Northern Ireland v Slovakia

FACTFILE SLOVAKIA Words Liam Blackburn

INTERNATIONAL

» Slovakia come into this play-off final with a new manager, Stefan Tarkovic, and having won just one of their previous five games – the play-off semi- final win over the Republic of Ireland in a penalty shootout last month. » In their four Nations League games to date this season they have drawn once but have been beaten by Czech Republic, Scotland and Israel. » They are aiming to reach their second European Championship finals, having first been involved at Euro 2016. » It was prior to that tournament four years ago when Slovakia most recently faced Northern Ireland in both teams’ final game before heading to France. It finished as a 0-0 draw in Trnava as Michael O’Neill’s side extended their unbeaten run to a record 12 games on a night when Aaron Hughes won his 100th cap as a 30th minute substitute for Craig Cathcart. » At Euro 2016 Slovakia were drawn in a group alongside Wales, England and Russia. After losing to Wales in their opening fixture in Bordeaux, they beat Russia 2-1 and then drew 0-0 with England to qualify as one of the best third-placed teams. » They came up against Germany in the Round of 16 and the reigning World Cup champions triumphed with a 3-0 win. » That was only the second time Slovakia had made a major finals – the other coming at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. » The Slovaks finished top of their qualifying group for the 2010 World Cup. They defeated Nigel Worthington’s Northern Ireland home and away and also pipped Slovenia and Czech Republic in Group 3. » At the World Cup Slovakia faced New Zealand, Paraguay and reigning holders Italy in the group stage. After drawing with New Zealand and losing to Paraguay, Slovakia beat the Italians 3-2 to knock out the 2006 winners in one of the most thrilling World Cup games ever. Robert Vittek scored a goal in either half before Kamil Kopunek added a third. » In the last 16 Slovakia faced the Netherlands in Durban and were beaten 2-1 by the Oranje, who went on to reach the final. » Slovakia’s first official match as an independent nation following the 1993 dissolution of Czechoslovakia was a friendly win over the United Arab Emirates on 2 February 2 1994. » Current captain Marek Hamsik is both the country’s all-time leading scorer and the man with

the most caps, having registered 26 goals in 123 international appearances. » Hamsik, who holds the record for the most appearances at Serie A club Napoli, is one of several Slovakian players to have played for Europe’s leading teams. Martin Skrtel spent eight years at Liverpool, Peter Dubovsky was with Real Madrid and Milan Skriniar is a regular at the heart of Inter Milan’s defence. » There have been 15 managers in Slovakia’s history – either permanent or temporary – and only one has been foreign: Czech Pavel Hapal, who led the team between October 2018 and October 2020. » Jan Kozak is the longest serving and most successful manager in Slovakia’s history having won 29 of his 56 games at the helm, which included their participation at Euro 2016. » When Slovakia and the Czech Republic were united, Czechoslovakia had plenty of success on the international stage, with Slovakians playing a major role in that. Jozef Venglos, who was born in a town in northern Slovakia, was on the coaching staff at the 1976 European Championship, which Czechoslovakia won. » Venglos later took charge of Czechoslovakia himself on two separate occasions and he led the team to the 1980 European Championship semi-finals and the 1990 World Cup quarter-finals. Venglos later managed in Portugal, England, Turkey, Scotland and Japan, managing both Aston Villa and Celtic during the 1990s. » Perhaps the most famous player to play for Czechoslovakia with a Slovak background was Ladislav Kubala, who scored 194 goals in 281 games for Barcelona – a total only bettered by Lionel Messi, Cesar Rodriguez and Luis Suarez in the club’s history. » Slovakia were 37th in the most recent FIFA rankings, sandwiched between the Republic of Ireland and South Korea. Their average position since the system was created is 38th and they reached their highest position of 14th when they qualified for Euro 2016. » They play international games in Trnava or in the capital at the Tehelne Pole, a new 22,500-seater national stadium which was finished in 2019 and is also home to Slovan Bratislava. » In four meetings with Northern Ireland they have won two, drawn one and lost once. Their defeat came in a friendly in Belfast in 1998 when Steve Lomas scored a second half winner for Lawrie McMenemy’s men.

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