Peter Dubovský (7 May 1972 – 23 June 2000) was a Slovak 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 ...

who played as a forward. After starting his career with Slovan Bratislava he played seven years in Spain, amassing

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known simply as Primera División in Spain, and as La Liga in English-speaking countries and officially as LaLiga Santander for sponsorship reasons, stylized as LaLiga, is the men' ...

totals of 151 games and 19 goals for two teams. Dubovský died in 2000 at 28, while on vacation in Thailand.

Club career

Born in Bratislava,

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

, Dubovský made his professional debut with local

ŠK Slovan Bratislava ŠK Slovan Bratislava (, "Bratislava Slav") is a football club based in Bratislava, Slovakia, that plays in the Slovak Super Liga. Founded as 1. ČsŠK Bratislava in 1919, the club changed its name to Slovan Bratislava in 1953. Slovan is the m ...

, for whom he signed at the age of 13. Only four years later he made his first

Czechoslovak First League The Czechoslovak First League ( cs, 1. fotbalová liga, sk, 1. futbalová liga) was the premier football league in the Czechoslovakia from 1925 to 1993, with the exception of World War II. Czechoslovakia was occupied by German forces who forme ...

appearance, and went on to score 51 goals in only 59 appearances in his last two seasons combined (leading the scoring charts on both occasions), being an instrumental offensive figure as his hometown club won the national championship in 1992. After being named the ''

Slovak Footballer of the Year The award was first presented in 1965, as an award for the whole of Czechoslovakia ( Czechoslovak Footballer of the Year). It was won by Ján Popluhár. Ján Popluhár Award Slovak Footballer of the Year an annual title awarded to the best Slovak ...

'' in 1993, Dubovský moved to Spain and signed for

giants Real Madrid. He appeared in 26 games in his first season but was completely ostracized by new manager

Jorge Valdano Jorge Alberto Francisco Valdano Castellanos (born 4 October 1955) is an Argentine former football player, coach, and the former general manager of Real Madrid. He is currently working as a commentator for beIN Sports. Nicknamed "The Philosophe ...

in his second and last, his options being further diminished at the club following the emergence of 17-year-old

Raúl Raul, Raúl and Raül are the Italian, Portuguese, Romanian, Spanish, Galician, Asturian, Basque, Aragonese, and Catalan forms of the Anglo-Germanic given name Ralph or Rudolph. They are cognates of the French Raoul. Raul, Raúl or Raül may re ...

. Dubovský remained in the country – and its top division – in the following five years, playing for Real Oviedo and scoring a career-best in Spain seven goals in 31 matches in the 1995–96 campaign, helping the

Asturians Asturians ( ast, asturianos) are a Celtic-Romance ethnic group native to the autonomous community of Asturias, in the North-West of the Iberian Peninsula. Culture and society Heritage Asturians are directly descended from the Astures, who wer ...

to the 14th position.

International career

Dubovský made his debut for

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

on 13 November 1991 at the age of 19, starting in a 2–1 away loss against

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

for the

UEFA Euro 1992 The 1992 UEFA European Football Championship was hosted by Sweden between 10 and 26 June 1992. It was the ninth UEFA European Championship, which is held every four years and supported by UEFA. Denmark won the 1992 championship, having qualifi ...

qualifiers. He went on to appear in a further 13 internationals in the following two years, scoring six goals. After the independence of Slovakia, Dubovský represented its national team, eventually becoming the country's record goalscorer at 12 (until it was broken by

Szilárd Németh Szilárd Németh (; ; born 8 August 1977) is a Slovak former professional footballer who played as a striker. After playing for clubs in Slovakia and the Czech Republic, he spent four-and-a-half seasons at Middlesbrough of the Premier League f ...

Death

On 23 June 2000, Dubovský was on vacation in Thailand with his

fiancée An engagement or betrothal is the period of time between the declaration of acceptance of a marriage proposal and the marriage itself (which is typically but not always commenced with a wedding). During this period, a couple is said to be ''fi ...

, in the southern island resort of

Ko Samui Ko Samui (or Koh Samui, also often locally shortened to Samui; th, เกาะสมุย, ) is an island off the east coast of Thailand. Geographically in the Chumphon Archipelago, it is part of Surat Thani Province, though as of 2012, Ko ...

. While taking pictures of a waterfall, he tumbled and fell to his death, succumbing to "heavy loss of blood and severe brain injuries".Italy's Lazio eyes Argentine striker Crespo;

Sports Illustrated ''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellence twi ...

, 23 June 2000 He was 28 years old.

Career statistics

:''Scores and results list Czechoslovakia and Slovakia's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Dubovský goal.''

Honours

Slovan Bratislava *

: 1991–92 Real Madrid *

: 1994–95 * Supercopa de España:

1993 File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peacefu ...

Individual *

: 1993 *

top scorer: 1991–92,

1992–93 Year 199 ( CXCIX) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was sometimes known as year 952 '' Ab urbe condita''. The denomination 199 for this year has been used since t ...

References

External links

*
Czech Republic national team data
* *

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dubovsky, Peter 1972 births 2000 deaths Footballers from Bratislava Czechoslovak footballers Slovak footballers Association football forwards ŠK Slovan Bratislava players La Liga players Real Madrid CF players Real Oviedo players Czechoslovakia international footballers Slovakia international footballers Dual internationalists (football) Slovak expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Spain Slovak expatriate sportspeople in Spain Accidental deaths from falls Accidental deaths in Thailand