Juraj Kucka

Juraj Kucka (Slovak pronunciation: [ˈjuɾaj ˈkutska]; born 26 February 1987) is a Slovak professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Italian top division club Parma and the Slovak national team.[1]

Juraj Kucka
Kucka playing for Slovakia in 2014
Personal information
Full name Juraj Kucka
Date of birth (1987-02-26) 26 February 1987
Place of birth Bojnice, Czechoslovakia
Height 1.86 m (6 ft 1 in)
Position(s) Midfielder
Club information
Current team
 Parma
Number 33
Youth career
2001–2002 Prievidza
2002–2004 Radvaň
2004–2006 ŽP Šport Podbrezová
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2005–2007 ŽP Šport Podbrezová 42 (3)
2007–2008 Ružomberok 48 (9)
2009–2011 Sparta Prague 45 (11)
2011–2015 Genoa 122 (9)
2015–2017 Milan 59 (4)
2017–2019 Trabzonspor 33 (3)
2019– Parma 60 (13)
National team‡
2007–2008 Slovakia U21 11 (0)
2008– Slovakia 78 (10)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 18:13, 31 January 2021 (UTC).
‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 15 November 2020

Club career

Early career

Kucka made his Corgoň Liga debut for Ružomberok on 11 March 2007. He played six games in his first season. Overall, Kucka played 49 games and scored eight goals for Ružomberok. Czech manager Michal Bílek, coaching Ružomberok in 2008, recommended Kucka for Sparta Praha. In January 2009, he has signed a three-year contract for Sparta. In 2009–10 season he won the champions.

Genoa

On 6 January 2011, he signed a four-and-a-half-year contract for €3.55 million transfer fee[2] with Genoa (later extended one more year to 30 June 2016).[2][3] He made his debut in the Coppa Italia match against Inter Milan on 12 January 2011. He was voted man of the match by Genoa fans after 1–1 draw against AC Milan on 6 February 2011. Kucka proved immediately to fit fine in the squad, showing a remarkable physical strength and good technical skills, resulting the second best player of Genoa.[4] He scored his first goal for Genoa in a 2–1 away win against Lazio Rome on 18 September 2011.

On 31 August 2011, the last day of transfer window, Inter Milan and Genoa came to an agreement to swap co-ownerships of Juraj Kucka (€8 million) and Emiliano Viviano (€5 million). In June 2012 Kucka returned to Genoa where he spent 2011–12 season on loan for just €6.5 million, co-currently Samuele Longo returned to Inter for €7 million.[5][6]

Milan

On 28 August 2015, Kucka was signed by AC Milan[7] for €3 million transfer fee.[8] However, Milan also paid an unknown parties an additional €1 million.[9] He made his debut on 29 August 2015 in a 2–1 home win against Empoli, and scored his first Milan goal on 9 January 2016 to equalize against AS Rome in a 1–1 draw.

Trabzonspor

On 7 July 2017, Kucka was signed by Trabzonspor on a three-year contract worth €2.25 million a season,[10] for a transfer fee of €5 million.[11] He became a third Slovak player to join Trabzonspor in 2016–17 period, after Matúš Bero and Ján Ďurica. The trio was later joined by left-back Tomáš Hubočan, on a loan from Olympique Marseille. By the start of 2018–19 season, Kucka was the only remaining Slovak in the team. In total, Kucka scored 3 goals in 38 competitive games for Trabzonspor.

Parma

Kucka returned to Italy on 14 January 2019, when he joined Parma. He commented that he intended to score more goals in Parma and improve from where he left of, when he left Italy a year and a half ago.[1]

He debuted for Parma in his first opportunity, when he came on as a substitute for Alessandro Deiola in the 73rd minute of a Serie A away fixture against Udinese. Parma won the game 2–1 by goals of Roberto Inglese and Gervinho.[12]

In his third appearance for Parma, Kucka got his first two assists with the side. On 2 February, he assisted Barillà in the 64th minute and Ivorian international Gervinho in the 74th minute. Parma had managed to upset Juventus away, who were at the top of the league table, by coming back from a two-goal margin twice, to tie the game 3–3. Kucka played 86 minutes of the game.[13]

He scored his first goal after the return to Italy in his fifth match, on 16 February 2019 against Cagliari after an assist from Massimo Gobbi, setting the score to 1–0 for Parma. However two second-half goals by Leonardo Pavoletti meant Parma lost the game 1–2.[14]

Parma completed the season 14th with 41 points, three points above the relegation zone. Kucka scored a total of 4 goals, connecting one each against Genoa, Chievo Verona and Sampdoria.

International career

Kucka, a former Slovakia under-21 player, made his senior international debut in a friendly match against Liechtenstein on 19 November 2008. Slovakia manager Vladimír Weiss called him up for the 2010 World Cup despite the fact that Kucka had not played in any qualification matches. He played in three games at the World Cup: against New Zealand, Italy and The Netherlands.

Kucka was called up to the squad for the Euro 2016 tournament in France.

Career statistics

Club
As of match played 31 January 2021.[15]
Club Season League Cup Europe Other Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Ružomberok 2006–07 Slovak Super Liga 60———60
2007–08 Slovak Super Liga 245———245
2008–09 Slovak Super Liga 183———183
Total 488———488
Sparta Praha 2008–09 Czech First League 123———123
2009–10 Czech First League 2052051—276
2010–11 Czech First League 133—112—245
Total 451120163—6314
Genoa 2010–11 Serie A 17010——180
2011–12 Serie A 26210——272
2012–13 Serie A 33320——353
2013–14 Serie A 11210——122
2014–15 Serie A 34200——342
2015–16 Serie A 1000——10
Total 122950——1279
Milan 2015–16 Serie A 29150——341
2016–17 Serie A 30321—1[lower-alpha 1]0334
Total 59471—10675
Trabzonspor 2017–18 Süper Lig 25330——283
2018–19 Süper Lig 8020——100
Total 33350——383
Parma 2018–19 Serie A 18400——184
2019–20 Serie A 26620——286
2020–21 Serie A 16300——163
Total 601320——6213
Career total 367482111631040552
  1. Appearance in Supercoppa Italiana

International
As of 15 November 2020
National teamYearAppsGoals
Slovakia 200810
200940
201090
201161
201260
201391
201442
201560
201692
201730
201871
201982
202061
Total7810

International goals
As of match played 12 November 2020. Slovakia score listed first, score column indicates score after each Kucka goal.[15]
International goals by date, venue, cap, opponent, score, result and competition
No. Date Venue Cap Opponent Score Result Competition
1 10 August 2011Wörthersee Stadion, Klagenfurt, Austria17 Austria1–02–1Friendly
2 15 November 2013Stadion Miejski, Wrocław, Poland35 Poland1–02–0
3 9 October 2014Štadión pod Dubňom, Žilina, Slovakia37 Spain1–02–1UEFA Euro 2016 qualification
4 15 November 2014Philip II Arena, Skopje, Macedonia39 Macedonia1–02–0
5 29 May 2016WWK Arena, Augsburg, Germany46 Germany3–13–1Friendly
6 11 November 2016Anton Malatinský Stadium, Trnava, Slovakia54 Lithuania2–04–02018 FIFA World Cup qualification
7 16 November 201864 Ukraine2–04–12018–19 UEFA Nations League B
8 11 June 2019Bakcell Arena, Baku, Azerbaijan67 Azerbaijan2–05–1UEFA Euro 2020 qualification
9 10 October 2019Anton Malatinský Stadium, Trnava, Slovakia70 Wales1–11–1
10 12 November 2020Windsor Park, Belfast, Northern Ireland77 Northern Ireland1–02–1 (a.e.t.)UEFA Euro 2020 qualification

Honours

Club

Sparta Prague[16]

Milan

References
  1. "OFICIÁLNE: Juraj Kucka sa vracia do Serie A!". Šport7.sk (in Slovak). 14 January 2019. Retrieved 14 January 2019.
  2. Genoa CFC SpA Report and Accounts on 31 December 2011 (in Italian)
  3. "Kucka definitívne hráčom Janova, podpísal 4,5-ročnú zmluvu" (in Slovak). profutbal. 6 January 2011. Retrieved 8 February 2011.
  4. Only Kakha Kaladze did better than him according to the Italian sports newspaper la Gazzetta dello Sport, see Filippo Grimaldi, Marcello Pirovano, Carrarmato Kucka: che affare
  5. Genoa CFC SpA Report and Accounts on 30 June 2012 (in Italian)
  6. FC Internazionale Milano SpA Report and Accounts on 30 June 2012 (in Italian)
  7. "MILANELLO: ARRIVATO JURAJ KUCKA" (in Italian). A.C. Milan. 28 August 2015. Retrieved 28 August 2015.
  8. Genoa C.F.C. S.p.A. bilancio (financial report and accounts) on 31 December 2015, PDF purchased from CCIAA (in Italian)
  9. A.C. Milan S.p.A. bilancio (financial report and accounts) on 31 December 2015, PDF purchased from CCIAA (in Italian)
  10. "Signing Agreement" (Press release) (in Turkish). Trabzonspor. 7 July 2017. Retrieved 7 July 2017 – via Turkish Public Disclosure Platform (KAP).
  11. "Results or Ending of Transfer Meetings" (Press release) (in Turkish). Trabzonspor. 7 July 2017. Retrieved 7 July 2017 – via KAP.
  12. "VIDEO Kucka má za sebou vydarený debut: Parma zdolala Udinese". Športky.sk (in Slovak). Retrieved 23 January 2019.
  13. LiveScore, SofaScore com. "Juventus Parma live score, video stream and H2H results - SofaScore". www.sofascore.com. Retrieved 3 February 2019.
  14. s, SPORT SK, s r o & Ringier Axel Springer Slovakia a. "VIDEO: Juraj Kucka dal hlavou pekný gól, Piatek vybavil výhru AC Miláno". Šport.sk. Retrieved 9 June 2019.
  15. Juraj Kucka at Soccerway
  16. https://int.soccerway.com/players/juraj-kucka/35495/
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