Marek Hamšík

Marek Hamšík (born 27 July 1987) is a Slovak professional footballer who plays as an midfielder for Süper Lig club Trabzonspor. He formerly captained the Slovakia national team.

After beginning his club career with Slovan Bratislava in 2004, Hamšík moved to Italian club Brescia later that year. In 2007, he was purchased by newly promoted Serie A club Napoli, where he became a mainstay in the squad's starting line-up. His energy, leadership, creativity, skill and eye for goal from midfield saw him play a key role in helping the team to two Coppa Italia titles, a Supercoppa Italiana, UEFA Champions League qualification and the 2014–15 UEFA Europa League semi-finals. He scored 121 goals for the club and collected 521 appearances in all competitions during his 12 seasons with the team, and also served as the club's captain between 2014 and 2019; he became the club's all-time top goalscorer in 2017 (surpassed by Dries Mertens in 2020), and the club's all-time appearance holder in 2018. In February 2019, he joined Chinese club Dalian Professional (then Dalian Yifang).

At international level, Hamšík helped Slovakia qualify for the country' first ever FIFA World Cup, captaining the side at the 2010 tournament as they reached the round of 16 following a victory over defending champions Italy. He would go on to lead his nation to European Championship qualification for the first time in 2016, as they once again reached the second round of a major tournament; a second consecutive European Championship appearance would follow for Hamšík in 2020. As of 2021, Hamšík has collected 135 international caps at senior level, scoring 26 goals, and in 2018 became Slovakia's most capped player ever. In 2019, he scored his 25th international goal, overtaking Róbert Vittek as the nation's all-time top scorer.