Ján Kozák (footballer, born 1980)

Ján Kozák
Personal information
Date of birth	22 April 1980 (age 44)
Place of birth	Košice, Czechoslovakia
Height	1.90 m (6 ft 3 in)
Position(s)	Midfielder
Youth career
1988–1996	Lokomotíva Košice
1996–1997	1. FC Košice
Senior career*
Years	Team
1997–2000	1. FC Košice
1998–1999	→ Lokeren (loan)
2000–2002	Slavia Prague
2002–2003	1.FC Košice
2003–2009	Artmedia Petržalka
2006	→ West Bromwich Albion (loan)
2009–2010	Slovan Bratislava
2010–2011	Politehnica Timişoara
2011–2012	Larissa
2012–2013	Bunyodkor
2013–2014	DSG Union Perg
2014–2015	SV Stripfing
Total
International career
2004–2010	Slovakia
Managerial career
2015–2019	Slovan Bratislava B
2019–2020	Slovan Bratislava
2023–2024	FC Košice
	*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Ján Kozák (born 22 April 1980) is a Slovak football coach and former player. Recently, he was the manager of Slovak 1st tier team FC Košice.

Club career

A midfielder, Kozák joined Bratislava in the year 2003, winning the Corgoň Liga with the club the very next season, 2004–05. He scored 7 goals in 34 appearances in the season.

In 2005–06, he played in 11 matches for the club, scoring three goals, before moving to West Bromwich Albion in January 2006. He made his debut for Albion on 4 February 2006, coming on as a substitute for Geoff Horsfield in a Premier League match against Blackburn Rovers. He was not considered good enough for the then manager Bryan Robson to sign, so left at the end of his loan spell.

He made his debut for Poli Timișoara in an away match at Gloria Bistriţa. On 21 July 2010, he was released.

Ján Kozák ended his career playing in the Austrian 2. Landesliga for DSG Union Perg.^[1] and SV Stripfing.

International career

He made his first appearance for Slovakia on 30 November 2004, a 1–0 win against Hungary.^[2]

Kozák has played in Euro 2008 qualifying and 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification. He was selected to take the captain's armband. He also made the squad for Slovakia's World Cup debut in 2010.

Managerial career

On 1 August 2015, he became the head coach of Slovan Bratislava B. He was named the interim manager of the first team in July 2019. After a successful spell as interim coach, Kozák was given the role on a permanent basis in August 2019.^[3] He subsequently progressed with Slovan into the group stage of Europa League and won the Slovak double. He was sacked by the club in September 2020.^[4]

Personal life

Kozak' father, Ján, was also former national player. He has 55 caps for Czechoslovakia and was also head coach of Slovakia. His nephew Filip Lesniak is also a professional footballer.

Footgolf

As a footgolfer, he won the bronze medal in the 2016 FootGolf World Cup held in Argentina.^[5]^[6]

Career statistics

Scores and results list Slovakia's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Kozák goal.

List of international goals scored by Ján Kozák^[7]
No.	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	11 October 2008	Serravalle, San Marino	San Marino	2–0	3–1	2010 FIFA World Cup qualification
2	6 June 2009	Bratislava, Slovakia	San Marino	5–0	7–0	2010 FIFA World Cup qualification

Honours

Player

MFK Kosiče

Corgoň liga: 1997–98,

Artmedia Petržalka

Slovan Bratislava

Corgoň liga: 2009–10,

FC Bunyodkor

Uzbekistan Super League: 2013
Uzbekistan Cup: 2012

Manager

Slovan Bratislava

Individual

Slovak Manager of the Year: 2019^[8]

References

^ "Bývalý reprezentant Kozák sa upísal rakúskemu regionálnemu klubu Perg". Pravda (in Slovak). 31 March 2014. Retrieved 8 November 2014.
^ Footballdatabase.eu: Hungary – Slovakia 0:1
^ "Ján Kozák ml. oficiálne hlavným trénerom ŠK Slovan Bratislava" (in Slovak). Slovan Bratislava. 30 August 2019. Retrieved 12 September 2020.
^ "Ján Kozák ml. skončil na lavičke ŠK Slovan Bratislava!" (in Slovak). Šport.sk. 4 September 2020. Retrieved 12 September 2020.
^ Argentina 2016 WorldCup – Torneo Individual (archive) (in Spanish)
^ Neuveriteľné sa stalo skutočným: Ján Kozák na MS vo FootGolfe bronzový! (video) (in Slovak)
^ Football PLAYER: Ján Kozák
^ "Futbalista roka 2019: Výsledky sú známe! Kto je najlepší hráč či tréner? | ProFutbal.sk". Archived from the original on 23 March 2020. Retrieved 23 March 2020.

External links

Profile at BBS Sport at the Wayback Machine (archived 20 October 2012)
Ján Kozák at RomanianSoccer.ro (in Romanian)
Ján Kozák coach profile at Soccerway
Ján Kozák at National-Football-Teams.com
Ján Kozák at Fortunaliga.cz
Ján Kozák – Czech First League statistics at Fotbal DNES (in Czech)

[1] "Bývalý reprezentant Kozák sa upísal rakúskemu regionálnemu klubu Perg". Pravda (in Slovak). 31 March 2014. Retrieved 8 November 2014.

[hunmna-2] Footballdatabase.eu: Hungary – Slovakia 0:1

[3] "Ján Kozák ml. oficiálne hlavným trénerom ŠK Slovan Bratislava" (in Slovak). Slovan Bratislava. 30 August 2019. Retrieved 12 September 2020.

[4] "Ján Kozák ml. skončil na lavičke ŠK Slovan Bratislava!" (in Slovak). Šport.sk. 4 September 2020. Retrieved 12 September 2020.

[5] Argentina 2016 WorldCup – Torneo Individual (archive) (in Spanish)

[6] Neuveriteľné sa stalo skutočným: Ján Kozák na MS vo FootGolfe bronzový! (video) (in Slovak)

[7] Football PLAYER: Ján Kozák

[8] "Futbalista roka 2019: Výsledky sú známe! Kto je najlepší hráč či tréner? | ProFutbal.sk". Archived from the original on 23 March 2020. Retrieved 23 March 2020.

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