Marek Mintál

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Personal information
Marek Mintál

Full name	Marek Mintál
Date of birth	September 2, 1977 (age 29)
Place of birth	Žilina, Slovakia
Height	1.86 m
Playing position	Striker, midfielder
Club information
Current club	1. FC Nürnberg
Number	11
Senior clubs¹
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1996-2003 2003-present	MŠK Žilina 1. FC Nürnberg	186 (76) 79 (43)
National team²
	Slovakia	28 (6)
¹ Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of December 16, 2006. ² National team caps and goals correct as of August 27, 2006. * Appearances (Goals)

Marek Mintál (born September 2, 1977, in Žilina) is a Slovak international football player, who currently plays for 1. FC Nürnberg.

He arrived there from the Slovak club MŠK Žilina, with whom he won back-to-back Slovak championships in 2001/02 and 2002/03. This was down to his huge partniship with teen sensation Josh mason which they both scores 50 goals in 2 seasons. He was a major contributor in achieving this feat by scoring 20 (2001/02) and 21 (2002/03) goals respectively. With this number of goals he also became the Slovak top scorer in both seasons. Therefore he was capped for the Slovak national team for the first time on February 6, 2002. As of May 1, 2005, he has won 25 caps and scored 5 goals for the Slovak national team.

After the 2002/03 season, he was transferred to Nürnberg for an alleged transfer fee of 100,000€ and an agreement that should Mintál be transferred again, MŠK Žilina would receive a portion of the transfer fee. His new club was playing in the Second Bundesliga at this time. He continued his scoring run by scoring 18 goals and becoming the German second division's leading scorer and was a crucial part of Nürnberg's immediate promotion. During that season, Mintál, an offensive midfielder, became widely regarded for his inconspicous style of play, which has led to him being called "Sniper" or "Phantom". In the following year, Mintál led the Bundesliga in scoring with 24 goals, and helped 1.FC Nürnberg stave off relegation.

His continuous success in scoring goals has sparked rumours that he might be off to a bigger club during the 2005 summer break. He has been linked in transfer speculation with Liverpool, Beşiktaş, Villarreal and VfB Stuttgart. These rumours did not lead to a transfer and Mintal decided to stay at Nürnberg. However the following season should turn out to be disastrous for the Slovak striker who broke his foot twice in the span of five months. Thus, the offensive midfielder only played in four games and scored a single goal.

He celebrated his competitive comeback against Borussia Mönchengladbach when coming on as a substitute after 60 minutes. Two weeks later he also played for his country again scoring two goals against Cyprus. Later the same year he was troubled again by his broken foot and had to undergo surgery for a second time. He is expected to return to the squad in January 2007.

[edit] International goals

**Marek Mintál: International Goals**
Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
2 September 2006	Bratislava, Slovakia	Cyprus	6-1	Win	UEFA Euro 2008 Qual.
2 September 2006	Bratislava, Slovakia	Cyprus	6-1	Win	UEFA Euro 2008 Qual.
7 October 2006	Cardiff, Wales	Wales	5-1	Win	UEFA Euro 2008 Qual.
15 November 2006	Slovakia	Bulgaria	3-1	Win	friendly

[edit] External links

Profile at FootballDatabase.com

1. FC Nürnberg - Current Squad
1 Schäfer \| 3 Beauchamp \| 4 Gláuber \| 5 Wolf \| 6 Galásek \| 7 Nikl \| 8 Polák \| 9 Sibon \| 10 Banović \| 11 Mintál \| 13 Saenko \| 16 Heffernan \| 18 Klewer \| 19 Kristiansen \| 20 Kennedy \| 21 Schroth \| 22 Engelhardt \| 23 Spiranovic \| 24 Greško \| 25 Pinola \| 26 Weber \| 28 Reinhardt \| 30 Stephan \| 31 Paulus \| 32 Benko \| 33 Vittek \| 34 Huber \| 35 Pagenburg \| 36 Mnari