Szilárd Németh


Szilárd Németh is a Slovak former 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 from 2001 to 2006. After a brief stint at France's RC Strasbourg, he played for Alemannia Aachen in Germany until his retirement in 2010.
Németh is the second-highest scorer in the history of the Slovakia national football team, with 22 goals in 58 matches from 1997 to 2006.

Club career

Early career

Németh started his career with Slovan Bratislava before moving to eastern Slovakia to join 1. FC Košice. At both clubs he played well, he moved to giants of the region, Czech team Sparta Prague for record fee 35 million CZK
From here he moved back to Slovakia with one of the top teams in the country, Inter Bratislava. He won consecutive Slovak Super Liga titles in 1999–2000 and 2000–01, finishing as top-scorer in both.

Middlesbrough

Amid rumoured interest from Inter Milan, he eventually signed for English side Middlesbrough on 12 April 2001 for £2.1 million on a five-year contract. Earlier that season, he had a trial at their local rivals Sunderland.
Németh scored 23 goals in 117 Premier League appearances for the club. He became known as the Lizard King of Teesside and Slovakian Express for scoring regularly off the bench. Németh was part of Middlesbrough's 2004 League Cup-winning team, despite not making the squad for the final. He also featured as they contested the UEFA Cup in the next two seasons. During his time in the Premier League, he scored in wins over Chelsea, Manchester United, Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur.
The 2005–06 season saw Németh turn down numerous transfer offers, including UEFA Cup winners CSKA Moscow. He faced competition up-front that season from Yakubu, Mark Viduka, Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink and Massimo Maccarone, leading to his exit in January.

Later career

On 25 January 2006, Németh was sold to French club RC Strasbourg for a 'nominal fee'. Their season ended with relegation from Ligue 1, and he was released.
On 28 August 2006, he agreed to join the German Bundesliga club Alemannia Aachen in a two-year deal. Németh spent most of his first season on the sidelines because of a pulmonary embolism. On 19 May 2008, he signed a contract extension with Aachen until the end of the 2009–10 season. In the winter of 2010–11, he opted to retire from football due to health problems.

International career

Németh scored 22 times in 58 matches for Slovakia between 1997 and 2006. His debut was a 4-0 friendly win against Belarus at the Štadión pod Zoborom in Nitra on 2 February 1997, replacing Róbert Semeník for the final 26 minutes. He scored his first goal on his third cap on 5 February 1997, in a 2–2 draw away against Costa Rica. Németh's last goal came in his 55th international on 1 March 2006, in an away friendly win over France. His last game was on 6 September 2006, in qualification for Euro 2008, a 3–0 home defeat to the Czech Republic. He was the country's highest-scorer until Róbert Vittek broke the record, and is their seventh most-capped player.

Personal life

Németh belongs to the Hungarian minority in Slovakia.

Career statistics

International goals

#DateVenueOpponentScoreResultCompetition
15 February 1997Estadio Nacional de Costa Rica, San José, Costa Rica
1–1
2–2
Friendly
27 February 1998Tsirion Stadium, Limassol, Cyprus
1–0
2–1
1998 Cyprus International Football Tournament
38 September 1999Mestský štadión, Dubnica, Slovakia
1–0
2–0
UEFA Euro 2000 qualifying
416 August 2000Tehelné pole, Bratislava, Slovakia
1–1
1–1
Friendly
57 October 2000Stadionul Republican, Chişinău, Moldova
1–0
1–0
2002 FIFA World Cup qualification
615 November 2000Diagoras Stadium, Rhodes, Greece
1–0
2–0
Friendly
727 February 2001Stade 5 Juillet 1962, Algiers, Algeria
1–1
1–1
Friendly
828 March 2001Štadión Antona Malatinského, Trnava, Slovakia
1–0
3–1
2002 FIFA World Cup qualification
928 March 2001Štadión Antona Malatinského, Trnava, Slovakia
2–1
3–1
2002 FIFA World Cup qualification
105 September 2001Štadión na Sihoti, Trenčín, Slovakia
2–1
4–2
2002 FIFA World Cup qualification
1121 August 2002Andrův stadion, Olomouc, Czech Republic
1–0
1–4
Friendly
1212 October 2002Tehelné pole, Bratislava, Slovakia
1–0
1–2
UEFA Euro 2004 qualifying
132 April 2003Štadión Antona Malatinského, Trnava, Slovakia
2–0
4–0
UEFA Euro 2004 qualifying
142 April 2003Štadión Antona Malatinského, Trnava, Slovakia
3–0
4–0
UEFA Euro 2004 qualifying
1530 April 2003Štadión pod Dubňom, Žilina, Slovakia
1–1
2–2
Friendly
1630 April 2003Štadión pod Dubňom, Žilina, Slovakia
2–2
2–2
Friendly
1710 September 2003Štadión pod Dubňom, Žilina, Slovakia
1–0
1–1
UEFA Euro 2004 qualifying
188 September 2004Tehelné pole, Bratislava, Slovakia
5–0
7–0
2006 FIFA World Cup qualification
199 October 2004Tehelné pole, Bratislava, Slovakia
1–1
4–1
2006 FIFA World Cup qualification
208 June 2005Stade Josy Barthel, Luxembourg City, Luxembourg
1–0
4–0
2006 FIFA World Cup qualification
2112 November 2005Vicente Calderón Stadium, Madrid, Spain
1–2
1–5
2006 FIFA World Cup European Qualification Playoffs
221 March 2006Stade de France, Paris, France
1–0
2–1
Friendly

Honours

Slovan Bratislava
Inter Bratislava
Middlesbrough
Individual