Libor Kozák
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File:Libor Kozák 2013.jpg | |||
Personal information | |||
---|---|---|---|
Full name | Libor Kozák[1] | ||
Date of birth | 30 May 1989 | ||
Place of birth | Opava, Czechoslovakia | ||
Height | Script error: No such module "person height". | ||
Position(s) | Striker | ||
Team information | |||
Current team
|
Aston Villa | ||
Number | 27 | ||
Youth career | |||
2001–2006 | Opava | ||
Senior career* | |||
Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
2006–2008 | Opava | 41 | (19) |
2008–2013 | Lazio | 58 | (10) |
2009–2010 | → Brescia (loan) | 29 | (3) |
2013– | Aston Villa | 16 | (4) |
International career‡ | |||
2007–2008 | Czech Republic U19 | 9 | (3) |
2009–2011 | Czech Republic U21 | 14 | (3) |
2012– | Czech Republic | 8 | (2) |
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 09:55, 13 January 2016 (UTC) ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 10 September 2013 |
Libor Kozák (born 30 May 1989) is a Czech professional footballer who plays as a striker for Premier League club Aston Villa. He is a member of the Czech Republic national football team.
Contents
Career
SFC Opava
Kozák started his career in 2001 with Czech club Slezský FC Opava, first playing with its youth teams before being promoted to the first team in 2007. Considered a promising talent, Kozák was a prolific goalscorer in the Czech Second Division with Opava. In October 2007, he scored his first hat-trick, coming in a 5–1 Opava win against FC Zenit Čáslav in the second division.[3]
In January 2008, Kozák went on trial with English Premier League club Portsmouth, however he did not join Pompey.[4] At the end of the season, Italian giants Lazio came calling and Kozák accepted a move to Rome.
Lazio
Kozák joined Lazio in July 2008, signing a five-year contract, with rumours that Lazio club president Claudio Lotito paid a 1.2 million euro (1.8 million dollars) transfer fee.[5]
Kozák made his long-awaited Serie A debut on 2 May 2009, coming on as a substitute for Mauro Zárate in the 84th minute against Inter at the San Siro. Lazio lost the match 0–2.
After a season at Lazio, the club loaned him to Serie B side Brescia for the 2009–10 season, to gain experience and regular playing time. On 26 September 2009, Kozák scored his first goal in Italy against Grosseto.[6]
At the end of his loan spell, he returned to Lazio. He scored his first goal for the Biancocelesti on 18 September 2010, scoring the winner against Fiorentina. He went on to score the winner against Sampdoria on 16 January 2011. Two weeks later he registered his third and fourth goals for Lazio, against Fiorentina once again. He later won the attraction of Michal Bílek, manager of Czech Republic, as the latter made a special trip to Stadio Olimpico to watch his game against Bari.
In the 2012–13 season Kozák, under coach Vladimir Petković, had a two faced season where he failed to score in 19 appearances in Serie A, but finished the season as the leading goal scorer in the Europa League with 8 goals. He scored his first club hat trick vs VFB Stuttgart in Rome on Thursday 14 March 2013, helping his team reach the last eight by an aggregate score of 5–1.[7]
Aston Villa
On 2 September 2013, Kozák signed a four-year deal with English side Aston Villa for €6.5 million transfer fee,[8] being assigned the number 27 shirt.[9] On 14 September 2013, Kozák made his Aston Villa debut at Villa Park, but couldn't prevent the side from losing 2–1 to Newcastle United. On 21 September 2013, Kozák scored his first goal for Villa, seconds after replacing Christian Benteke, against Norwich City which proved to be the winning goal in a 1–0 victory.[10] On 9 November 2013, Kozak scored his second Villa goal with a header in a 2–0 victory against Cardiff City. On 4 December 2013, he scored the second goal in a 3–2 victory over Southampton. On 21 December 2013, he scored the only goal for Villa in a 2–1 loss to Stoke City at the Britannia Stadium.[11]
On 2 January 2014 Villa announced that Kozak had broken his right leg in a training ground collision with team-mate Ciaran Clark, and would miss the rest of the 2013–14 season.[12] Complications and further injuries saw Kozák miss the entire 2014–15 season as well.[13] He eventually made his come back 15 months after the initial leg break in March 2015 in an under-21 match against Wolverhampton Wanderers.[14] He made his first team comeback in July 2015 in a 3–1 pre-season defeat to Fulham, in which he scored for the first time since December 2013.[15]
International career
Kozák played for the Czech under-21 team, representing the team at the 2011 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship.
Kozák received his first call up for the senior Czech national team on 15 March 2011, when coach Michal Bílek selected him in his squad to take on Spain and Liechtenstein, however Kozák did not make his senior international debut.[16]
Career statistics
Club | Season | League | FA Cup | League Cup | Europe | Total | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
Opava | 2006–07 | Czech 2. Liga | 15 | 8 | 0 | 0 | – | – | 15 | 8 | ||
2007–08 | Czech 2. Liga | 26 | 11 | 0 | 0 | – | – | 26 | 11 | |||
Total | 41 | 19 | 0 | 0 | – | 0 | 0 | 41 | 19 | |||
Lazio | 2008–09 | Serie A | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | |
2009–10 | Serie A | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
2010–11 | Serie A | 19 | 6 | 3 | 1 | – | 0 | 0 | 22 | 7 | ||
2011–12 | Serie A | 17 | 4 | 0 | 0 | – | 7 | 1 | 24 | 5 | ||
2012–13 | Serie A | 19 | 0 | 1 | 0 | – | 11 | 10 | 31 | 10 | ||
Total | 58 | 10 | 4 | 1 | – | 18 | 11 | 80 | 22 | |||
Brescia (loan) | 2009–10 | Serie B | 29 | 3 | 0 | 0 | – | 0 | 0 | 29 | 3 | |
Total | 29 | 3 | 0 | 0 | – | 0 | 0 | 29 | 3 | |||
Aston Villa | 2013–14 | Premier League | 14 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | – | 15 | 4 | |
2014–15 | Premier League | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | 0 | 0 | ||
Total | 14 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 15 | 4 | ||
Career total | 142 | 36 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 18 | 11 | 165 | 48 |
References
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- ↑ Bilek names squad for Spain, Liechtenstein.
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External links
- Libor Kozák career statistics at Soccerbase
- Libor Kozák international stats at the Football Association of the Czech Republic website (Czech)
- Profile on sslazio.it
- Use dmy dates from April 2013
- Pages with broken file links
- Pages using infobox football biography with height issues
- Articles with Czech-language external links
- 1989 births
- Living people
- People from Brumov-Bylnice
- Czech footballers
- Czech Republic youth international footballers
- Czech Republic under-21 international footballers
- Association football forwards
- SFC Opava players
- S.S. Lazio players
- Brescia Calcio players
- Aston Villa F.C. players
- Serie A players
- Serie B players
- Czech expatriate footballers
- Expatriate footballers in Italy
- Expatriate footballers in England
- Czech Republic international footballers
- Premier League players