Matúš Kozáčik

Matúš Kozáčik (; born 27 December 1983) is a Slovak former football goalkeeper who played for Czech club Viktoria Plzeň, and who now serves as a goalkeeping coach with the club's first team.

Club career Kozáčik joined Czech side Slavia Prague from Slovak team 1. FC Košice in January 2002, after a successful week-long trial. While Kozáčik was playing for Slavia Prague, Leeds United took him on trial in December 2006. He became the third player to transfer directly between the rivals of the Prague derby when he joined Sparta Prague in July 2007, signing a three-year contract.

He started the 2011–12 season as Anorthosis Famagusta's first-choice goalkeeper for the club's European matches, but lost his position to other club goalkeeper Dimitar Ivankov for the next two matches. Ivankov left the club after two matches and Kozáčik continued as first-choice goalkeeper.

In June 2012, Kozáčik signed a three-year contract with Viktoria Plzeň. In February 2014, he extended his contract with Plzeň until June 2017. On 18 December 2019, Kozáčik announced his retirement from professional football at the age of 35.

International career On 10 December 2006, Kozáčik made his debut for Slovakia when he played in the first half of a friendly match against the United Arab Emirates. However, his next game for the national team came almost seven years later when he started in a 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifier against Latvia in 2013.

Kozáčik played 90 minutes of a controversial friendly match against Denmark, who arrived with a squad of lower division players and futsal internationals. During a 2019 friendly match against Jordan which ended in a 5-1 victory, Kozáčik was replaced by international debutant Dominik Greif at half time, with the score 0–1. Slovakia went on to win the game with five second-half goals.

Coaching career In September 2022, Kozáčík took on the role of goalkeeping coach with the Slovakia national football team under Francesco Calzona. In March 2023, Kozáčik was replaced by his former national team co-goalkeeper and KFC Komárno goalkeeping coach Ján Novota, with Novota already filling-in during the extraordinary December 2022 camp.

Career statistics