Róbert Vittek

Róbert Vittek
Personal information
Full name Róbert Vittek
Date of birth (1982-04-01) 1 April 1982
Place of birth Bratislava, Czechoslovakia
Height 1.87 m (6 ft 2 in)
Playing position Forward
Club information
Current team
 Slovan Bratislava
Number 33
Youth career
Slovan Bratislava
Senior career*
Years Team Apps† (Gls)†
1999–2003 Slovan Bratislava 101 (47)
2003–2008 1. FC Nürnberg 124 (36)
2008–2010 Lille 38 (7)
2010 → Ankaragücü (loan) 12 (5)
2010–2011 Ankaragücü 12 (1)
2011–2013 Trabzonspor 6 (2)
2013 İstanbul BBSK 0 (0)
2013– Slovan Bratislava 44 (22)
National team‡
2001– Slovakia 81 (23)

* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 20 April 2016.
† Appearances (goals)

‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 17 November 2015

Róbert Vittek (born 1 April 1982) is a Slovak football player who plays as a forward for ŠK Slovan Bratislava.

With 23 goals in 81 matches since 2001, Vittek is the highest-scorer ever for the Slovakia national football team. He played for them at the 2010 FIFA World Cup, in which he scored four goals.

Club career

Slovan Bratislava

Vittek began his career with hometown club Slovan Bratislava in 1999 in the youth team before the 1999–2000 campaign, then he played in the first team of the club. As a youth player, he had a preliminary agreement with Real Madrid, the move to Spain fell through, however, due to an injury. He was 19 at the time scoring 19 goals. The next season he played only three games, making them two goals. Prior his move to Germany, Vittek once had a trial at Birmingham City[1] and impressed the club that they made a move for him.[2] However the move never materialized.

1. FC Nürnberg

He came to Nürnberg in 2003, while the club was still in the 2. Bundesliga, helping the team earn a promotion for the 2004–05 campaign. During the 2004–05 campaign at the first half of the season, Vittek signed a long term contract.[3][4]

Vittek scored five goals in the 2004–05 campaign and seemed to be slumping toward mediocrity in the first half of the 2005–06 season, as he failed to score in the first 17 matches before the winter break. Then without warning, he became one of the most thrilling players in the Bundesliga in the second half of the season, scoring 16 goals in the final 16 games. He made league history in Spieltag 24 and 25, becoming the first Bundesliga player to score a combined six goals in two consecutive games. In all, Vittek had five multi-goal games on the season, and his 16 goals were good for fifth place on the Bundesliga scoring charts. Vittek's rise was mirrored by his team as 1. FC Nürnberg rose from near-relegation to eighth place.

In the first half of the 2005–06 season, he was constantly on or replaced, and he managed a single goal. By changing to the new coach Hans Meyer then came his big break. With 16 goals in the second half he had a major role in ensuring that 1. FC Nürnberg climbed from the last to the eight place. Among the highlights here he scored a new record: he scored six goals in a row without an intervening goal of another player on the field in the last two games against MSV Duisburg and 1. FC Köln respectively. The next game he scored two more goals against SV Werder Bremen, he just missed the league record of Lothar Emmerich and Tomislav Marić with four braces. His sparkling 2005–06 performance made Vittek a sought after commodity in European football. Hamburger SV was the main Bundesliga club rumored to be courting Vittek.[5] Dynamo Kiev offered a €10 million transfer fee for Vittek in June 2006, but Nürnberg rejected the offer. Lokomotiv Moscow was also reported to have interest in Vittek's services.

The 2006–07 season was again a mixed season for Vittek as he just scored four goals in 24 games due to Markus Schroth and Ivan Saenko making the score sheet. He played only three game of the cup until the quarter finals of the DFB-Pokal and returned only in the final, but stayed only on the bench which on 26 May 2007, Nürnberg won the DFB-Pokal beating VfB Stuttgart 3–1. In December 2006, Vittek won the Slovak Footballer of the Year award. During the season in October, Vittek signed a contract extension, keeping him until 2010[6] and this season began the decline for Vittek at Nürnberg.

The 2007–08 season was a negative season for Vittek as he scored once in 17 games due to injury and lack of fitness. On 24 July 2007, he scored two goals for Nürnberg in the DFB-Ligapokal, but his team lost 4–2 to Schalke 04. On 5 August 2007, Vittek scored his first hat-trick since two seasons ago in the first round of DFB-Pokal in a 6–0 thrashing against Victoria Hamburg. On 1 September 2007, Vittek received a red card for the first time in his Bundesliga career after a second bookable offense in a 1–1 draw against Energie Cottbus.[7] Despite his sending off a few days later, Vittek was injured after suffering pain on his knee, resulting him out of action throughout the rest of 2007 and expected to be available until January despite the operation was a success.[8] After the injury time, his return was delayed due to the flu.[9] The long forced break was also responsible for the fact that he was never used in the 2007–08 UEFA Cup. On 1 March 2008, Vittek began to make his first appearance for the club since his injury, coming on as a substitute in a 2–1 loss against Hannover 96 and 33 day later on 5 April, Vittek scored his first goal (and only goal) of the season in a 3–1 win over Eintracht Frankfurt.

The 2008–09 season was short-lived for Vittek before his move to Lille as he made two appearances and in his last match with a 2–1 loss against Kaiserslautern provided an assist for Isaac Boakye to score the only goal in the game.

OSC Lille

Struggling to get to previous form, he went to play to French club Lille for a reported €5.5 million in 2008, where he was awarded a contract until 2012. On 31 August 2008, Vittek made his debut for the club in a 2–1 win over Bordeaux and scored his first goal in a 3–0 win over Saint-Étienne three months later since making his debut. He went on to help the club finally with a total of five goals in 26 games for the fifth place, and thus to qualify for the UEFA Europa League.

On 30 July 2009, he first played in the qualifying round of the 2009–10 UEFA Champions League against FK Sevojno and scored a goal. In the league start on 9 August he was in the starting lineup in a 2–1 loss against Lorient and two weeks later on 23 August 2009, Vittek scored his first goal in a 1–1 draw against Toulouse. After 17 games without scoring, Vittek scored in a 2–1 loss against Sochaux.

M.K.E. Ankaragücü

On 1 February 2010, Vittek left the French club and signed a half year loan deal with MKE Ankaragücü.[10] On 7 February 2010, Vittek made his debut for the club in a 0–0 draw against Bursaspor and scored his first goal in the next game with a 1–1 draw against İstanbul BB. Vittek scored a brace in a 3–0 win over Kayserispor on 21 March 2010.

After the World Cup campaign, Ankaragücü bought him from Lille permanently[11][12] despite interest from his former club Nürnberg.[13] Since signing permanently for Ankaragücü, Vittek never produced his form like last time when he was on loan as he just made 12 appearance and scored once against Bucaspor in a 5–3 win and also setting up a goal for Murat Duruer on 21 April 2010.

In the winter transfer break of 2010–11, FC Red Bull Salzburg were interested in signing Vittek. After the transfer arrangements with MKE Ankaragücü were cleared, the club officials of the Turkish claimed to have sent a confirmation fax on 31 January 2011, shortly before midnight to Salzburg. The fax was received in Salzburg one minute past midnight and the clock of the Transfer Matching System (TMS) of the FIFA registered it at 00:03 and therefore invalid. Ankaragücü made a faulty fax machine responsible for the incident. On 23 February 2011, it was ruled by the FIFA that Vittek was not join reigning Austrian champion.[14]

Trabzonspor

On 1 September 2011, Vittek signed a two-year contract for Turkish club Trabzonspor for a reported fee of €600,000.[15]

On 14 September 2011, Vittek made his Champions League debut, coming on as a substitute in a 1–0 win over Inter Milan. On 17 September 2011, Vittek made his debut for the club but soon in the game, he suffered an injury on a tear in the anterior cruciate ligament of the right knee to which sidelined him for about six months.[16] In April 2012, Vittek was again training with the squad and planned to return at the very end of the season.[17] By August, Vittek made his first appearance for the club since suffering an injury in a 1–1 draw against Kardemir Karabükspor.

İstanbul Büyükşehir Belediyesi

In February 2013, he signed one and half year contract with İstanbul Büyükşehir Belediyesi.[18][19] He didn't make any league appearances for the club, mainly due to injury problems.

Return to Slovan Bratislava

On 3 September 2013, he signed a one-year deal with his hometown club ŠK Slovan Bratislava. Vittek was assigned the number 33 shirt. He made his official debut on 14 September, scoring a goal in the 4–2 away win over FK Dukla Banská Bystrica in a league match. In the s2013–14 season, Slovan won the league title with Vittek scoring 12 league goals. However, Vittek has been troubled with injuries in recent years. He missed last five games of the 2013–14 season due to an injury. Similarly, he spent two months on the sidelines due to problems with his knee in the 2014–15 season.[20]

On 23 July 2015, he netted a hat-trick in a 5–1 win away to University College Dublin as Slovan advanced 6–1 on aggregate into the third qualifying round of the UEFA Europa League.[21] He repeated the feat in the next round's second leg, a 3–3 home draw against FC Krasnodar which saw his team eliminated nonetheless.[22]

International career

Vittek in the jersey of the Slovakia national team in 2010.

Vittek has been part of the Slovak national team since 2001. His tally of 81 caps makes him their third most-capped player after Miroslav Karhan and Marek Hamšík. Vittek scored Slovakia's first ever goal at a World Cup, netting in the 1–1 draw with New Zealand on 15 June 2010.[23] Vittek also scored two goals against defending World Cup holders Italy on 24 June 2010 to knock them out of the competition and subsequently ensure Slovakia progress to the 2010 FIFA World Cup knockout stage.[24] On 28 June 2010, Slovakia lost 2–1 to the Netherlands in their first knockout stage match, in which Vittek converted a last-minute penalty to become Slovakia's top international scorer. With four goals in the competition, he also became the joint top scorer at the stage that Slovakia were knocked out.[25] He scored only one goal fewer than Germany's Thomas Müller, who won the Golden Boot.

After the World Cup, Vittek wasn't a regular on the team in the Euro 2012 qualifiers, playing in only three matches as Slovakia failed to qualify for UEFA Euro 2012 by ending fourth in their group. Vittek also didn't feature in Slovakia's 2014 World Cup qualifiers. After a period of national wilderness of almost two years, Vittek was chosen in the squad for Slovakia's Euro 2016 qualifiers against Spain and Ukraine. He was an unused substitute in the 2–0 defeat to Spain but started in the 0–0 draw against Ukraine.

Honours

Club

1. FC Nürnberg
Slovan Bratislava

International

Slovakia

Individual

References

  1. ↑ "Vittek handed Blues trial". Sky Sports. 9 January 2003. Retrieved 27 August 2012.
  2. ↑ "Blues make offer for Vittek". Sky Sports. 10 January 2003. Retrieved 27 August 2012.
  3. ↑ "Vittek commits to Nurnberg". Sky Sports. 9 August 2004. Retrieved 27 August 2012.
  4. ↑ "Robert Vittek" (in German). fussballdaten.de. Retrieved 28 November 2007.
  5. ↑ "Nurnberg reject Vittek bid". Sky Sports. 26 June 2006. Retrieved 27 August 2012.
  6. ↑ "Vittek signs new deal". Sky Sports. 19 October 2006. Retrieved 27 August 2012.
  7. ↑ "Wolf rettet Punkt in der Lausitz" (in German). FCN. 1 September 2007. Retrieved 30 April 2012.
  8. ↑ "Robert Vittek: Längere Zwangspause" (in German). FCN. 5 September 2007. Retrieved 30 April 2012.
  9. ↑ "Vitteks Comeback verschoben". Kicker. 22 February 2008. Retrieved 30 April 2012.
  10. ↑ "Lille striker Vittek joins Ankaragucu on loan". USA Today. 1 February 2010. Retrieved 2 February 2010.
  11. ↑ "Ankaragucu bought testimonial of Vittek". CNN Türk. 15 June 2010. Retrieved 24 June 2010.
  12. ↑ "Ankaragücü sign Vittek and Żewłakow". uefa.com. 16 June 2010. Retrieved 25 June 2010.
  13. ↑ "Vittek desires Nurnberg return". Sky Sports. 26 June 2010. Retrieved 27 August 2012.
  14. ↑ "FIFA blocks Robert Vittek's transfer to Salzburg". Ahram Online. 23 February 2011. Retrieved 30 April 2012.
  15. ↑ "Trabzonspor squad announced through the stock market adds to the cost of Robert Vittek and Marek Sapara'nın". habermonitor.com. 2 September 2011. Retrieved 2 September 2011.
  16. ↑ "Injured Trabzonspor Vittek Out of Action for Six Months". Prolog. 27 September 2011. Retrieved 30 April 2012.
  17. ↑ "Vittek už naplno trénuje, možno stihne posledný zápas" (in Slovak). Sportsky. 26 April 2012. Retrieved 30 April 2012.
  18. ↑ "Vittek prestúpil do Istanbulu" (in Slovak). profutbal.sk. 1 February 2013.
  19. ↑ "Vittek hráčom tureckého klubu Istanbul Büyüksehir Belediyesi" (in Slovak). osporte.sk. 1 February 2013. Retrieved 4 December 2014.
  20. ↑ "Vittek: Dnešný Slovan? Je to aj daň za minulosť" (in Slovak). SME. 7 November 2014. Retrieved 4 December 2014.
  21. ↑ "Europa League: UCD’s campaign comes to an end at Belfield". Irish Times. 23 July 2015. Retrieved 31 July 2015.
  22. ↑ "VI Live: hattricks voor Vittek en Mkhitaryan" [Hat-tricks for Vittek and Mkhitaryan]. Voetbal International (in Dutch). 6 August 2015. Retrieved 7 August 2015.
  23. ↑ Cheese, Caroline (15 June 2010). "New Zealand 1–1 Slovakia". BBC Sport. Retrieved 15 June 2010.
  24. ↑ Fletcher, Paul (24 June 2010). "Slovakia 3–2 Italy". BBC Sport. Retrieved 24 June 2010.
  25. ↑ Dawkes, Phil (28 June 2010). "Netherlands 2–1 Slovakia". BBC Sport. Retrieved 30 June 2010.

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