Pavol Šafranko (born 16 November 1994) is a Slovak professional

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 ...

er who plays as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People *Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Smal ...

for

Azerbaijan Premier League The Azerbaijan Premier League (), also known as Misli Premyer Liqası for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Azerbaijan and the highest level of the Azerbaijani football league system. It is contested by twelve ...

club

Sabah Sabah () is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia located in northern Borneo, in the region of East Malaysia. Sabah has land borders with the Malaysian state of Sarawak to the southwest and Indonesia's North Kalima ...

Club career

Tatran Prešov

Born 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 ...

, eastern Slovakia, Šafranko began his football career in the local club Tesla Stropkov, whose senior side only plays in lower regional divisions of the Slovakian league system. He later transferred to Slovakia's oldest club, and the biggest one in

Prešov Region The Prešov Region (, ; ), also Priashiv Region (, ), is one of the eight Slovak administrative regions and consists of 13 districts (okresy) and 666 municipalities, 23 of which have town status. The region was established in 1996 and is the mos ...

, Tatran Prešov, where he spent two years in the youth teams. After graduation from the academy, he made a competitive debut for Tatran in a II. liga fixture against Spartak Trnava B, in a 7–0 victory, in the first round on 20 July 2013. He came on in the 82nd minute as a substitute for Peter Nworah. Overall, in his first season in senior football, he made 18 appearances, but made it to the starting line-up only once, again against Spartak Trnava B, on 6 October 2013.

ŽP Šport Podbrezová

In the next one and a half season he spent in Prešov, Šafranko played 38 games and scored 20 goals. These good performances got him transferred to ŽP Šport Podbrezová, who was a top division club, despite being a village of just over 4,000 people. Šafranko made a Fortuna liga debut on 27 February 2016, in a 1–0 home win over

Senica Senica (; ; ) is a town in Trnava Region, western Slovakia. It is located in the north-eastern part of the Záhorie lowland, close to the Little Carpathians. Etymology The name is derived from the word ''seno'' ' hay' with the suffix ''-ica'' us ...

. Unlike his premier season at Tatran, Šafranko immediately became a starting line-up player, although he only scored a single goal against Zemplín Michalovce (2–0 win) on 2 April 2016. In the autumn period of the 2016–17 Fortuna liga he however scored 4 in 18 games, attracting the attention of an ambitious club from the upper half of the table

DAC Dunajská Streda DAC may refer to: Businesses and organisations * DacEasy, originally Dac Software, Inc. * Danish Architecture Centre, an international cultural attraction * Defense Ammunition Center (United States), of the United States Department of Defense * ...

, to which he transferred in January 2017.

DAC 1904 Dunajská Streda

After he only spent roughly half a year in DAC, but managed to score 6 goals in 17 competitive games, Šafranko was transferred to his first international club. On 21 August 2017 it was announced that he joins

Aalborg Aalborg or Ålborg ( , , ) is Denmark's List of cities and towns in Denmark, fourth largest urban settlement (behind Copenhagen, Aarhus, and Odense) with a population of 119,862 (1 July 2022) in the town proper and an Urban area, urban populati ...

, playing in the

Superligaen The Danish Superliga (, ) is a professional association football league in Denmark and the highest level of the Danish football league system. The league is currently contested by 12 teams each year, with 2 teams relegated. It is the current ...

AaB Aalborg

In Aalborg, Šafranko joined his two fellow countrymen: young defensive midfielder

Filip Lesniak Filip Lesniak (born 14 May 1996) is a Slovak professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Bulgarian First League club Spartak Varna. Career Tottenham Hotspur Lesniak started his football career at FC VSS Košice in Slovakia before j ...

, a grandson of then Slovakia national team's coach Ján Kozák and a former international

Jakub Sylvestr Jakub Sylvestr (born 2 February 1989) is a Slovak professional footballer who plays as a forward. He made six appearances for the Slovakia national team. Career Sylvestr scored his first hat-trick in a match against Tatran Prešov on 4 April ...

. In his first fixture, he made it to the starting line-up immediately, playing against

Aarhus Aarhus (, , ; officially spelled Århus from 1948 until 1 January 2011) is the second-largest city in Denmark and the seat of Aarhus municipality, Aarhus Municipality. It is located on the eastern shore of Jutland in the Kattegat sea and app ...

in a goal-less tie on 26 August 2017. Despite the fact that he played mostly as a center-forward, Šafranko only scored two goals in 28 games and his play-time dropped as the season progressed.

Loan at Dundee United

Consequently, after the initial rounds of 2018–19 season, Šafranko was sent on a loan to Scottish

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this sys ...

side,

Dundee United Dundee United Football Club is a Scotland, Scottish professional association football, football club based in the city of Dundee. Formed in 1909, originally as Dundee Hibernian, the club changed to the present name in 1923. United are nickname ...

. In Scotland, Šafranko made a notable impression soon after his arrival. He scored the second goal in a 2–1 win, in his debut match, against Queen of the South and before the end of the calendar year, he scored 7 further goals, most in September and October. Even in 2019, Šafranko continued to be fruitful, scoring 6 further goals (2 in the SFA Cup), some in the final decisive rounds of the main part of the

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's axial tilt, tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperat ...

, which saw Dundee United finish second, 6 points behind Ross County, but managing to qualify to the Premiership relegation play-off. In March 2019, Šafranko was called up for first competitive fixtures of Slovak national team, after his performances and made a competitive debut too. In May's play-offs, Dundee United managed to overcome

Inverness Inverness (; ; from the , meaning "Mouth of the River Ness") is a city in the Scottish Highlands, having been granted city status in 2000. It is the administrative centre for The Highland Council and is regarded as the capital of the Highland ...

in the semi-finals, with Šafranko scoring one of four goals in the two-leg fixture. However, in the final of the play-off against St. Mirren after, two goal-less times, in the decisive penalty shoot-out, Šafranko's penalty was saved by Václav Hladký and Dundee United lost the shoot-out 3–1. Before the play-offs Šafranko had stated, that he intends to win a promotion for Dundee United. After the season concluded, it was reported that

Scottish Premiership The Scottish Premiership, also known as the William Hill (bookmaker), William Hill Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Scotland and the highest level of the Scottish football league system. Th ...

's leading sides have shown interest in Šafranko, who tallied a total of 15 goals in 40 games in the season, with

Rangers A ranger is typically someone in a law enforcement or military/paramilitary role specializing in patrolling a given territory, called "ranging" or "scouting". The term most often refers to: * Park ranger or forest ranger, a person charged with prot ...

and

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 ...

being named. The latter were apparently prepared to offer a transfer during the winter transfer window, however as Šafranko had already played for Aalborg and Dundee United that season, he would have been ineligible to play. Nonetheless, after this successful season, it was reported that Aalborg had requested a transfer fee of £1m, as Šafranko was still bound by a year of contract.

Sepsi OSK Sfântu Gheorghe

On 1 August 2019 AaB announced, that they had sold Šafranko to Romanian Sepsi OSK.

Sabah

On 9 July 2024, Šafranko signed two-year contract with

International career

Šafranko was first called up to the senior national team for two friendly fixtures held in

Abu Dhabi Abu Dhabi is the capital city of the United Arab Emirates. The city is the seat of the Abu Dhabi Central Capital District, the capital city of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, and the UAE's List of cities in the United Arab Emirates, second-most popu ...

, UAE, in January 2017 versus

Uganda Uganda, officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the ...

and

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

. Safranko made his debut versus

, being fielded in the 85th minute, when he substituted

Filip Oršula Filip Oršula (born 25 February 1993) is a Slovak footballer who plays as a winger or second striker for FC Petržalka. Club career The pre-season friendly with Wigan Athletic match began well for Oršula, as he made a goal-scoring debut, aga ...

. Slovakia went on to lose the game 3–1. Šafranko also played the initial 60 minutes of Slovak 6–0 defeat to Sweden on 12 January 2017 before being replaced by another striker

Tomáš Malec Tomáš Malec (born 13 May 1982) is a Slovakia, Slovak former professional ice hockey player. He last played for HC Kometa Brno in the Czech Extraliga (ELH). Playing career After playing two seasons in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, ...

. Šafranko's first call-up for a competitive international fixture came over two years later, when he was nominated by

Pavel Hapal Pavel Hapal (born 27 July 1969) is a Czech former footballer and coach of Baník Ostrava. Playing career As a footballer, Hapal played for Dukla Prague, CD Tenerife, Sparta Prague, and SK Dynamo České Budějovice. At international level, he ...

, on 12 March 2019, for a double

UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying The UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying tournament was a football competition that was played from March 2019 to November 2020 to determine the 24 UEFA member men's national teams that advanced to the UEFA Euro 2020 final tournament, intended to be playe ...

fixture against

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

and

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

. He was nominated to replace Adam Nemec, who was a long-term center-forward in the national team, but retired from international football earlier in February 2019. He was fielded in the first match against Hungary, on 21 March 2019, in

Trnava Trnava (, , ; , also known by other #Names and etymology, alternative names) is a city in western Slovakia, to the northeast of Bratislava, on the Trnávka river. It is the capital of the Trnava Region and the Trnava District. It is the seat o ...

, marking his competitive debut in the Slovak senior national team. He was fielded in the 88th minute, when he replaced

Ondrej Duda Ondrej Duda (; born 5 December 1994) is a Slovak professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for club Hellas Verona and the Slovakia national team. Club career Duda began his football career at his hometown club MFK Snina. He later mov ...

, who scored the first goal of the match in 42nd minute and assisted Rusnák's goal in the 85th minute. Slovakia won the match 2–0. Šafranko however did not play in Slovakia's 0–1 away loss to Wales.

Career Statistics

International

Honours

Mamelodi Sundowns *

South African Premier Division The South African Premiership, also known as the Betway Premiership for sponsorship reasons, and commonly referred to as the PSL after its governing body, is a professional soccer league in South Africa and the highest level of the South Afric ...

: 2021–22 *

Nedbank Cup The Nedbank Cup is the current name of South Africa's Premier Soccer League, premier club association football, soccer knockout tournament. While many formats have been used over the years, the tournament has always been based on the idea of gi ...

: 2021–22 *

MTN 8 The MTN 8 is a South African soccer single-elimination tournament, cup competition launched in 1972 for teams who finished in the top 8 positions of the league table of the country's preceding season of the top-flight league (currently the Sout ...

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

Sepsi OSK *

Cupa României The Cupa României () is a Association football, football cup competition for List of football clubs in Romania, Romanian teams which has been held annually since 1933–34 Cupa României, 1933–34, except during World War II. It is the Romania ...

2022–23 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

Supercupa României The Supercupa României () is a Romanian football (soccer), football championship contested by the winners of the Liga I and the Cupa României. It is usually played at the Arena Națională in Bucharest. The competition started off in 1994 Supe ...

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

References

External links

Tatran profile
*
Futbalnet profile
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Safranko, Pavol 1994 births Living people People from Svidník Footballers from the Prešov Region Slovak men's footballers Slovakia men's under-21 international footballers Slovakia men's international footballers Slovak expatriate men's footballers Men's association football forwards 1. FC Tatran Prešov players FK Železiarne Podbrezová players FC DAC 1904 Dunajská Streda players AaB Fodbold players Dundee United F.C. players Sepsi OSK Sfântu Gheorghe players Mamelodi Sundowns F.C. players Slovak First Football League players 2. Liga (Slovakia) players Danish Superliga players Scottish Professional Football League players Liga I players Azerbaijan Premier League players Sabah FC (Azerbaijan) players South African Premier Division players Expatriate men's footballers in Denmark Slovak expatriate sportspeople in Denmark Expatriate men's footballers in Scotland Slovak expatriate sportspeople in Scotland Expatriate men's footballers in Romania Slovak expatriate sportspeople in Romania Expatriate men's soccer players in South Africa Expatriate men's footballers in Azerbaijan Slovak expatriate sportspeople in Azerbaijan 21st-century Slovak sportsmen