Patrick Karhan (born 19 June 2003) is a Slovak

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

Spartak Trnava FC Spartak Trnava () is a professional football club based in Trnava, Slovakia. The club competes in Slovak First Football League, the top flight in the Slovak league system, having participated in more seasons than any other club. Founded in ...

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 ...

defensive midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

Club career

Spartak Trnava

Karhan made his Fortuna Liga debut for

in a home fixture at Štadión Antona Malatinského on 2 May 2021 in a traditional derby against Slovan Bratislava. He came on in the 86th minute to replace

Martin Bukata Martin Bukata (born 2 October 1993) is a Slovak professional footballer who plays as a midfielder. Club career MFK/VSS Košice Bukata made his first Corgoň Liga appearance on 11 March 2012, coming on as a substitute for Kamil Kuzma in the 84t ...

with the score set at 3-0, following two

penalty Penalty, The Penalty, Penalization, Penalisation, Penalize or Penalise may refer to: Sports * Foul (sports) ** Penalty (golf) ** Penalty (gridiron football) ** Penalty (ice hockey) ** Penalty (rugby) ** Penalty (rugby union) ** Penalty kick (assoc ...

goals by

Milan Ristovski Milan Ristovski ( Macedonian: Милан Ристовски; born 8 April 1998) is a Macedonian professional footballer who plays as a forward for Bohemians 1905. Club career Ristovski began his career with his hometown club Rabotnički Skopj ...

and a second-half strike by Bamidele Yusuf. Less than two minutes into his debut, Karhan was involved in an in-play incident with

Bulgarian international The Bulgarian Open Championship is an annual international badminton championships held in Bulgaria since 1985, by then known as Bulgarian International. It was halted between 1996 and 1998, and in 2000. The tournament belongs to the Badminton Euro ...

Vasil Bozhikov during an attempt to header the ball. Karhan had struck Bozhikov, who suffered an injury and had to be taken off the pitch. Subsequently, Erik Gemzický had awarded Karhan with a

red card A red card is a type of penalty card that is shown in many sports after a rules infraction. Red card may also refer to: Art, entertainment, and media * ''Red Card'' (album), 1976 release by Streetwalkers * Red card, suit (cards) of hearts or di ...

. This foul was judged as a youthful over-motivation or inexperienced misjudgment after the match by the media. The result meant that Slovan was denied the opportunity to celebrate title retention. In June 2022, Karhan signed his first professional contract with Spartak along with Marek Ujlaky, whose father Marek played over 400 matches for Spartak and collected caps 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 ...

. Both players were to succeed their fathers in their careers and serve as a motivation for other Academy players of Spartak Trnava, according to club President Peter Macho. On 31st July, 2024 Patrick Karhan scored his first goal for Spartak in a 3:0 win against

FK Sarajevo Fudbalski klub Sarajevo ( sh-Cyrl, Фудбалски клуб Сарајево; , English language, English: Sarajevo Football Club), is a professional Association football, football Sports club, club based in Sarajevo, the capital city of Bosn ...

in the second round of qualification in the

UEFA Conference League The UEFA Conference League (UECL), usually known simply as the Conference League, is an annual football competition organised since 2021 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. It is the thir ...

, coming on as a substitute for

Roman Procházka Roman Procházka (; born 14 March 1989) is a Slovak footballer who plays for Spartak Trnava as a midfielder. Club career Spartak Trnava Procházka began his career with his hometown club Spartak Trnava. On 13 May 2007, he made his debut for Sp ...

Personal life

Karhan was born in

Wolfsburg Wolfsburg (; Eastphalian language, Eastphalian: ''Wulfsborg'') is the fifth-largest city in the Germany, German state of Lower Saxony, on the river Aller (Germany), Aller east of Hanover and west of Berlin. Wolfsburg is famous as the locat ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. Karhan is the son of Miroslav Karhan, who managed

and played over 200 matches for them, featured in over 280 matches in the

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany and the highest level of the German football league system. The Bundesliga comprises 18 teams ...

, while playing for

and

Mainz 05 1. Fußball- und Sport-Verein Mainz 05 e. V., usually shortened to 1. FSV Mainz 05 or simply Mainz 05 (), is a German professional sports club, founded in 1905 and based in Mainz, Rhineland-Palatinate. Mainz 05 play in the Bundesliga, the top tie ...

and was the first player to collect 100 caps for the Slovak national team (107 in total), holding the record for the most capped player until it was beaten by

Marek Hamšík Marek Hamšík (; born 27 July 1987) is a Slovak football coach and former player who played as a midfielder. He is currently the team manager and assistant coach for the Slovakia national team. After beginning his club career with Slovan B ...

in 2018. He also has a younger brother named Alex Thomas. He studied high school at a sports gymnasium in

Trnava Trnava (, , ; , also known by other #Names and etymology, alternative names) is a city in western Slovakia, to the northeast of Bratislava, on the Trnávka river. It is the capital of the Trnava Region and the Trnava District. It is the seat o ...

Honours

Spartak Trnava *

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 ...

: 2021–22,

2022–23 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

, 2024–25

References

External links

Futbalnet profile
* * 2003 births Living people Footballers from Wolfsburg Slovak men's footballers Slovakia men's youth international footballers Men's association football midfielders FC Spartak Trnava players OFK Malženice players 2. Liga (Slovakia) players Slovak First Football League players 21st-century Slovak sportsmen {{Slovakia-footy-midfielder-stub