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...

. His father

Attila Attila ( or ; ), frequently called Attila the Hun, was the ruler of the Huns from 434 until his death in early 453. He was also the leader of an empire consisting of Huns, Ostrogoths, Alans, and Gepids, among others, in Central Europe, C ...

also played professionally as a goalkeeper, for Vasas Budapest, Újpesti Dózsa, Videoton. Gróf was convicted of a drink driving offence and banned from driving for two years. He was charged with another drink driving offence in April 2009. He is married to Klaudia Gróf-Komsa on 3 August 2017. She is a Hungarian handball player.

Club statistics

''Updated to games played as of 15 May 2022.''

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Grof, David 1989 births Living people Footballers from Budapest Hungarian men's footballers Hungarian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Scotland Expatriate men's footballers in England Expatriate men's footballers in Germany Hungarian expatriate sportspeople in Scotland Hungarian expatriate sportspeople in England Hungarian expatriate sportspeople in Germany Men's association football goalkeepers Hibernian F.C. players Notts County F.C. players Tamworth F.C. players Mansfield Town F.C. players Walsall F.C. players Berliner AK 07 players Aqvital FC Csákvár players Budapest Honvéd FC players National League (English football) players English Football League players Nemzeti Bajnokság I players Ferencvárosi TC footballers Debreceni VSC players Levadiakos F.C. players 21st-century Hungarian sportsmen