Martin Valjent (born 11 December 1995) is 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 lea ...

who plays as a

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

for

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known as the Primera División or La Liga, and officially known as LaLiga EA Sports for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Spain and the highest ...

club

Mallorca Mallorca, or Majorca, is the largest of the Balearic Islands, which are part of Spain, and the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, seventh largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. The capital of the island, Palma, Majorca, Palma, i ...

and the Slovakia national team.

Club career

At the age of 17 in summer 2013, Valjent joined Italian

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 ...

club

Ternana Calcio 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 August 2018, Valjent moved to RCD Mallorca on loan, a prominent team in

Segunda División The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Segunda División, commonly known as Segunda División or La Liga 2, and officially known as LaLiga HyperMotion for sponsorship reasons, is the men's second professional association football division of the Spa ...

. In February 2021, he extended his contract with Mallorca until 2025, emphasizing his dedication to the club. On 24 February 2024, Valjent played his 200th match for RCD Mallorca in a 2023–24 Copa del Rey match against

Deportivo Alavés Deportivo Alavés, S.A.D. (; ''Sporting Alavés''), usually known as Alavés, is a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football club based in Vitoria-Gasteiz, Álava, in the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of the Basque ...

which ended in a 1–1 draw. In 2025, he extended his contract until 2029.

International career

Valjent was first called up to the Slovakia national team by Ján Kozák sr. for fixtures against

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

and

Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...

on 31 May and 4 June 2018 respectively. This was done due to Gyömbér and Štetina's injuries. Valjent debuted during a match against Morocco in

Geneva Geneva ( , ; ) ; ; . is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland and the most populous in French-speaking Romandy. Situated in the southwest of the country, where the Rhône exits Lake Geneva, it is the ca ...

, replacing

Tomáš Hubočan Tomáš Hubočan (; born 17 September 1985) is a retired Slovakia, Slovak professional footballer who played as a Defender (association football), defender. He made his senior international debut in 2006. He has gone on to make 73 appearances fo ...

in the 79th minute. Valjent's first competitive start came in a Euro 2020 qualifying fixture against

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

on 6 September 2019 in Trnava, with Valjent playing as a right-back. Slovakia lost the game 4–0. It was that Valjent had a difficult task in defending

Dejan Lovren Dejan Lovren (; born 5 July 1989) is a Croatian professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for Super League Greece club PAOK. Lovren began his career at Dinamo Zagreb before moving to Lyon in January 2010. He spent three and a half seas ...

at the side-line, as his preferred post is the one of a

. In October, Valjent returned to the national team in a friendly match against

Paraguay Paraguay, officially the Republic of Paraguay, is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the Argentina–Paraguay border, south and southwest, Brazil to the Brazil–Paraguay border, east and northeast, and Boli ...

on his preferred post. His performance was reported on very positively, receiving praise from RTVS' commentary expert Marián Zeman during the farewell game for Martin Škrtel, with whom he starred in the starting XI, as well as Hubočan and Adam Nemec. This game also coincided with a return to Tehelné pole after some ten years and ended in a 1–1 draw. On 26 August 2020, Valjent was called up by the Slovak senior squad to take part in the two opening matches of the

UEFA Nations League The UEFA Nations League is an international European football competition played by the senior men's national teams of the member associations of UEFA, the sport's European governing body. The competition was devised to minimise friendlies a ...

against the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...

and

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

. Slovak media intensively speculated about the possible reasons for Valjnet's continued exclusion from the national team after 2022, in spite of his consistent performances in La Liga. The manager of the national team Francesco Calzona refused to elaborate on the absence of call-ups, although he praised Valjnet's professionalism and positive attitude in the national team.

Career statistics

Club

International

References

External links

Profile
at the RCD Mallorca website
Eurofotbal profile

Futbalnet profile
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Valjent, Martin 1995 births Living people Sportspeople from Dubnica nad Váhom Footballers from the Trenčín Region Slovak men's footballers Men's association football central defenders 2. Liga (Slovakia) players FK Spartak Dubnica nad Váhom players Serie B players Ternana Calcio players AC ChievoVerona players La Liga players Segunda División players RCD Mallorca players Slovak expatriate men's footballers Slovak expatriate sportspeople in Spain Slovak expatriate sportspeople in Italy Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Slovakia men's youth international footballers Slovakia men's under-21 international footballers Slovakia men's international footballers UEFA Euro 2020 players 21st-century Slovak sportsmen