Ján Popluhár
Personal information | |||||||||||||||||
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Date of birth | 12 September 1935 | ||||||||||||||||
Place of birth | Čeklís, Czechoslovakia | ||||||||||||||||
Date of death | 6 March 2011 | (aged 75)||||||||||||||||
Place of death | Bernolákovo, Slovakia | ||||||||||||||||
Position(s) |
Sweeper | ||||||||||||||||
Youth career | |||||||||||||||||
Slovan Bratislava | |||||||||||||||||
Senior career* | |||||||||||||||||
Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) | ||||||||||||||
1955–1969 | Slovan Bratislava | 262 | (21) | ||||||||||||||
1955–1958 | Rudá Hvězda Brno | ||||||||||||||||
1969–1970 | Lyon | 46 | (1) | ||||||||||||||
1970–1972 |
Zbrojovka Brno | ||||||||||||||||
1972–1979 | Slovan Wien | ||||||||||||||||
Total | 308 | (22) | |||||||||||||||
International career | |||||||||||||||||
1958–1967[1] | Czechoslovakia | 62 | (1) | ||||||||||||||
Medal record
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*Club domestic league appearances and goals |
Ján Popluhár (12 September 1935 – 6 March 2011) was a Slovak
Club career
Popluhár started his football career after high school with RH Brno.[2] However, he is best known for the 15 seasons he spent with ŠK Slovan Bratislava where he made 262 competitive appearances in defence, scoring 21 goals, and following further stints with Brno and Zbrojovka Brno finished on 306 Czechoslovak league games and a goalscoring tally of 24. After finishing his career with Slovan in 1968 he moved to French league side Olympique Lyonnais. Two seasons there were enough, but subsequently he spent five years with Austrian amateur club SK Slovan Vienna as player/coach. Many of the thousands of fans in Vienna thought that Popluhár would be shown up by players twenty years younger than he was, but this did not happen. However, at the age of 44 Popluhár realised that his playing career was over.
Slovan Bratislava coach Leopold Šťastný was famous for creating nicknames for his players, and so Popluhár became known in Slovak football circles as 'Bimbo'. "I was called this because I always looked, and indeed was, good-natured, and I would never hurt anybody", recalls Popluhár.[citation needed]
International career
At the
Czechoslovak football was well represented in 1963 at
Popluhár was elected Footballer of the Year in the former Czechoslovakia for the first time in 1965,[3] despite the great form of his Czechoslovak teammate Josef Masopust. "When I was at my peak, the conditions for a football player were modest here in Czechoslovakia, but the spirit and support of the spectators was incredible. I am not sure that today's players, however, would want to return to my era", he said.[citation needed]
After working for a sports company that went bankrupt and suffering prolonged health problems resulting in a modest invalidity pension and an unsuitable job, he returned to his footballing roots.[clarification needed]
Honours
Slovan Bratislava
- Czechoslovak Cup: 1962, 1963, 1968
Czechoslovakia
- 1958 FIFA World Cup: Group stage
- 1960 European Nations' Cup: Bronze Medal
- 1962 FIFA World Cup: Silver Medal
Individual
- World Soccer World XI: 1964, 1967, 1968[4]
- Czechoslovak Footballer of the Year: 1965
- In 2000 Popluhár was elected as the best Slovak footballer of the 20th century.
- UEFA Slovak Golden Player: 2003
- Asteroid M.P.C. 75354).[6]
References
- ^ "Jan Popluhar – International Appearances". The Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation.
- ^ "Legendárny Popluhár (†75): Na Slovane ho najprv nechceli!" (in Slovak). čas.sk. 14 March 2011.
- ISBN 978-80-247-1656-5.
- ^ "ERIC BATTY’S WORLD XI – THE SIXTIES" Retrieved on 20 October 2016
- ^ "267585 Popluhar (2002 QA130)". Minor Planet Center. Retrieved 5 September 2019.
- ^ "MPC/MPO/MPS Archive". Minor Planet Center. Retrieved 5 September 2019.
External links
- Ján Popluhár at FAČR (in Czech)
- UEFA.com – Slovakia's Golden Player – Popluhár: The people's choice
- Ján Popluhár at National-Football-Teams.com