Marek Čech (born 26 January 1983) is a retired Slovak professional footballer. He primarily played as an attacking left-sided full-back or wing-back. He won the

Primeira Liga The Primeira Liga (), also known as Liga Portugal Betclic for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Portugal and the highest level of the Portuguese football league system. Organised and supervised by the Liga ...

in each of his three seasons at

Porto Porto (), also known in English language, English as Oporto, is the List of cities in Portugal, second largest city in Portugal, after Lisbon. It is the capital of the Porto District and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto c ...

, in addition to titles at Slovan Bratislava and Sparta Prague earlier in his career. He also spent time at West Bromwich Albion in England and Trabzonspor in Turkey, in addition to two brief spells in Italy at the end of his career. Čech earned 52 caps 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 ...

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

2010 FIFA World Cup The 2010 FIFA World Cup was the 19th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national Association football, football teams. It took place in South Africa from 11 June to 11 July 2010. ...

Club career

Early career

Born in

Trebišov Trebišov (; ; ) 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 machine (Vagónka) and building materials industries. History Th ...

, Čech began his career with Inter Bratislava, where he won a league and cup double in 2000–01. After helping Sparta Prague to the 2004–05 Czech First League, 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 (; ) 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 Generali Tranquilidade since the 2024–25 seaso ...

-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 is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

club West Bromwich Albion 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 mostly ...

in the opening match of the 2008–09 Premier League season. Manager Tony Mowbray 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's squad. He scored his first two goals for West Brom in a 3–1 win over Plymouth Argyle on 12 September 2009. In May 2011, Čech signed a one-year contract extension with West Brom, along with teammate Roman Bednář.

Later career

On 31 August 2011, Čech signed for Turkish

Süper Lig The Süper Lig (, ''Super League''), also known as Trendyol Süper Lig for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Turkey and the highest level of the Turkish football league system. In the 2023–2024 season, twen ...

club Trabzonspor, on a three-year deal worth €1 million per year. Čech signed for

Serie A The Serie A (), officially known as Serie A Enilive in Italy and Serie A Made in Italy abroad for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Italy and the highest tier of the Italian football league system. Establish ...

club

Bologna Bologna ( , , ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in northern Italy. It is the List of cities in Italy, seventh most populous city in Italy, with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nationalities. Its M ...

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

Serie B The Serie B (), officially known as 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 b ...

International career

Čech made his senior international debut for

on 9 July 2004 at the Kirin Cup 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 ( ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 Counties of Ireland, counties of the island of Ireland, with a population of about 5.4 million. ...

UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying Qualifying for the UEFA Euro 2008 finals tournament took place between August 2006 and November 2007. Fifty teams were divided into seven groups. In a Round-robin tournament, double round-robin system, each team played against each of the others ...

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

San Marino San Marino, officially the Republic of San Marino, is a landlocked country in Southern Europe, completely surrounded by Italy. Located on the northeastern slopes of the Apennine Mountains, it is the larger of two European microstates, microsta ...

. 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. 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 () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

Rustenburg Rustenburg (; , Afrikaans and Dutch language, Dutch: ''City of Rest'') is a town at the foot of the Magaliesberg mountain range. Rustenburg is the most populous city in North West (South African province), North West province, South Africa (549 ...

, where he lined up against his West Bromwich teammate Chris Wood. He criticised the vuvuzelas in the crowd for making communication difficult.

Career statistics

International goals

Honours

Club

;Inter Bratislava * Slovak Superliga: 2000–01 *

Slovak Cup The Slovak Cup (), currently named Slovnaft Cup due to sponsorship agreement with Slovnaft, is the only nationwide Single-elimination tournament, knockout competition in Football in Slovakia, Slovak football. The winner qualifies for the UEFA Euro ...

: 2000–01 ;Sparta Prague * Czech First League: 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 association football, football match played since 1979 between the winners of the top-tier league (Primeira L ...

: 2006

International

;Slovakia U19 * 2002 UEFA European Under-19 Football Championship – 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 Footballers from the Košice Region Men's association football defenders Slovak men's footballers Slovakia men's international footballers Slovakia men's youth international footballers Slovak expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in the Czech Republic Slovak expatriate sportspeople in the Czech Republic Expatriate men's footballers in Portugal Slovak expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Expatriate men's footballers in England Slovak expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Expatriate men's footballers in Turkey Expatriate men's 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 FC 1909 players Boavista F.C. players Como 1907 players Slovak First Football League 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 21st-century Slovak sportsmen