Marek Hamšík

Three days later, Hamšík scored his second goal of the new season with an 81st-minute penalty to earn Napoli a 4–1 comeback win away to newly promoted Cesena.

Marek Hamšík (born 27 July 1987) is a Slovak football coach and former player who played as a midfielder.

He was most recently the team manager for Slovakia national team.

In 2002, he signed with top Slovak club Slovan Bratislava.

He played six times for the Slovan Bratislava first team and scored one goal.

After beginning his club career with Slovan Bratislava in 2004, Hamšík moved to Italian club Brescia later that year.

In 2004, at age 17, Hamšík joined Italian Serie A club Brescia for a €500,000 transfer fee.

He made his Brescia debut in a 3–1 away defeat against Chievo on 20 March 2005, when he was 17 years and 237 days old.

In 2005–06, he played 24 league matches for Brescia, with Brescia finishing tenth.

He had an impressive 2006–07 season, scoring 10 goals in 40 matches.

In 2007, he was purchased by newly promoted Serie A club Napoli, where he became a mainstay in the squad's starting line-up.

His energy, leadership, creativity, skill and eye for goal from midfield saw him play a key role in helping the team to two Coppa Italia titles and a Supercoppa Italiana.

He also formerly captained the Slovakia national team from 2007 until his retirement from the national team.

From 2007 to 2023, Hamšík collected 138 international caps at senior level, scoring 26 goals, and in 2018 became Slovakia's most capped player ever.

On 28 June 2007, newly promoted Serie A club Napoli announced Hamšík had signed a five-year contract with the club after Napoli paid Brescia a €5.5 million transfer fee.

Napoli club chairman Aurelio De Laurentiis described Hamšík as a player who should be closely watched in the future.

Hamšík played his first competitive match with Napoli on 15 August 2007, against Cesena in the first round of the Coppa Italia; Napoli won the match 4–0, as Hamšík set up the opening goal and scored the second himself.

He scored his first goal in Serie A on 16 September 2007 in the match against Sampdoria.

His football icon is Czech midfielder Pavel Nedvěd, to whom Hamšík has often been compared due to his playing style.

In 2007, he was voted the second-best Slovak footballer of the year, after Martin Škrtel, and also he was voted the best young Slovak footballer (the Peter Dubovský Trophy).

Hamšík ended his first season with Napoli as the club's top scorer, with nine goals from 37 matches.

For his performances, Hamšík has also won several individual awards: he is an eight-time winner of the Slovak Footballer of the Year Award, and he was named Serie A Young Footballer of the Year in 2008.

At the start of the 2008–09 season, Hamšík scored in both of Napoli's first two matches and went on to score a further nine goals in his second season with the club, finishing as Napoli's top scorer for the second-straight year.

In 2009, he was again runner-up as best Slovak footballer of the year and repeated his success as the best young Slovak footballer.

At international level, Hamšík helped Slovakia qualify for the country' first ever FIFA World Cup, captaining the side at the 2010 tournament as they reached the round of 16 following a victory over defending champions Italy.

On 19 September 2010, Hamšík scored Napoli's first goal as they came back from a goal down to defeat Sampdoria 2–1 in Genoa.

The 2010–11 season was very productive for Hamšík, as he helped lead Napoli to a very successful season and earn automatic qualification into the UEFA Champions League by finishing third in Serie A.

Hamšík played in 36 of Napoli's 38 Serie A matches that season, scoring 11 goals and contributing 6 assists.

In 2011, 2016 and 2017, he was named to the Serie A Team of the Year, and in 2015, he was included in the UEFA Europa League Squad of the season.

On 30 January 2011, Hamšík scored a well taken effort as Napoli hammered Sampdoria 4–0.

In 2013, Hamšík was ranked as the eighth best footballer in Europe by Bloomberg.

Despite the fact Hamšík grew up in Banská Bystrica, he never played for major local team Dukla Banská Bystrica.

Instead, he began playing for a small youth team, Jupie Podlavice.

He scored 121 goals for the club and collected 521 appearances in all competitions during his twelve seasons with the team, and also served as the club's captain between 2014 and 2019; he became the club's all-time top goalscorer in 2017 (surpassed by Dries Mertens in 2020), and the club's all-time appearance holder in 2018.

On 23 September, Hamšík signed a three-year contract extension set to last until June 2015.

He would go on to lead his nation to European Championship qualification for the first time in 2016, as they once again reached the second round of a major tournament; a second consecutive European Championship appearance would follow for Hamšík in 2020.

In February 2019, Hamšík joined Chinese club Dalian Professional.

He signed for Turkish side Trabzonspor in 2021, winning a Süper Lig title, before announcing his retirement in 2023.

In 2019, he scored his 25th international goal, overtaking Róbert Vittek as the nation's all-time top scorer.

Later that season, Brescia finished 19th in Serie A and was therefore relegated to the Serie B.