František Plach

František Plach (born 8 March 1992) is a Slovak professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Piast Gliwice and the Slovakia national team.

František Plach
Personal information
Date of birth (1992-03-08) 8 March 1992
Place of birth Žilina, Czechoslovakia
Height 1.92 m (6 ft 4 in)
Position(s) Goalkeeper
Team information
Current team
 Piast Gliwice
Number 26
Youth career
Žilina
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2013–2015 Žilina B
2013 → Svätý Jur (loan)
2015 → Pohronie (loan) 31 (0)
2016–2017 Senica 26 (0)
2018– Piast Gliwice 159 (0)
International career‡
2022– Slovakia 1 (0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 29 May 2023
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 29 March 2022

Club career

FK Senica

Plach made his professional debut for FK Senica against MFK Skalica on 2 April 2016.[1]

Piast Gliwice

Plach moved from Senica to Piast Gliwice on 10 January 2018.[2] In April 2018, Plach spoke to Slovak regional tabloid My about his career in Gliwice. While he did not start in a single competitive game in the spring half of the 2017–18 season, he mentioned he was glad for the transfer and was not worried that he would follow the tracks of Dobrivoj Rusov who spent 2 years there before returning to Slovak top-division team Spartak Trnava.[3]

The 2018–19 season, however, took a major twist for Plach and Piast. While Piast battled to avoid relegation in the previous season, the side championed the Polish league in this edition and Plach was the preferred goalkeeper for the majority of the season, maintaining 12 clean sheets in 25 league matches. After the season, that saw Plach win his first senior trophy, he was nominated to be Ekstaklasa's goalkeeper of the season by the experts at Sportowefakty web-portal, thanks to his 81% save rate and the lowest number of conceded goals (21). He was nominated along with his fellow-Slovak goalkeeper Dušan Kuciak from Lechia Gdańsk, who finished third, and Latvian Pāvels Šteinbors.[4]

In December 2022, Plach extended his contract with Piast until the summer of 2026, with a year option, shutting down claims of a possible transfer to Slovan Bratislava.[5]

International career

On few occasions, Plach was a part of the Slovakia national team call-ups for international fixtures. For the first time, he was recognised by Štefan Tarkovič in August 2021, ahead of three 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifiers.[6] In March 2022, he was called up additionally to replace Martin Dúbravka, who had suffered angina ahead of friendlies against Norway and Finland.[7]

Plach did not make an appearance on 25 March 2022 in Oslo fixture against Norway, as Marek Rodák was given preference. The match concluded in a 2–0 defeat, following strikes by Erling Haaland and Martin Ødegaard.[8] Days late, Dominik Holec, a fellow debutant in the national team, appeared in the starting line-up in the subsequent match, debuting on 29 March 2022 in a neutral field international friendly against Finland. Following an agreement with goalkeeper's coach Miroslav Seman however, Plach and Holec were to feature for one half of the game each. During the first half, Holec faced two shots from the opposing team.[9] Consequently, Plach made his debut starting in the second half. The match concluded in a 2–0 victory, after a first-half strike by Ondrej Duda and a second-half securing goal by Erik Jirka. It was noted, that during the second half, Plach had little problems to solve in goal.[10] Following the match, Holec and Plach both praised the defensive line commanded by Milan Škriniar, expressed pride over representing their nation and claimed that lack of spectators was the only regret related to their debut.[11]

Career statistics

Club
As of 29 May 2023
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League National cup Continental Other Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Senica 2015–16 Fortuna Liga 3000——30
2016–17 Fortuna Liga 4010——50
2017–18 Fortuna Liga 19000——190
Total 26010——270
Piast Gliwice 2017–18 Ekstraklasa 00———00
2018–19 Ekstraklasa 25010——260
2019–20 Ekstraklasa 370104000420
2020–21 Ekstraklasa 3005030—380
2021–22 Ekstraklasa 33010——340
2022–23 Ekstraklasa 34000——340
Total 15908070001740
Career total 18509070002010

Honours

Piast Gliwice

Individual

References
  1. SENICA VS. SKALICA 2 - 2 02.04.2016, soccerway.com
  2. a.s, Petit Press. "Senica prišla o ďalšieho brankára, do Poľska odchádza Plach". sport.sme.sk (in Slovak). Retrieved 2019-05-31.
  3. a.s, Petit Press. "Brankár Plach: V Poľsku čakám na svoju šancu, na Senicu mám pekné spomienky". myzahorie.sme.sk (in Slovak). Retrieved 2019-05-31.
  4. Media, Wirtualna Polska (2019-05-07). "Kto najlepszym piłkarzem Ekstraklasy? Eksperci wybrali kandydatów - WP SportoweFakty". sportowefakty.wp.pl (in Polish). Retrieved 2019-05-31.
  5. "Frantisek Plach przedłużył kontrakt z Piastem Gliwice". FutbolNews (in Polish). 2022-12-06. Retrieved 2022-12-07.
  6. "Tarkovič nominoval prvýkrát po EURO. Koho vybral do reprezentácie?". sportnet.sme.sk (in Slovak). Retrieved 2022-03-24.
  7. Jurigová, Monika (2022-03-23). "MUŽI A – Ďalšie dve zmeny v Tarkovičovej nominácii". futbalsfz.sk (in Slovak). Retrieved 2022-03-24.
  8. "Nórsko - Slovensko | Prípravné zápasy 2022, Rok". futbalsfz.sk (in Slovak). Retrieved 2022-04-04.
  9. "Slovenská futbalová reprezentácia vyhráva nad". Denník N (in Slovak). 2022-03-29. Retrieved 2022-04-04.
  10. "Slovenskí futbalisti si napravili chuť. Fínov zdolali o dva góly". sportnet.sme.sk (in Slovak). Retrieved 2022-04-04.
  11. Cas.sk (2022-03-31). "Brankári Dominik Holec a František Plach po debute v reprezentácii: Za Škriniarom sa nám to chytá!". Nový Čas (in Slovak). Retrieved 2022-04-04.
  12. "Rozdano nagrody w Ekstraklasie za sezon 2018/19" [2018/19 season Ekstraklasa awards given] (in Polish). 90minut. 20 May 2019. Retrieved 14 March 2021.
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