Szilárd Németh
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Szilárd Németh | ||
| Date of birth | 8 August 1977 | ||
| Place of birth | Komárno, Czechoslovakia | ||
| Height | 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in) | ||
| Playing position | Striker | ||
| Youth career | |||
| KFC Komárno | |||
| 1992–1994 | Slovan Bratislava | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps† | (Gls)† |
| 1994–1997 | Slovan Bratislava | 61 | (25) |
| 1997–1998 | Sparta Prague | 8 | (0) |
| 1998–1999 | 1. FC Košice | 37 | (20) |
| 1999–2001 | Inter Bratislava | 58 | (40) |
| 2001–2006 | Middlesbrough | 117 | (28) |
| 2006 | RC Strasbourg | 9 | (0) |
| 2006–2010 | Alemannia Aachen | 77 | (17) |
| Total | 357 | (130) | |
| National team‡ | |||
| 1997–2006 | Slovakia[1] | 57 | (22) |
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 28 June 2010. † Appearances (Goals). | |||
Szilárd Németh (born 8 August 1977 in Komárno) is a retired Slovak footballer who played as a striker.
After playing for clubs in his country of birth and the Czech Republic, he spent four-and-a-half seasons at Middlesbrough of the Premier League from 2001 to 2006. After a brief stint at France's RC Strasbourg, he played for Alemannia Aachen in Germany until his retirement in 2010.
Németh is the second-highest scorer in the history of the Slovakia national football team, with 22 goals in 57 matches from 1997 to 2006.
Club career
Early career
Németh started his career with Slovan Bratislava before moving to eastern Slovakia to join 1. FC Košice. At both clubs he played well, earning a loan move to giants of the region, Czech team Sparta Prague.
From here he moved back to Slovakia with one of the top teams in the country, Inter Bratislava. He won consecutive Slovak Super Liga titles in 1999-2000 and 2000–01, finishing as top-scorer in both.
Middlesbrough
Amid rumoured interest from Inter Milan, he eventually signed for English side Middlesbrough on 12 April 2001 for £2.1 million on a five-year contract. Earlier that season, he had a trial at their local rivals Sunderland.[2]
Németh scored 28 goals in 117 Premier League appearances for the club. He became known as the Lizard King of Teesside and Slovakian Express[citation needed] for scoring regularly off the bench. Németh was part of Middlesbrough's 2004 League Cup-winning team, despite not making the squad for the final.[3] He also featured as they contested the UEFA Cup in the next two seasons. During his time in the Premier League, he scored in wins over Chelsea, Manchester United, Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur.
The 2005–06 season saw Németh turn down numerous transfer offers, including UEFA Cup winners CSKA Moscow. [citation needed]He faced competition up-front that season from Yakubu, Mark Viduka, Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink and Massimo Maccarone, leading to his exit in January.
Later career
On 25 January 2006, Németh was sold to French club RC Strasbourg for a 'nominal fee'.[4] Their season ended with relegation from Ligue 1, and he was released. On 28 August, he agreed to join German Bundesliga club Alemannia Aachen in a two-year deal.[5]
On 19 May 2008, he signed a contract extension with Aachen until the end of the 2009–10 season. In August 2010, he opted to retire from football.
International career
Németh scored 22 times in 57 matches for Slovakia between 1997 and 2006. His debut was an away friendly against Bolivia on 2 February 1997. He scored his first goal on his second cap three days later, in a 2-2 draw against Costa Rica. Németh's last goal came in his 55th international on 1 March 2006, in an away friendly win over France. His last game was on 6 September 2006, in qualification for Euro 2008, a 3-0 home defeat to the Czech Republic.[6] He was the country's highest-scorer until Róbert Vittek broke the record, and is their seventh most-capped player.
Honours
Inter Bratislava
- Slovak Super Liga (2)
- 1999-2000, 2000-01
Middlesbrough
- Football League Cup (1)
- 2003-04
Personal
- Slovak Footballer of the Year (1)
- 2000
- Slovak Super Liga top scorer (2)
- 1999-2000, 2000–01
Personal life
Németh belongs to the Hungarian minority in Slovakia.[7][8]
References
- ↑ Mamrud, Roberto (29 February 2012). "Slovakia – Record International Players". RSSSF. Retrieved 3 October 2012.
- ↑ http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/m/middlesbrough/1274138.stm
- ↑ http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/league_cup/3507795.stm
- ↑ http://m.espn.go.com/soccer/story?storyId=356353&src=desktop
- ↑ http://uk.soccerway.com/news/2006/August/28/nemeth-to-join-alemannia-aachen/
- ↑ http://eu-football.info/_player.php?id=14897
- ↑ "Népszámlálás 2011 – Németh Szilárd" (in Hungarian). nepszamlalas2011.sk. Archived from the original on 13 October 2011. Retrieved 13 October 2011. "For example about me, many knew both in England and Germany that I came from Slovakia, but I'm ethnic Hungarian. (Rólam például Angliában és Németországban is nagyon sokan tudták, hogy Szlovákiából jöttem, de magyar nemzetiségű vagyok.)"
- ↑ Nagy, Myrtil (2012). "Maďari". In Myrtil Nagy. Naše národnostné menšiny. Šamorín: Fórum inštitút pre výskum menšín. p. 9. ISBN 978-80-89249-57-2.
External links
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