Andrej Kvašňák (19 May 1936 – 18 April 2007) was a Slovak

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly ...

player. Born in

Košice Košice ( , ; german: Kaschau ; hu, Kassa ; pl, Коszyce) is the largest city in eastern Slovakia. It is situated on the river Hornád at the eastern reaches of the Slovak Ore Mountains, near the border with Hungary. With a population of a ...

, he played for

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

, for which he played 47 matches and scored 13 goals. He is usually considered one of the best Czechoslovak footballers. He was a participant in the

1962 FIFA World Cup The 1962 FIFA World Cup was the seventh edition of the FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football championship for senior men's national teams. It was held from 30 May to 17 June 1962 in Chile. The qualification rounds took place ...

, where Czechoslovakia finished second, and also in the

1970 FIFA World Cup The 1970 FIFA World Cup was the ninth edition of the FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football championship for men's senior national teams. Held from 31 May to 21 June in Mexico, it was the first World Cup tournament held outside ...

. In his country he played mostly for

Sparta Prague ) but refer to Spartans as "''Rudí''" ( en, The Dark Reds/The Maroons).'' Letenští'' , ground = Generali Česká pojišťovna Arena , capacity = 19,416 , clubname = Sparta Prague , image = Sparta Praha logo.png , image_size = 160px , fu ...

. From September 1969 he played a few seasons for

Racing Mechelen K.R.C. Mechelen is a Belgian association football club from Mechelen in the Antwerp province. It is a long-time rival of KV Mechelen. The club's best position ever is a second place in the first division 1951–52. KRC Mechelen also reached th ...

, a Belgian team. Although often listed as a forward, he was in fact normally an attacking midfield schemer, forging a partnership in the centre of the park with Josef Masopust at international level. Well known for his technique and passing ability, he was also a prolific goalscorer and fine header of the ball.

References

*
Obituary at UEFA.com

Obituary
1936 births 2007 deaths Czechoslovak footballers 1960 European Nations' Cup players 1962 FIFA World Cup players 1970 FIFA World Cup players Deaths from lung cancer Slovak footballers Czechoslovakia international footballers Sportspeople from Košice Deaths from cancer in the Czech Republic K.R.C. Mechelen players FC VSS Košice players AC Sparta Prague players FK Viktoria Žižkov players Association football midfielders Association football forwards {{Slovakia-footy-forward-stub