Ádám Gergely Kovácsik (pronounced ; born 4 April 1991) is a Hungarian

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 plays for

Paks Paks is a small town in Tolna (county), Tolna county, in the south of Hungary, on the right bank of the Danube River, 100 km south of Budapest. Paks as a former agricultural settlement is now the home of the only Hungarian Paks Nuclear Pow ...

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 ...

Club career

Kovácsik began his career as a youth player by

Budapest Honvéd FC Budapest Honvéd Football Club (), commonly known as Budapest Honvéd or simply Honvéd, is a Hungarian sports club based in Kispest, Budapest, with the colours of red and black. The club is best known for its football team. ''Honvéd'' means ...

. He played first as a field player, however, yet at the age of seven stood between the sticks. In 2002, he moved to city rivals

Ferencvárosi TC Ferencvárosi Torna Club, commonly known as Ferencváros (), Fradi, FTC is a Hungary, Hungarian professional Association football, football club based in Ferencváros, Budapest, that competes in the Nemzeti Bajnokság I, the top flight of Hunga ...

. In his second year by Ferencváros, Kovácsik won the Christmas Cup ahead of the youth sides of

A.C. Milan (), commonly referred to as Milan or AC Milan () mainly outside of Italy, is an Italian professional Football club (association football), football club based in Milan, Lombardy. Founded in 1899, the club competes in the Serie A, the top tie ...

and

FC Barcelona Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly known as FC Barcelona and colloquially as Barça (), is a professional Football club (association football), football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of ...

. In 2006, he was member of the team that won the European final of the Nike Premier Cup, one of the most prestigious tournaments in the younger age categories. For his performances in that year, he was handed the Tibor Simon Award (Simon Tibor-díj), a prize named after former loyal Ferencváros defender

Tibor Simon Tibor Simon (1 September 1965 – 23 April 2002) was a Hungarian football player and manager. Career Simon, who played as a defender, spent his entire professional club career with Ferencváros, and also earned 16 caps at international level for ...

, which is given to individual who showed the most spirited display throughout the season. In the following year Kovácsik signed to

Reggina Calcio Associazione Sportiva Reggina 1914, commonly referred to as Reggina, is an Italian football club based in Reggio Calabria. They play their home matches at the 27,763 seater Stadio Oreste Granillo and are currently playing in the Serie D leagu ...

. Although he made his senior debut for the Southern Italian side on 30 May 2010 against

U.C. AlbinoLeffe Unione Calcio AlbinoLeffe is an Football in Italy, Italian association football club representing Albino, Italy, Albino and Leffe, Italy, Leffe, two small towns located in Serio (river), Val Seriana, Lombardy. The club played in Serie B for nine ...

as a late substitute, Kovácsik remained only a reserve player until the departure of first choice keeper

Christian Puggioni Christian Puggioni (born 17 January 1981) is an Italian former footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Career In January 2007, Puggioni joined Reggina. On 2 July 2015, Puggioni signed with Sampdoria on a free transfer. He made his debut with Sa ...

in the summer of 2011. Starting from the 2011–12 season Kovácsik got more playing minutes and produced some excellent performances, including saving two penalties in a 3–0 win over Brescia in October 2011. In the 2012 winter transfer window, Reggina loaned him to Italian third-division-side

Foligno Foligno (; Central Italian, Southern Umbrian: ''Fuligno'') is an ancient town of Italy in the province of Perugia in east central Umbria, on the Topino river where it leaves the Apennine Mountains, Apennines and enters the wide plain of the Clit ...

. In the next season, he was loaned to third-division-side team

Pavia Pavia ( , ; ; ; ; ) is a town and comune of south-western Lombardy, in Northern Italy, south of Milan on the lower Ticino (river), Ticino near its confluence with the Po (river), Po. It has a population of c. 73,086. The city was a major polit ...

. On 13 July 2013, it was officially announced that Kovácsik would play the season with

Serie B The Serie B (), officially known as Serie BKT for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie A. It has been operating for over ninety years since the 1929–30 season. It had b ...

side

Carpi Carpi may refer to: Places * Carpi, Emilia-Romagna, a large town in the province of Modena, central Italy ** Roman Catholic Diocese of Carpi * Carpi (Africa), a city and former diocese of Roman Africa, now a Roman Catholic titular see People ...

. He made his debut in

Coppa Italia Coppa Italia () is the annual domestic cup of Italian football. The knockout competition was organized by the DDS and the Lega Calcio until the 2009–10 season and by Lega Serie A ever since. Juventus is the competition's most successf ...

against his mother-club Reggina, at a 1-0 away loss. He played his first match in his new club, in the

, against

Ternana Ternana Calcio, commonly referred to as Ternana, is an Italian football club based in Terni, Umbria and currently compete in the Serie C. The club was founded in 1925 and refounded in 1993. In its history, Ternana has twice played in Serie A ...

. In the summer 2014, Kovacsik was back to Reggina on Lega Pro. On 15 July 2022, Kovácsik was loaned to

Győr Győr ( , ; ; names of European cities in different languages: E-H#G, names in other languages) is the main city of northwest Hungary, the capital of Győr-Moson-Sopron County and Western Transdanubia, Western Transdanubia region, and – halfwa ...

. On 23 July 2023, Kovácsik joined

Mezőkövesd Mezőkövesd is a town in Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén county, Northern Hungary. It lies from Miskolc and from Eger. Mezőkövesd is a town in northeastern Hungary, located in Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén County, near the Bükk Mountains. It is known as the ...

International career

Kovácsik represented Hungary since his earliest time as a player. His best result on the international stage came at the

2009 FIFA U-20 World Cup The 2009 FIFA U-20 World Cup was the 17th edition of the FIFA U-20 World Cup, which was hosted by Egypt from 24 September to 16 October 2009. The tournament was initially going to take place between 10 and 31 July. However, the 2009 FIFA Confede ...

, where he earned the bronze medal.

Personal life

Kovácsik's rolemodel is

Gianluigi Buffon Gianluigi Buffon (; born 28 January 1978) is an Italian former professional Association football, footballer who played as a Goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper. Widely regarded as one of the greatest goalkeepers of all time, he is ...

. In a statement with his new club

, he told that his way of playstyle is similar to Buffon. In the same statement, he told that he is married, has a 5½-year-old child and a child who is expecting.

Club statistics

''Updated to games played as of 15 May 2022.''

Honours

Videoton *

Nemzeti Bajnokság I The Nemzeti Bajnokság (, ), also known as NB I or Fizz Liga after its title sponsor, OTP Bank's webshop subsidiary, is a professional association football league in Hungary and the highest level of the Hungarian football league system. Twelve ...

: 2017-18 *

Hungarian Cup The Hungarian Cup (, ), officially known as MOL Magyar Kupa for sponsorship reasons, is the Hungarian cup competition for football clubs. It was started by the Hungarian Football Association'','' in 1909, eight years after the commencement of ...

: 2018-19 *

FIFA U-20 World Cup The FIFA U-20 World Cup is the biennial football world championship tournament for FIFA members' men's national teams with players under the age of 20. The competition has been staged every two years since the inaugural tournament in 1977 when i ...

: **Third place:

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

Awards

* Tibor Simon Award (2006)

References

External links

Reggina Calcio Official Website Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kovacsik, Adam 1991 births Footballers from Budapest Living people Hungarian men's footballers Hungary men's youth international footballers Hungary men's international footballers Men's association football goalkeepers Serie B players Serie C players Nemzeti Bajnokság I players Nemzeti Bajnokság II players AS Reggina 1914 players ASD Città di Foligno 1928 players AC Pavia 1911 SSD players AC Carpi players Fehérvár FC players Győri ETO FC players Mezőkövesdi SE footballers Paksi FC players Hungarian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Hungarian expatriate sportspeople in Italy 21st-century Hungarian sportsmen