Ján POPLUHÁR (Patreon)

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Ján Popluhár (12 September 1935 – 6 March 2011) was a Slovak footballer who primarily played as a sweeper for Slovak club ŠK Slovan Bratislava. At international level, he was also a member of the Czechoslovakia national team, playing in two World Cups (1958 and 1962).

Popluhár started his football career after high school with RH Brno.[2] However, he is best known for the 15 seasons he spent with ŠK Slovan Bratislava where he made 262 competitive appearances in defence, scoring 21 goals, and following further stints with Brno and Zbrojovka Brno finished on 306 Czechoslovak league games and a goalscoring tally of 24. After finishing his career with Slovan in 1968 he moved to French league side Olympique Lyonnais. Two seasons there were enough, but subsequently he spent five years with Austrian amateur club SK Slovan Vienna as player/coach. Many of the thousands of fans in Vienna thought that Popluhár would be shown up by players twenty years younger than he was, but this did not happen. However, at the age of 44 Popluhár realised that his playing career was over.

Slovan Bratislava coach Leopold Šťastný was famous for creating nicknames for his players, and so Popluhár became known in Slovak football circles as 'Bimbo'. "I was called this because I always looked, and indeed was, good-natured, and I would never hurt anybody", recalls Popluhár.

Honours

Slovan Bratislava

• Czechoslovak Cup: 1962, 1963, 1968

Czechoslovakia

• 1958 FIFA World Cup: Group stage

• 1960 European Nations' Cup: Bronze Medal

• 1962 FIFA World Cup: Silver Medal

Individual

• World Soccer World XI: 1964, 1967, 1968

• Czechoslovak Footballer of the Year: 1965

• ADN Eastern European Footballer of the Season: 1965

• In 2000 Popluhár was elected as the best Slovak footballer of the 20th century.

• UEFA Slovak Golden Player: 2003

• Asteroid 267585 Popluhár, discovered by NEAT at Palomar Observatory in 2002, was named in his honor based on a suggestion by Slovak amateur astronomer Stefan Kürti. The official naming citation was published by the Minor Planet Center on 15 June 2011 (M.P.C. 75354).