Szilárd Németh

Szilárd Németh (Slovak pronunciation: [ˈsilaːrt ˈneːmet]; Hungarian: [ˈsilaːrd ˈneːmɛt]; born 8 August 1977), simply known as Szilárd, is a Slovak former professional footballer who played as a striker.

This article is about the Slovak footballer. For the Hungarian politician, see Szilárd Németh (politician).

Szilárd Németh
Personal information
Date of birth (1977-08-08) 8 August 1977
Place of birth Komárno, Czechoslovakia
Height 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Position(s) Striker
Youth career
1984–1992 KFC Komárno
1992–1994 Slovan Bratislava
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1994–1997 Slovan Bratislava 61 (25)
1997 1. FC Košice
1997–1998 Sparta Prague 8 (0)
1998–1999 1. FC Košice 37 (20)
1999–2001 Inter Bratislava 58 (40)
2001–2006 Middlesbrough 117 (23)
2006 Strasbourg 9 (0)
2006–2010 Alemannia Aachen 77 (17)
Total 357 (130)
International career
1997–2006 Slovakia[1] 58 (22)
Managerial career
2014–2020 Slovan Bratislava (juniors)
2020–2021 Komárno
2021–2022 Rohožník
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

After playing for clubs in Slovakia 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 was at that time the highest scorer in the history of the Slovakia national team, with 22 goals in 58 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, he moved to giants of the region, Czech team Sparta Prague for record fee 35 million CZK (€1.3 million) [2]

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.[3]

Németh scored 23 goals in 117 Premier League appearances for the club.[4] He became known as the Lizard King of Teesside and Slovakian Express[5] 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.[6] 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. 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'.[7] Their season ended with relegation from Ligue 1, and he was released.

On 28 August 2006, he agreed to join the German Bundesliga club Alemannia Aachen in a two-year deal.[8] Németh spent most of his first season on the sidelines because of a pulmonary embolism.[9] On 19 May 2008, he signed a contract extension with Aachen until the end of the 2009–10 season. In the winter of 2010–11, he opted to retire from football due to health problems.[10]

International career

Németh scored 22 times in 58 matches for Slovakia between 1997 and 2006. His debut was a 4–0 friendly win against Belarus at the Štadión pod Zoborom in Nitra on 2 February 1997, replacing Róbert Semeník for the final 26 minutes. He scored his first goal on his third cap on 5 February 1997, in a 2–2 draw away 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.[1] He was the country's highest-scorer until Róbert Vittek broke the record, and is their seventh most-capped player.

Personal life

Németh belongs to the Hungarian minority in Slovakia.[11][12]

Career statistics
Scores and results list Slovakia's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Németh goal.
List of international goals scored by Szilárd Németh[13]
No. Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition
15 February 1997Estadio Nacional de Costa Rica, San José, Costa Rica Costa Rica1–12–2Friendly
27 February 1998Tsirion Stadium, Limassol, Cyprus Iceland1–02–11998 Cyprus International Football Tournament
38 September 1999Mestský štadión, Dubnica, Slovakia Liechtenstein1–02–0UEFA Euro 2000 qualifying
416 August 2000Tehelné pole, Bratislava, Slovakia Croatia1–11–1Friendly
57 October 2000Stadionul Republican, Chişinău, Moldova Moldova1–01–02002 FIFA World Cup qualification
615 November 2000Diagoras Stadium, Rhodes, Greece Greece1–02–0Friendly
727 February 2001Stade 5 Juillet 1962, Algiers, Algeria Algeria1–11–1Friendly
828 March 2001Štadión Antona Malatinského, Trnava, Slovakia Azerbaijan1–03–12002 FIFA World Cup qualification
92–1
105 September 2001Štadión na Sihoti, Trenčín, Slovakia Moldova2–14–22002 FIFA World Cup qualification
1121 August 2002Andrův stadion, Olomouc, Czech Republic Czech Republic1–01–4Friendly
1212 October 2002Tehelné pole, Bratislava, Slovakia England1–01–2UEFA Euro 2004 qualifying
132 April 2003Štadión Antona Malatinského, Trnava, Slovakia Liechtenstein2–04–0UEFA Euro 2004 qualifying
143–0
1530 April 2003Štadión pod Dubňom, Žilina, Slovakia Greece1–12–2Friendly
162–2
1710 September 2003Štadión pod Dubňom, Žilina, Slovakia North Macedonia1–01–1UEFA Euro 2004 qualifying
188 September 2004Tehelné pole, Bratislava, Slovakia Liechtenstein5–07–02006 FIFA World Cup qualification
199 October 2004Tehelné pole, Bratislava, Slovakia Latvia1–14–12006 FIFA World Cup qualification
208 June 2005Stade Josy Barthel, Luxembourg City, Luxembourg Luxembourg1–04–02006 FIFA World Cup qualification
2112 November 2005Vicente Calderón Stadium, Madrid, Spain Spain1–21–52006 FIFA World Cup European Qualification Playoffs
221 March 2006Stade de France, Paris, France France1–02–1Friendly

Honours

Slovan Bratislava

Inter Bratislava

Middlesbrough

Individual

References
  1. "Szilárd Németh". European Football.
  2. "Pán futbalista, ktorý pôsobil aj v Anglicku, vo Francúzsku a v Nemecku | Madari.sk".
  3. "Boro net Nemeth". BBC News. 12 April 2001.
  4. "Szilard Nemeth Profile, News & Stats | Premier League".
  5. ""No Stopping the Slovakian Express against Cottagers; He Didn't Score as Many Goals as He Should've Done but Nemeth Was a Thorn in Fulham's Side" - Evening Gazette (Middlesbrough, England), October 14, 2015". Archived from the original on 12 October 2016. Retrieved 11 October 2016.
  6. "Boro lift Carling Cup". BBC Sport. 29 February 2004.
  7. "Striker Nemeth leaves Middlesbrough for Strasbourg". ESPN. 25 January 2006.
  8. "Nemeth to join Alemannia Aachen". Soccerway. 28 August 2006.
  9. "Nemeth out of hospital". Sky Sports. Retrieved 21 November 2014.
  10. "Szilárd Németh: Zdravie mi už profesionálny futbal nedovolí" (in Slovak). SME. 28 February 2011. Retrieved 21 November 2014.
  11. "Népszámlálás 2011 – Németh Szilárd" (in Hungarian). nepszamlalas2011.sk. Archived from the original on 2 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.)
  12. Nagy, Myrtil (2012). "Maďari". In Myrtil Nagy (ed.). Naše národnostné menšiny. Šamorín: Fórum inštitút pre výskum menšín. p. 9. ISBN 978-80-89249-57-2.
  13. "Szilárd Németh". Retrieved 21 November 2014.
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