Juraj Čobej (born 7 August 1971 in

Stropkov Stropkov (; , , , ) is a town in Stropkov District, Prešov Region, Slovakia. History The first written data about the town is from 1404, when Stropkov was already labeled as an ''oppidum'' (a townlet). The first owner of the town after the king ...

) is a Slovak former

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

goalkeeper, who spent most of his career with

Artmedia Petržalka Artmedia was one of the first scientific projects concerning the relationship between art, technology, philosophy and aesthetics. It was founded in 1985 at the University of Salerno. For over two decades, until 2009, dozens of projects, studies, e ...

. He made a single appearance for

Slovakia Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, 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 west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's m ...

in 2006.

Career

Čobej featured as one of the most important players during

's famous run to the lucrative group stage of the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by List of top-division football clubs in UEFA countries, top-divisio ...

in 2005–06, after beating Kairat of Kazakhstan, Scottish side

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language *Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Foot ...

and Serbian outfit

Partizan Belgrade Jugoslovensko sportsko društvo Partizan ( sr-Cyrl, Југословенско спортско друштво Партизан, lit=Yugoslav Sports Society Partizan), commonly abbreviated as JSD Partizan ( sr-Cyrl, ЈСД Партизан, lin ...

in the qualifying rounds. Čobej kept a clean sheet in the second qualifying round first leg against Celtic in a 5–0 win, which

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described as being among Celtic's "most embarrassing defeats ever". He underwent brain surgery in the district of Bratislava lasting for 8 hours in December 2005, just days after playing the Champions League against Portuguese side Porto. After his surgery, Čobej didn't play in the Slovak First League - aside from a two-minute symbolic appearance on 31 May 2006 - until May 2007. He joined fourth-tier side

Partizán Bardejov Partizán Bardejov is a Slovak professional football team, based in the town of Bardejov. The club was founded in 1922. The club currently plays in the 2. liga, the second tier of the Slovak league system, hosting games at the 3,040-capacity M ...

as a player-coach in March 2010. Čobej was head coach of amateur side Dlhá Lúka in 2014, who were playing in the fifth football league. In 2015 Čobej re-joined Bardejov's staff as assistant coach to Jozef Kukulský.

International selection

Čobej was named in the Slovakia squad to face

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

in the

2006 FIFA World Cup qualification – UEFA second round The 2006 FIFA World Cup European qualification playoffs were a set of home-and-away playoffs to decide the final three places granted to national football teams from European nations (more precisely, UEFA members) for the 2006 FIFA World Cup. Th ...

playoff in November 2005, but withdrew from the squad due to injury and was replaced by Marián Kelemen. Slovakia head coach

Dušan Galis Dušan Galis (born 24 November 1949) is a Slovak politician and a former association football, football player and manager. In the Czechoslovak league he played 226 matches, scoring 89 goals. He was capped eight times for Czechoslovakia national ...

included Čobej in a 33-man squad in April 2006 ahead of a friendly match in Trnava. On 20 May 2006, Čobej played his first and only game for the Slovak national team, featuring for just two minutes against

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

Away from football

Čobej is married, has two daughters. Following the end of his football career, he settled in

Bardejov Bardejov (; , , , , ) is a town in North-Eastern Slovakia. It is situated in the Šariš region on a floodplain terrace of the Topľa River, in the hills of the Beskids, Beskyd Mountains. It exhibits numerous cultural monuments in its completely i ...

References

External links

Profile at Artmedia
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cobej, Juraj 1971 births Living people People from Stropkov Footballers from the Prešov Region Slovak men's footballers FC Petržalka players ŠK Slovan Bratislava players Partizán Bardejov players Slovakia men's international footballers Men's association football goalkeepers Slovak First Football League players