Zoltán Lipták (born 10 December 1984) is a Hungarian former

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

central midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

Club career

He had a trial with League One side

Huddersfield Town Huddersfield Town Association Football Club is a professional association football club based in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England. They compete in , the third tier of English football league system, English football. Huddersfield Town we ...

in January 2007, but the supposed end-of-season loan transfer collapsed mysteriously. In July 2007, he had a trial with

Southend United Southend United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, England, which competes in the National League, the fifth level of English football. The team are known as "The Shrimpers", a reference ...

, recently relegated into League One.

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Steve Tilson Stephen Brian Tilson (born 27 July 1966) is an English football manager and former player. Tilson is best known for his time in charge of Southend United, where he was in charge for seven years, overseeing two promotions and later two relegat ...

said he desperately wanted to sign the 6' 4" defender after impressing in a friendly against

Witham Town Witham Town Football Club is a semi professional English football club based in Witham, Essex. The club are currently members of the and play at the Simarco Stadium. History Clubs named Witham Town have been in existence since the mid 19th ce ...

. The permanent signing of Liptak was completed on 24 July 2007 from Hungarian second division side Lombard-Pápa TFC for a fee of £52,000. Lipták was sent on

loan In finance, a loan is the tender of money by one party to another with an agreement to pay it back. The recipient, or borrower, incurs a debt and is usually required to pay interest for the use of the money. The document evidencing the deb ...

Stevenage Borough Stevenage Football Club (known as Stevenage Borough Football Club until 2010) is a professional association football club based in the town of Stevenage, Hertfordshire, England. The club competes in EFL League One, the third level of the Engli ...

on 22 November 2007 for one month and made his debut in front of the

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against

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in the 2–1 win on 26 November 2007. He joined

Újpest FC Újpest Football Club () is a Hungary, Hungarian professional association football, football club based in Újpest, Budapest, that competes in Nemzeti Bajnokság I. Formed in 1885, Újpest reached the first division of the Hungarian League in ...

in June 2008. In February 2009, he signed for

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 ...

team

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on loan until the end of the season. He made his first appearance for Southampton against

Preston North End Preston North End Football Club, commonly referred to as Preston, North End or PNE, is a professional association football club in Preston, Lancashire, England. They currently play in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English footbal ...

when they won 3–1. The loan was terminated at the end of April 2009. He has had the honour of winning the

Essex Senior Cup The Essex Senior Cup is a knock-out system football competition that has been running since 1884, and is the most prestigious cup competition in the county of Essex. The competition is run mainly for non-League clubs in the region, although leag ...

with Southend, in which he scored a dubious goal for the Shrimpers in the final against Chelmsford City.

Videoton

Lipták was signed by Videoton in 2009. He became one of the most important parts of the defense of the club. He won his first

Hungarian League Hungarian may refer to: * Hungary, a country in Central Europe * Kingdom of Hungary, state of Hungary, existing between 1000 and 1946 * Hungarians/Magyars, ethnic groups in Hungary * Hungarian algorithm, a polynomial time algorithm for solving the ...

title in

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

. During the coaching of

György Mezey György Mezey (born 7 September 1941) is a Hungarian former association football player, who played as a midfielder. He later became a well-regarded coach. He was coach of the Hungary national team from 1983 to 1986, leading the team to the 19 ...

, he led the club to win the championship. Since the arrival of the Portuguese

Paulo Sousa Paulo Manuel Carvalho de Sousa (; born 30 August 1970) is a Portuguese football manager and former professional player who played as a defensive midfielder. He is the current manager of UAE Pro League club Shabab Al Ahli. Starting his career ...

he has been left out from the squad. Although Lipták was a member of the

Hungary national football team The Hungary national football team (, ) represents Hungary in men's international Association football, football, and is controlled by the Hungarian Football Federation. The team has made nine appearances in the FIFA World Cup, and five in the ...

, he could not play in his club. Therefore, he was released by Videoton a couple of days before the important Euro 2012 qualifier against

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 ...

. Lipták was not affected by the difficulties of his club and he played well during the two Euro 2012 qualifiers against Sweden and Moldova. He was a member of two important victories of the national side. In September, Lipták was on trial with

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

Swansea City Swansea City Association Football Club ( ; ) is a Welsh professional football club based in Swansea, Wales. It competes in the EFL Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Swansea have played their home matches at ...

Újpest

Lipták signed a contract with

International career

He has gained 15 under-21 caps for his country. Lipták started his first full international game against

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. He played 55 minutes before being substituted,

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 ...

lost the game 2–1.

Honours

Club

* Videoton **

Nemzeti Bajnokság I The Nemzeti Bajnokság (, ), also known as NB I or Fizz Liga after its title sponsor, OTP Bank's webshop subsidiary, is a professional association football league in Hungary and the highest level of the Hungarian football league system. Twelve ...

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

* Győri ETO **

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

Individual

* Videoton **

Nemzeti Sport ''Nemzeti Sport'' (, ) is a Hungarian sports daily. History and profile ''Nemzeti Sport'' was founded in 1903. It is frequently cited by quality English-language media The paper is published in broadsheet format. Between the World War I and Worl ...

Team of the Season (3): 2009–10, 2010–11 Autumn Season,

International goals

References

External links

Zoltán Lipták at magyarfutball.hu
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Liptak, Zoltan 1984 births Footballers from Salgótarján Living people Hungarian men's footballers Men's association football defenders Hungary men's international footballers Hungary men's under-21 international footballers Szolnoki MÁV FC footballers Pápai FC footballers Southend United F.C. players Stevenage F.C. players Újpest FC players Southampton F.C. players Fehérvár FC players Győri ETO FC players Diósgyőri VTK players Gyirmót FC Győr players Nemzeti Bajnokság I players English Football League players National League (English football) players Nemzeti Bajnokság II players Hungarian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in England Hungarian expatriate sportspeople in England 21st-century Hungarian sportsmen