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Marek Mintál

Marek Mintál
Marek Mintal.jpg
Personal information
Full name Marek Mintál
Date of birth (1977-09-02) 2 September 1977 (age 39)
Place of birth Žilina, Czechoslovakia
Height 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)
Playing position Attacking midfielder
Youth career
Žilina
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1996–2003 Žilina 188 (77)
1996 Nové Mesto nad Váhom (loan)
2003–2011 1. FC Nürnberg 180 (66)
2011–2012 24 (6)
2012–2013 1. FC Nürnberg II 29 (11)
Total 421 (160)
National team
2002–2009 Slovakia 45 (14)
Teams managed
2013–2014 1. FC Nürnberg (assistant coach)
2015– 1. FC Nürnberg (assistant coach)
2015– 1. FC Nürnberg U19 (assistant coach)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 24 April 2016.

Marek Mintál (Slovak pronunciation: [ˈmarɛk ˈmɪntaːl]; born 2 September 1977) is a retired Slovak footballer and current assistant coach of 1. FC Nürnberg.

Mintál started to play football in Slovak club MŠK Žilina, with whom he won back-to-back Slovak championships in 2001–02 and 2002–03. This was also due to his scoring 20 (2001–02) and 21 (2002–03) goals respectively. With this number of goals he also became the Slovak top scorer in both seasons. Therefore, he was capped for the Slovak national team for the first time on 6 February 2002. He has won 33 caps and scored 11 goals for the Slovak national team.

After the 2002–03 season, he was transferred to 1. FC Nürnberg for an alleged transfer fee of €100,000 and an agreement that should Mintál be transferred again, MŠK Žilina would receive a portion of the transfer fee. His new club was playing in the 2. Bundesliga at this time. He continued his scoring run by scoring 18 goals and becoming the German second division's leading scorer and was a crucial part of Nürnberg's immediate promotion. During that season, Mintál, an offensive midfielder, became widely regarded for his inconspicuous style of play, which has led to him being called "stealth bomber", "Sniper" or "Phantom". In the following year, Mintál led the Bundesliga in scoring with 24 goals, and helped Nürnberg stave off relegation.

His continuous success in scoring goals sparked rumours that he might move to a bigger club during the 2005 summer break. He had been linked in transfer speculation with Liverpool, Beşiktaş, Villarreal and VfB Stuttgart. These rumours did not lead to a transfer and Mintal decided to stay at Nürnberg. However the following season turned out to be disastrous for the Slovak striker who broke his foot twice in the span of five months. Thus, the offensive midfielder only played in four games and scored just a single goal.


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