World Ranking: 36
Number of European Championship entries: 2nd (Best result: Round of 16 2016)
Coach: Štefan Tarkovič
Captain: Marek Hamšík
Average age: 28.2 years
Group stage opponents: Spain, Sweden, Poland
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="6" > 26-man army list:</h1>
GK: Martin Dúbravka 32; Newcastle United (England)
GK: Dušan Kuciak 36; Gdańs Klegia (Poland)
GK: Marek Rodák 24; Fulham (England)
DF: Peter Pekarík 34; Hertha Berlin (Germany)
DF: Tomáš Hubočan, 35; Omonia (Cyprus)
DF: Milan Škriniar 26; Inter Milan (Italy)
DF: Dávid Hancko 23; Sparta Prague (Czech Republic)
DF: Lupomir Satka (Ľubomír Šatka) 25 years old; Lech Poznań (Poland)
DF: Denis Vavro, 25; Vladimir Weisca (Spain)
DF: Martin Valjent 25; Mallorca (Spain)
DF: Martin Koscelník, 26; Liberec (Czech Republic)
MF: Marek Hamšík 33; Trabzon (Turkey)
MF: Juraj Kucka 34; Parma (Italy)
Many of the Slovak players of this generation have been working together for many years, and in addition to Marek Hamsik, Yuraj Kutska has been one of the most important players in the national team for many years, and this is his third time playing for the national team. Although Parma's results have been terrible in the past season, Yuraj Kutska's outstanding performance is still obvious to all, and he has scored seven goals in the whole season, which is a new career high. Even though he is 34 years old, his interception ability, physical confrontation and rear-range shooting are still quite impressive.
MF: Vladimír Weiss, 31; Slovan Bratislava (Slovakia)
MF: Róbert Mak 30; Ferencvaros (Hungary)
Robert Mark joined City's academy at the age of 13 but unfortunately never got the chance to play in the first team. In recent years, the winger has developed mediocrely, playing in the Russian, Greek and Hungarian leagues. He is the second most scoring player in the national team this season, and his dunks on the flanks in the past have been one of the national team's offensive moves, but the 30-year-old winger's status is really questionable, and this season in Ferencvaros has only played 90 minutes, but the national team still relies on him.
MF: Ondrej Duda, 26; Cologne (Germany)
Endreger Duda also scored at the last European Championship and can play as a striker and forward in his own right, using much the same as the previous one. With several forward players in the national team deficient, the Cologne striker is believed to continue to play the positive arrow position.
MF: Patrik Hrošovský, 29; Genk (Belgium)
MF: Ján Greguš, 30; Minnesota United (USA)
MF: Stanislav Lobotka, 26; Naples (Italy)
MF: Lukáš Haraslín 25; Sassuolo (Italy)
MF: László Bénes, 23; Augsburg (Germany)
MF: Tomáš Suslov 19; Groningen (Netherlands)
MF: Jakub Hromada 25 years old; Slavia Prague (Czech Republic)
FW: Michal Ďuriš 33; Omonia (Cyprus)
FW: Róbert Boženík 21; Feyenoord (Netherlands)
FW: Ivan Schranz 27; Jablonec (Czech Republic)
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="8" > Expected lineup: 4-2-3-1</h1>
Martin Duravke
Peter Pecarik Milan Škriniar Lupomir Satka Thomas Hubocan
Stanislav Lobotka Yuray Kutska
Lucas Harrahlin, Laslo Baynesh, Robert Mark
Endrej Duda
This European Championship is Slovakia's third major tournament, and they have been able to qualify in the group stage twice before, reaching the round of 16 at the 2010 World Cup and the last European Championship. Due to the limitations of strength and manpower, Slovakia's team still relies on many old courtiers, and the average age of the team is also on the older side, and a total of 5 players are from the List of the World Cup in South Africa 11 years ago.
Slovakia beat Russia in the group stage and drew england in the last European Championship, but they have developed mediocrely in recent years, and even relegated in the last European League, and will need to switch to the C League in the next edition. Coach Stefan Takovic only took office in October last year and immediately assisted the team in beating Northern Ireland after the extra time stage of the play-off final to reach the European Championship home lap again. In fact, Stefan Takovic's coaching career has successively held positions in the Slovak women's football team, U-18 and assistant coach, which can be said to have been involved in different echelons. Two months ago, the national team recruited Marek Mintál as one of the teaching assistants. The star had previously won the Golden Boot in the 2004–05 season when he played for Nuremberg in the Bundesliga.
In terms of recent developments, Slovakia's record is actually not too good, since 2020, they have only won two games in all competitions (only in regular time), and recently have failed to win against European second- and third-tier teams such as Bulgaria, Malta and Cyprus. At the end of the day, Slovakia has never been an aggressive team. In this season's squad, 26 players are from 13 leagues, and all of them play for different teams, making them the only team in the finals to do so. However, the players themselves have worked together for a long time, such as Thomas Huborcan, Peter Pecarik in the defensive line, Marek Hamsik in midfield, Yuraj Kutzka, wingerSladimir Weiss, Robert Mark, and forward Michal Durish, etc., who have played for the national team for at least eight years and are still the main members today.
Slovakia has only two players in the Premier League, both of whom happen to be goalkeeper positions, namely Marek Rodak of Fulham and Martin Dulavk of Newcastle United. The former retired to the bench this season, but fortunately the latter returned from injury in the mid-season and maintained a stable performance in the second half of the season. In the back line, Inter Milan's Milan Shkrinar is certainly the highest in the series, but there is a certain degree of uncertainty about who his partner is. Although both Martin Valyente and Dennis Vavro currently play in the Spanish league (the latter is a loanee for Lazio), Stefan Takovic seems to be more inclined to play for Lupomir Satka, who plays in the Polish league, in recent matches. But for the team, the biggest problem seems to be left-back, because this position has been looking for a good player for many years. As in the previous tournament, the national team has the opportunity to continue to play this position with 35-year-old veteran Thomas Hubokan this time, but he is after all a central defender, and he is also a right-footed player, and it is difficult to hope that he can achieve anything in assists. On the contrary, David Hancko scored five goals in the Czech side Sparta Prague this year, and can also play as a center-back and left-back position, depending on whether he can succeed in this year's position.
There is no doubt that Marek Hamsik is still very important in the national team, regardless of his teleportation skills, reading the ball and the sense of pressure, but he is always old, and his position in recent years has slowly fallen behind. Nevertheless, there are still many players in the team who can play the position of the front, such as two Bundesliga players, Láslo Baines and Enderje Duda, while the veteran Vladimir Weiss has also begun to move to the middle of the road as he gets older to work as he distributes cards, and there is also a 19-year-old newcomer Thomas Suslov who wore a number 10 shirt in this tournament, although this season has played more as a winger in the Dutch League, but it is still unfinished and still has a certain degree of plasticity. As for the midfield, Yuraj Kutska plays similarly with Jan Gregusz, while Napoli's Stanislav Lobotka is a technical midfielder, and Slovakia's midfield line is their biggest capital.
However, the winger position is relatively inferior, the team still needs to rely heavily on Vladimir Weiss and Robert Mark, as for Sassuolo's Lucas Halaslin, who has only 326 minutes to play in Serie A this season, and the above-mentioned Thomas Suslov is only a newcomer to the national team, so the configuration of the winger is not too optimistic, plus several forward players have very few opportunities in their respective teams this season, such as Michal Durish and Robert Blanc. Poznik has only scored three goals in league matches in the past season, and another striker, Ivan Schlands, although he scored 13 goals in the team this season, is a better player, but he was injured in the last warm-up game before the European Championship, it is not known how the injury was, so Stefan Takovic may once again place Endregge Duda in the forward position after the last European Championship as the "pseudo-9".
Of course, attack is not their strong point after all, but if they take stability first in the European Cup, focusing on defense will be more qualified to grab points than taking the initiative, or can achieve the same effect as the last tournament. They won 1 win, draw 1 and lose 1 loss in the group stage in the last edition, and this year will be the first to meet Poland and Sweden in the group stage. Even in terms of card strength, Slovakia may be the weaker team, but it is not too far from the first two, but the top 16 believes that it is their limit.