Ján Mucha (born 5 December 1982) is a Slovak former 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 ...

who played as a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring 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 intercepting ...

Club career

Everton

In January 2010, Mucha signed a pre-contract deal 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 Foo ...

club Everton to join them on 1 July. On 4 August 2010, Mucha made his Everton debut playing the first 45 minutes of a pre-season friendly against Chilean side Everton de Viña del Mar at

Goodison Park Goodison Park is a football stadium in the Walton area of Liverpool, England. It has been the home stadium of Premier League club Everton F.C. since its completion in 1892. Located in a residential area 2 miles (3 km) north of Liverpo ...

, before being replaced in goal by Iain Turner at half-time. His competitive debut for Everton came in the first match of their League Cup campaign, a 5–1 win over Huddersfield Town. He went on to play in the successive League Cup match against

Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has diverse company headquarters buildings w ...

, in which he saved a penalty kick in the second half, but could not keep his side in the competition in the

penalty shootout The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pe ...

to decide the match, which Everton lost 4–3. Mucha made his sixth appearance for the club and his first in the 2012/13 season in a League Cup tie at home to Leyton Orient in August 2012, which Everton won 5–0. Mucha played in the next round as Everton lost 2–1 away to Leeds United. He was on the bench in all 38

fixtures of

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

and 2011–12 seasons as an unused sub. On 2 March 2013, with regular keeper Tim Howard injured, Mucha finally made his league debut for Everton in a 3–1 home win against

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of Letter (alphabet), letters, symbols, etc., especially by Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process invo ...

. On 9 March 2013, with Howard still injured, Mucha made his FA Cup debut in a 3–0 home loss to Wigan. He made his 10th appearance for the club the following week in a home league game against Manchester City. Everton ran out 2–0 winners with Mucha producing a string of fine saves. Mucha left Everton when his contract expired at the end of the season.

Krylia Sovetov Samara

In July 2013, Mucha signed for Russian side Krylia Sovetov Samara. On 15 January 2015, Mucha signed with

Arsenal Tula FC Arsenal Tula (russian: ФК Арсенал Тула) is a Russian professional football club from Tula playing in the second-tier Russian First League. Originally founded in 1923, FC Arsenal Tula was promoted to the Russian Premier League ...

on loan till the end of the 2014–15 season.

Slovan Bratislava

On 28 June 2015, Mucha signed a four-year contract with Slovak club ŠK Slovan Bratislava.Prichádza strojca historického úspechu Slovenska
28 June 2015

Bruk-Bet Termalica Nieciecza

On 29 June 2017, Mucha joined

Ekstraklasa Poland Ekstraklasa (), meaning "Extra Class" in Polish, named PKO Ekstraklasa since the 2019–20 season due to its sponsorship by PKO Bank Polski, is the top Polish professional league for men's association football teams. Contested by 18 ...

side Bruk-Bet Termalica Nieciecza.

Hamilton Academical

In November 2018, Mucha signed a short-term deal with Scottish club Hamilton Academical. The contract expired on 1 January 2019 and he left the club.

International career

Mucha made his debut 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 ...

in February 2008, in a friendly match against

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croa ...

, and became the national team's first-choice goalkeeper. When Slovakia qualified for the

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams of the members of the ' (FIFA), the ...

for the first time, in

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

, Mucha played in all four games as Slovakia made it to the second round of the competition. Later he was selected for

Euro 2016 The 2016 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2016 (stylised as UEFA EURO 2016) or simply Euro 2016, was the 15th UEFA European Championship, the quadrennial international men's football championship of Europe ...

Personal life

In March 2013, Mucha was ordered to do 250 hours of community service after being caught driving with a suspended license.

References

External links

* * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Mucha, Jan 1982 births Living people People from Snina District Slovak footballers Association football goalkeepers Slovakia international footballers Olympic footballers of Slovakia Footballers at the 2000 Summer Olympics 2010 FIFA World Cup players UEFA Euro 2016 players Slovak Super Liga players Ekstraklasa players Premier League players Russian Premier League players Scottish Professional Football League players FK Inter Bratislava players MŠK Žilina players Legia Warsaw players Everton F.C. players PFC Krylia Sovetov Samara players FC Arsenal Tula players ŠK Slovan Bratislava players Bruk-Bet Termalica Nieciecza players Hamilton Academical F.C. players Slovak expatriate footballers Slovak expatriate sportspeople in Poland Expatriate footballers in Poland Slovak expatriate sportspeople in England Expatriate footballers in England Slovak expatriate sportspeople in Scotland Expatriate footballers in Scotland Slovak expatriate sportspeople in Russia Expatriate footballers in Russia