Stanislav Lobotka

Slovak footballer (born 1994)
Stanislav Lobotka
Lobotka playing for Napoli in 2021
Personal information
Full name Stanislav Lobotka[1]
Date of birth (1994-11-25) 25 November 1994 (age 29)
Place of birth Trenčín, Slovakia
Height 1.68 m (5 ft 6 in)
Position(s) Central midfielder
Team information
Current team
 Napoli
Number 68
Youth career
AAC Sparta Trenčín
AS Trenčín
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2011–2015 AS Trenčín 76 (3)
2013–2014 → Jong Ajax (loan) 30 (3)
2015–2017 Nordsjælland 61 (0)
2017–2020 Celta Vigo 86 (0)
2020– Napoli 121 (2)
International career‡
2011–2012 Slovakia U18 3 (1)
2012–2013 Slovakia U19 6 (1)
2013–2017 Slovakia U21 27 (2)
2016– Slovakia 54 (4)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 23:45, 7 April 2024 (UTC)
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 23:26, 26 March 2024 (UTC)

Stanislav Lobotka (Slovak pronunciation: [ˈstaɲislaw ˈlɔbɔtka]; born 25 November 1994) is a Slovak professional footballer who plays as a central midfielder for Serie A club Napoli and the Slovakia national team.[2]

Club career

AS Trenčín

Lobotka made his Corgoň Liga debut for AS Trenčín[3] against FK Dukla Banská Bystrica on 4 March 2012.

Ajax (loan)

Lobotka joined AFC Ajax for the 2013–14 season on 30 June 2013 on a one-year loan with option to buy.[4][5] He played his first match for Ajax on 13 July 2013 in a pre-season friendly encounter against RKC Waalwijk. He came on as a 60th minute substitute for Christian Eriksen in the 5–1 win in Waalwijk at the Mandemakers Stadion.[6]

Nordsjælland

Stanislav Lobotka came to FC Nordsjælland in August shortly before the transfer window closed, and made his debut against Brøndby on 30 August 2015. Lobotka entered as a regular on the midfield, and in his first season has played all the matches except for one because of illness.

The 21-year-old Slovak was voted player of the year in his first season at the FCN Awards.[7] In 2017, he was again voted club's player of the year after another great season.[8]

Celta Vigo

On 15 July 2017, Lobotka joined Celta on a five-year deal.[9]

On 3 June 2019, Lobotka admitted that after Celta's unsuccessful season, he was open to a transfer, looking to find a club set to play in European competitions next season. According to Pravda, Lobotka also claimed that he was aware of an interest from other Spanish and German clubs.[10]

Napoli

On 15 January 2020, Lobotka signed to Italian Serie A club S.S.C. Napoli,[11] for a reported €24m deal until 2024.[12]

On 18 January 2020, Lobotka was benched in his first possible fixture against Fiorentina in a 0–2 defeat.[13] Instead, he made a brief, 22-minute appearance in the 2019–20 Coppa Italia against Lazio, being featured in the starting line-up. Lobotka had to be replaced early due to tactical changes following a red card to Elseid Hysaj, but witnessed an early winning goal by Lorenzo Insigne in the second minute.[14]

Lobotka made his league debut against table-leaders Juventus on 26 January 2020. He came on as a replacement for Diego Demme, who was booked with a yellow card in the first half. Napoli managed to earn an upset victory over the favourites, by winning 2–1, with goals scored by Piotr Zieliński and Lorenzo Insigne. Cristiano Ronaldo's stoppage time goal did not change the result.[15] He had his first league start in the next round, in a 4–2 away victory at Stadio Luigi Ferraris against Sampdoria. Lobotka played for over an hour and was replaced by Diego Demme, as Napoli led 2–1, after goals by Arkadiusz Milik and Elif Elmas. Demme went on to score the third goal and Dries Mertens sealed the win in stoppage time.[16]

Lobotka had also been added to Napoli's UEFA Champions League squad, thus making him eligible to participate in the Round of 16 fixtures against Barcelona.[17] The first competitive set of fixtures between the clubs was also dubbed by the Maradona derby.[18]

International career

Having represented various youth Slovak teams, Lobotka was called up to the senior Slovakia squad for matches against Lithuania and Austria.[19] On 15 November 2016, he debuted in the latter friendly match alongside Matúš Bero and Albert Rusnák.[20]

Later, Lobotka was called up to multiple fixtures, but had to wait for his competitive debut until 1 September 2017, for a 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifier against Slovenia. He played the entire match being a valuable midfielder, fulfilling the expectations following the successful performances of Lobotka and Slovakia U21 at the 2017 UEFA European Under-21 Championship, as well as his move to Celta Vigo. His performance contributed to Slovakia's 1-0 home victory.

On 4 September 2017, Lobotka scored his first international goal for the Slovak senior team,[21] becoming the first to score at Wembley, in a qualifier against England. He scored after he tackled and took the ball from Marcus Rashford and exchanged a pass with Adam Nemec, before beating Joe Hart in the 3rd minute of the match. However, Slovakia went on to lose the game 1-2, after goals by Eric Dier and Rashford. The 8th game of the campaign was a direct battle for the 1st place in qualifying Group F. Similarly, like after the previous game, Lobotka received praise for his performance. By the end of the year, he scored again in a friendly match against Norway in the 93rd minute, providing Slovakia a 1-0 victory in a final international game of Ján Ďurica.

Career statistics

Club

As of match played 7 April 2024[22][23]
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League Cup Continental Other Total
Division Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Trenčín 2010–11 2. liga 2 0 0 0 – – 2 0
2011–12 Corgoň Liga 5 0 0 0 – – 5 0
2012–13 31 2 0 0 – – 31 2
2014–15 32 1 4 0 4[a] 0 – 40 1
2015–16 6 0 0 0 2[b] 0 – 8 0
Total 76 3 4 0 6 0 – 86 3
Jong Ajax (loan) 2013–14 Eerste Divisie 30 3 0 0 – – 30 3
Total 30 3 0 0 – – 30 3
Nordsjælland 2015–16 Danish Superliga 26 0 0 0 – – 26 0
2016–17 35 0 1 0 – – 36 0
Total 61 0 1 0 – – 62 0
Celta Vigo 2017–18 La Liga 38 0 3 0 – – 41 0
2018–19 31 0 1 0 – – 32 0
2019–20 17 0 0 0 – – 17 0
Total 86 0 4 0 – – 90 0
Napoli 2019–20 Serie A 14 0 1 0 1[b] 0 – 16 0
2020–21 15 0 3 0 5[a] 0 0 0 23 0
2021–22 23 1 1 0 2[a] 0 – 26 1
2022–23 38 1 1 0 10[b] 0 – 49 1
2023–24 31 0 1 0 8[b] 0 2[c] 0 42 0
Total 121 2 7 0 26 0 2 0 156 2
Career total 374 8 16 0 32 0 2 0 424 8
  1. ^ a b c Appearances in UEFA Europa League
  2. ^ a b c d Appearance(s) in UEFA Champions League
  3. ^ Appearances in Supercoppa Italiana

International

As of match played 26 March 2024[24]
Appearances and goals by national team and year
National team Year Apps Goals
Slovakia 2016 1 0
2017 6 2
2018 7 0
2019 8 1
2020 5 0
2021 7 0
2022 9 0
2023 9 1
2024 2 0
Total 54 4

International goals

Slovakia's score listed first, score column indicates score after each Lobotka goal.
International goals by date, venue, cap, opponent, score, result and competition
No. Date Venue Cap Opponent Score Result Competition
1 4 September 2017 Wembley Stadium, London, England 3  England 1–0 1–2 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification
2 14 November 2017 Štadión Antona Malatinského, Trnava, Slovakia 7  Norway 1–0 1–0 Friendly
3 11 June 2019 Bakcell Arena, Baku, Azerbaijan 17  Azerbaijan 1–0 5–1 UEFA Euro 2020 qualification
4 13 October 2023 Estádio do Dragão, Porto, Portugal 50  Portugal 2–3 2–3 UEFA Euro 2024 qualification

Honours

AS Trenčín[25]

Napoli

Slovakia

Individual

References

  1. ^ "Acta del Partido celebrado el 22 de diciembre de 2019, en Valencia" [Minutes of the Match held on 22 December 2019, in Valencia] (in Spanish). Royal Spanish Football Federation. Retrieved 13 February 2020.
  2. ^ "AS po jeseni s trinásťbodovým náskokom, motivácia im však nechýba". Sme (in Slovak). 4 March 2011. Archived from the original on 31 August 2011. Retrieved 1 April 2011.
  3. ^ Peltier zariadil remízu Trenčína s Banskou Bystricou 04.03.2012, sport.aktuality.sk
  4. ^ Lobotka do Ajaxu Amsterdam Archived 31 July 2013 at the Wayback Machine
  5. ^ Stanislav Lobotka prestupuje do Ajaxu Amsterdam Archived 3 July 2013 at the Wayback Machine
  6. ^ "Ajax wint gemakkelijk in Waalwijk" (in Dutch). Ajax Showtime. 16 July 2013. Retrieved 13 July 2013.
  7. ^ "Stanislav Lobotka årets spiller i FCN" [Stanislav Lobotka Player of the year in FCN]. fcn.dk (in Danish). FC Nordsjælland. 31 May 2016. Retrieved 9 April 2020.
  8. ^ "Billedgalleri fra FCN Award Show 2017" [Photo Gallery from the FCN Award Show 2017]. fcn.dk (in Danish). FC Nordsjælland. 30 May 2017. Retrieved 9 April 2020.
  9. ^ "El RC Celta inunda de calidad y dinamismo su centro del campo con el internacional eslovaco Lobotka". RC Celta de Vigo (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 1 August 2017.
  10. ^ "Lobotka nevylúčil odchod z Viga. Prezradil, odkiaľ má záujemcov". Pravda.sk (in Slovak). 3 June 2019. Retrieved 3 June 2019.
  11. ^ "UFFICIALE: Napoli, dopo Demme ecco il secondo colpo: Lobotka" (in Italian). Retrieved 15 January 2020.
  12. ^ "Napoli complete reported €24m capture of Lobotka from Celta Vigo". BeIN Sports. 15 January 2020.
  13. ^ "VIDEO: Lobotka sa debutu nedočkal, Neapol prehral s Fiorentinou". Šport7.sk (in Slovak). 19 January 2020. Retrieved 8 February 2020.
  14. ^ "Lobotkov debut trval len do 22. minúty. Gattuso ho takticky stiahol". Slovakia (in Slovak). 21 January 2020. Retrieved 8 February 2020.
  15. ^ "Lobotka debutoval v Serii A proti hviezdnemu Juventusu, Insigne: Je to víťazstvo celého Neapola". Aktuality.sk (in Slovak). Retrieved 8 February 2020.
  16. ^ "Neapol vyhral v Janove nad Sampdoriou 4:2, Lobotka hral do 61. minúty". Teraz. 4 February 2020. Retrieved 8 February 2020.
  17. ^ "Lobotkovi sa črtá veľká premiéra v Lige majstrov. Neapol ho pridal na súpisku". Pravda (in Slovak). 6 February 2020. Retrieved 8 February 2020.
  18. ^ "Napoli v Barcelona - The first ever Maradona derby". BT.com. Retrieved 8 February 2020.
  19. ^ "Slovakia 4-0 Lithuania". BBC Sport. 11 November 2016. Retrieved 12 November 2016.
  20. ^ Balický, Marek (16 November 2016). "Mladé pušky sa zhodujú: Boli aj chyby, ale učíme sa..." Aktuality.sk (in Slovak).
  21. ^ "England 2-1 Slovakia". BBC Sport. 4 September 2017. Retrieved 21 January 2021.
  22. ^ "S. Lobotka". Soccerway. Retrieved 24 January 2018.
  23. ^ "Stanislav Lobotka | Club matches". WorldFootball.net. Retrieved 24 January 2018.
  24. ^ "Stanislav Lobotka". National Football Teams. Retrieved 23 June 2021.
  25. ^ "Stanislav Lobotka Profile". Soccerway. Retrieved 9 April 2020.
  26. ^ "Napoli win Serie A for first time in 33 years". BBC Sport. 4 May 2023. Retrieved 4 May 2023.
  27. ^ "Thailand vs. Slovakia - Football Match Line-ups". ESPN. 25 March 2018. Retrieved 9 April 2020.
  28. ^ "Slovakia beat Thailand 3-2, win King's Cup". Bangkok Post. 25 March 2018. Retrieved 9 April 2020.
  29. ^ Šurin, Peter (20 March 2023). "Futbalista Roka 2022 – Škriniar obhájil s neveľkým náskokom". Slovak Football Association (in Slovak). Retrieved 21 March 2023.
  30. ^ "Škriniar v ankete Futbalista roka prvenstvo neobhájil, má nového majiteľa!". Aktuality.sk (in Slovak). 19 March 2024.
  31. ^ "Gran Galà del Calcio: tutti i vincitori della serata Live". Sky Sport Italia (in Italian). 4 December 2023. Retrieved 5 December 2023.

External links

  • Stanislav Lobotka on S.S.C. Napoli
  • Corgoň Liga profile
  • Stanislav Lobotka at Soccerway Edit this at Wikidata
  • v
  • t
  • e
SSC Napoli – current squad
  • v
  • t
  • e
Slovakia squad – UEFA Euro 2020
Slovakia
  • v
  • t
  • e
Slovak Footballer of the Year - Fan Award
  • v
  • t
  • e