Ján Mucha (born 5 December 1982) is a Slovak former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who played as a

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...

. He is also involved in football

trade unions A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...

as a footballing expert in the media.

Club career

Everton

In January 2010, Mucha signed a pre-contract deal with English

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

club Everton to join them on 1 July. On 4 August 2010, Mucha made his Everton debut playing the first 45 minutes of a pre-season friendly against Chilean side

Everton de Viña del Mar Everton de Viña del Mar is a Football in Chile, Chilean football club based in the city of Viña del Mar. The club was founded 24 June 1909 after a group of British Chilean, Anglo-Chilean teenagers formed a football club and named it after th ...

Goodison Park Goodison Park is a Association football, football stadium in Walton, Liverpool, Walton, Liverpool, England, it was the home of Premier League club Everton F.C., Everton from 1892 until 2025. It is now the home of Everton F.C. (women), Everton's ...

, before being replaced in goal by

Iain Turner Iain Ross Turner (born 26 January 1984) is a Scottish former professional footballer, who played as a goalkeeper and who works as goalkeeping coach at Tranmere Rovers. He represented the Scotland under-21 team, the Scotland B team and been sel ...

at half-time. His competitive debut for Everton came in the first match of their League Cup campaign, a 5–1 win over

Huddersfield Town Huddersfield Town Association Football Club is a professional association football club based in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England. They compete in , the third tier of English football league system, English football. Huddersfield Town we ...

. He went on to play in the successive League Cup match against

Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West (London sub region), West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the River Thames, Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has dive ...

, in which he saved a

penalty kick A penalty shot or penalty kick is a play used in several sports whereby a goal is attempted during untimed play. Depending on the sport, when a player commits certain types of penalties, the opposition is awarded a penalty shot or kick attempt. ...

in the second half, but could not keep his side in the competition in the

penalty shootout The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pe ...

to decide the match, which Everton lost 4–3. Mucha made his sixth appearance for the club and his first in the 2012/13 season in a League Cup tie at home to

Leyton Orient Leyton Orient Football Club, commonly referred to as Orient, is a professional association football club based in Leyton, Waltham Forest, London, England. The team compete in EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system. ...

in August 2012, which Everton won 5–0. Mucha played in the next round as Everton lost 2–1 away to

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. The team compete in the Premier League, the top tier of the English football league system. Leeds United have won the League Championship th ...

. He was on the bench in all 38

fixtures of

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

and 2011–12 seasons as an unused sub. On 2 March 2013, with regular keeper

Tim Howard Timothy Matthew Howard (born March 6, 1979) is an American former professional soccer player who played as a goalkeeper. He is the part-owner of club Dagenham & Redbridge as well as an international ambassador in the United States for Premie ...

injured, Mucha finally made his league debut for Everton in a 3–1 home win against

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of symbols, often specifically those of a written language, by means of Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifacete ...

. On 9 March 2013, with Howard still injured, Mucha made his FA Cup debut in a 3–0 home loss to Wigan. He made his 10th appearance for the club the following week in a home league game against

Manchester City Manchester City Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in Manchester, England, that competes in the Premier League, the English football league system, top flight of Football in England, English footbal ...

. Everton ran out 2–0 winners with Mucha producing a string of fine saves. Mucha left Everton when his contract expired at the end of the season.

Krylia Sovetov Samara

In July 2013, Mucha signed for Russian side

Krylia Sovetov Samara PFC Krylia Sovetov Samara () is a Russian professional football club based in Samara that plays in the Russian Premier League. In 2004, they finished third in the Russian Premier League. History Krylia Sovetov was founded in Kuybyshev (now Sama ...

. On 15 January 2015, Mucha signed with

Arsenal Tula FC Arsenal Tula () is a Russian professional football club from Tula playing in the second-tier Russian First League. Originally founded in 1923, FC Arsenal Tula was promoted to the Russian Premier League in 2014 for the first time in its histo ...

on loan till the end of the 2014–15 season.

Slovan Bratislava

On 28 June 2015, Mucha signed a four-year contract with Slovak club

ŠK Slovan Bratislava ŠK Slovan Bratislava (, "Bratislava Slavs") is a professional association football, football club based in Bratislava, Slovakia, that plays in the Slovak First Football League. Founded as I. ČSŠK Bratislava in 1919, the club changed its name ...

.Prichádza strojca historického úspechu Slovenska
28 June 2015

Bruk-Bet Termalica Nieciecza

On 29 June 2017, Mucha joined

Ekstraklasa (; meaning "Extra Class" in Polish), officially known as PKO Bank Polski Ekstraklasa due to its Sponsor (commercial), sponsorship by PKO Bank Polski, is a professional association football league in Poland and the highest level of the Polish foo ...

side

Bruk-Bet Termalica Nieciecza Bruk-Bet Termalica Nieciecza Klub Sportowy Spółka Akcyjna, commonly referred to as Bruk-Bet Termalica Nieciecza (), is a Polish professional football club based in Nieciecza. They compete in the Ekstraklasa, the top level of the Polish footbal ...

Hamilton Academical

In November 2018, Mucha signed a short-term deal with Scottish club

Hamilton Academical Hamilton Academical Football Club, often known as Hamilton Accies, or The Accies, is a Scottish football club from Hamilton, South Lanarkshire, who currently compete in . They were established in 1874 from the school football team at Hamilto ...

. The contract expired on 1 January 2019 and he left the club.

International career

Mucha made his debut for

Slovakia Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's m ...

in February 2008, in a friendly match against

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

, and became the national team's first-choice goalkeeper. When Slovakia qualified for the

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often called the World Cup, is an international association football competition among the senior List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams of the members of the FIFA, Fédération Internatio ...

for the first time, in

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

, Mucha played in all four games as Slovakia made it to the second round of the competition. Later he was selected for

Euro 2016 The 2016 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2016 (stylised as UEFA EURO 2016) or simply Euro 2016, was the 15th UEFA European Championship, the quadrennial international men's football championship of Europe o ...

After retirement

After his retirement Mucha became involved as a player's representative and an inaugural President of Slovakia's first footballer's

trade union A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...

- Union of Football Professionals. He also became an occasional media pundit with public broadcaster

RTVS Radio and Television of Slovakia ( ), or RTVS, was a nationwide public broadcasting, state-funded organisation in Slovakia. The organisation was created in 2011 following a merger of Slovenská televízia (Slovak Television) with Slovenský ...

as well as

AMC Network AMC (an abbreviation of the channel's original name, American Movie Classics) is an American basic cable television channel that is the flagship property of AMC Networks. Launched in late 1984, the channel aired classic films prior to the 19 ...

Sport1 Sport1 is a German free-to-air television channel centred towards sports programming, as well as teleshopping. It was launched on 1 January 1993 as DSF (''Deutsches Sportfernsehen''), replacing the television channel Tele 5 which had become th ...

, especially for Slovakia national team or Slovak clubs in European competitions. Mucha also became a regular

columnist A columnist is a person who writes for publication in a series, creating an article that usually offers commentary and opinions. Column (periodical), Columns appear in newspapers, magazines and other publications, including blogs. They take the ...

for ''Denník Šport''.

Personal life

In March 2013, Mucha was ordered to do 250 hours of community service after being caught driving with a suspended license.

Honours

Žilina *

Slovak First Football League The Slovak First Football League (), officially known as Niké liga for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Slovakia and the highest level of the Slovak football league system. It was formed in 1993 following th ...

: 2002–03, 2003–04 *

Slovak Super Cup The Slovak Super Cup (''Slovenský Superpohár'' in Slovak), in the past named as or , was a match between the champion of the Slovak First Football League and winner of the Slovak Cup. The match was played annually besides years when a club cl ...

: 2004 Legia Warsaw *

Polish Cup The Polish Cup in Association football, football ( ) is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout football competition for Polish football club (association football), football clubs, held continuously since 1950, and is the second most i ...

: 2007–08 *

Polish Super Cup The Polish Super Cup (, ) is an annually held match between the champions of the Ekstraklasa and the Polish Cup winners or, if the Ekstraklasa champions also win the Polish Cup, the Cup's runners-up. As of 2024, the Polish Super Cup has been ...

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

Slovan Bratislava *

Slovak Cup The Slovak Cup (), currently named Slovnaft Cup due to sponsorship agreement with Slovnaft, is the only nationwide Single-elimination tournament, knockout competition in Football in Slovakia, Slovak football. The winner qualifies for the UEFA Euro ...

: 2016–17 Individual *

Player of the Month: November 2009 * ''Piłka Nożna'' Foreigner of the Year: 2009

References

External links

* * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Mucha, Jan 1982 births Living people People from Snina District Footballers from the Prešov Region Slovak men's footballers Men's association football goalkeepers Slovakia men's international footballers Olympic footballers for Slovakia Footballers at the 2000 Summer Olympics 2010 FIFA World Cup players UEFA Euro 2016 players Slovak First Football League players Ekstraklasa players Premier League players Russian Premier League players Scottish Professional Football League players FK Inter Bratislava players MŠK Žilina players Legia Warsaw players Everton F.C. players PFC Krylia Sovetov Samara players FC Arsenal Tula players ŠK Slovan Bratislava players Bruk-Bet Termalica Nieciecza players Hamilton Academical F.C. players Slovak expatriate men's footballers Slovak expatriate sportspeople in Poland Expatriate men's footballers in Poland Slovak expatriate sportspeople in England Expatriate men's footballers in England Slovak expatriate sportspeople in Scotland Expatriate men's footballers in Scotland Slovak expatriate sportspeople in Russia Expatriate men's footballers in Russia Association football goalkeeping coaches Legia Warsaw non-playing staff ŠK Slovan Bratislava non-playing staff 21st-century Slovak sportsmen