Libor Kozák

Libor Kozák

Kozák playing for the Czech Republic in 2019
Personal information
Full name	Libor Kozák[1]
Date of birth	(1989-05-30) 30 May 1989 (age 35)
Place of birth	Opava, Czechoslovakia
Height	1.92 m (6 ft 4 in)[2]
Position(s)	Striker
Team information
Current team	Opava
Number	18
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)
2013–2017	Aston Villa	20	(4)
2017–2018	Bari	15	(2)
2018–2019	Livorno	9	(0)
2019	Slovan Liberec	10	(7)
2019–2021	Sparta Prague	44	(18)
2021–2022	Puskás Akadémia	25	(4)
2022	Slovácko	11	(1)
2023	Trinity Zlín	12	(4)
2023–2024	Arezzo	8	(0)
2024–	Opava	2	(0)
International career^‡
2007–2008	Czech Republic U19	9	(3)
2009–2011	Czech Republic U21	14	(3)
2012–2019	Czech Republic	9	(2)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 1 August 2024 ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 15:32, 28 October 2022 (UTC)

Libor Kozák (born 30 May 1989) is a Czech professional footballer who plays as a striker for Opava.^[3]

Club 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.^[4]

In January 2008, Kozák went on trial with English Premier League club Portsmouth, however he did not join Pompey.^[5]

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 ($1.8 million) transfer fee.^[6] He later went on loan to Serie B side Brescia in the 2009–10 Serie B to gain experience and regular playing time.^{[citation needed]} On 26 September 2009, Kozák scored his first goal in Italy against Grosseto.^[7]

At the end of his loan spell, Kozák returned to Lazio and scored his first goal for the Biancocelesti on 18 September 2010, which turned out to be the winner against Fiorentina. On 16 January 2011, he netted the deciding goal against Sampdoria after coming on as a 77th-minute substitute,^[8] before scoring two goals on his full club debut two weeks later, again against Fiorentina.^[9] Having achieved four goals in nine starts for Lazio of which four goals came in January, Michal Bílek, manager of the Czech Republic, called Kozák up to the national team and announced he would make a special trip to the Stadio Olimpico to watch his game against A.S. Bari.^[10]

Under coach Vladimir Petković in the 2012–13 Serie A, Kozák experienced a two-faced season by failing to score in 19 appearances in Serie A, but finished the season as the leading goalscorer in the Europa League with eight goals.^[11] He scored his first club hat-trick against VfB Stuttgart in Rome on 14 March 2013, helping his team reach the last eight by an aggregate score of 5–1.^[12]

Aston Villa

On 2 September 2013, Kozák signed a four-year contract with English side Aston Villa for a €6.5 million transfer fee,^[11] being assigned the number 27 shirt.^[13] On 14 September 2013, he made his Aston Villa debut at Villa Park, but could not prevent the side from losing 2–1 to Newcastle United. On 21 September 2013, he 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.^[14] The same year on 21 December 2013, he scored the only goal for Villa in a 2–1 loss to Stoke City at the Britannia Stadium.^[15]

On 2 January 2014, Villa announced that Kozak had broken his right leg in a training ground collision with teammate Ciaran Clark, and would miss the rest of the 2013–14 season.^[16] Complications and further injuries saw him miss the entire 2014–15 season too.^[17] He eventually made his comeback 15 months after the initial leg break in March 2015 in an under-21 match against Wolverhampton Wanderers.^[18] He made his first team comeback in July 2015 in a 3–1 pre-season defeat to Fulham, scoring for the first time since December 2013.^[19] In February 2017, with Kozak's contract running out at the end of season, Aston Villa announced that he would miss the rest of the season undergoing surgery on his ankle.^[20] Kozák was released by Aston Villa at the end of the 2016–17 season.^[21]

Later career

On 30 August 2017, Kozak joined Serie B team Bari.^[21] He signed with Livorno on 16 July 2018.^[22] On 28 May 2019, Kozák returned to his homeland and signed with Sparta Prague.^[23]

Kozák joined Hungarian club Puskás Akadémia in Nemzeti Bajnokság I in 2021.^[24] He then returned to the Czech Republic, signing for Slovácko on 17 June 2022^[25] before moving to Trinity Zlín on 13 January 2023.^[26]

On 8 August 2023, Kozák joined Arezzo in the Italian Serie C.^[27] He left by mutual consent on 31 January 2024.^[28] On 23 July 2024, Kozák signed a one-year contract with Opava.^[29]

International career

On 14 November 2012, Kozák debuted for the Czech Republic national football team in a friendly match against neighbours Slovakia, coming as a substitute for David Lafata in the 67th minute.^[30] He scored his first goal in a 1–1 friendly draw against Hungary on 14 August 2013.^[31]

Career statistics

Club

As of 9 April 2022^[32][33]

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition

Club	Season	League			National 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		26	11	0	0	–		–		26	11
	Total		41	19	0	0	–		–		41	19
Lazio	2008–09	Serie A	3	0	0	0	–		–		3	0
	2009–10		0	0	0	0	–		0	0	0	0
	2010–11		19	6	3	1	–		0	0	22	7
	2011–12		17	4	0	0	–		7	1	24	5
	2012–13		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
Aston Villa	2013–14	Premier League	14	4	0	0	1	0	–		15	4
	2014–15		0	0	0	0	0	0	–		0	0
	2015–16		4	0	0	0	1	0	–		5	0
	2016–17	Championship	2	0	–		–		–		2	0
	Total		20	4	0	0	2	0	0	0	22	4
Bari	2017–18	Serie B	15	2	1	0	–		–		16	2
Livorno	2018–19	Serie B	9	0	2	0	–		–		11	0
Slovan Liberec	2018–19	Fortuna liga	14	7	1	0	–		–		15	7
Sparta Prague	2019–20	Fortuna liga	31	14	5	4	–		2	0	38	18
	2020–21		13	4	2	0	–		1	0	16	4
	Total		44	18	7	4	0	0	3	0	54	22
Puskás Akadémia	2021–22	Nemzeti Bajnokság I	22	4	1	1	–		2	0	25	5
Slovácko	2022–23	Fortuna liga	11	1	0	0	–		4	1	15	2
Career total			263	68	18	9	2	0	27	12	308	86

International

As of 10 June 2019^[34]

Appearances and goals by national team and year

National team	Year	Apps	Goals
Czech Republic	2012	1	0
	2013	7	2
	2019	1	0
Total		9	2

Scores and results list the Czech Republic's goal tally first.^[35][34]

International goals by date, venue, cap, opponent, score, result and competition

No.	Date	Venue	Cap	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	14 August 2013	Puskás Ferenc Stadion, Budapest, Hungary	4	Hungary	1–0	1–1	Friendly
2	10 September 2013	Juventus Stadium, Turin, Italy	6	Italy	1–0	2–1	2014 FIFA World Cup qualification

Honours

Czech Republic U21

• UEFA European Under-21 Championship bronze: 2011^[36][37]

Individual

• UEFA Europa League top scorer: 2012–13

References

1. "Player shirt numbers for 20 Barclays Premier League clubs released". Premier League. 8 August 2015. Archived from the original on 9 August 2015. Retrieved 9 August 2015.
2. "Barclays Premier League Player Profile". web page. Premier League. 2014. Archived from the original on 2 August 2015. Retrieved 30 October 2012.
3. "NB I: a Puskás Akadémia cseh válogatott csatárt igazolt – hivatalos". NSO. 23 June 2021. Retrieved 23 June 2021.
4. "Kozák dal ve druhé lize svůj první hattrick" [Kozák scores his first hat-trick in the second league]. Mladá fronta Dnes (in Czech). 8 October 2007. Retrieved 29 December 2012.
5. "Kozák happy with Pompey trial". Sky Sports. 1 March 2008. Retrieved 17 September 2010.
6. "Lazio signs Libor Kozák". FIFA. 5 July 2008. Archived from the original on 6 July 2008.
7. "Grosseto-Brescia 2–1". Brescia Calcio (in Italian). 26 September 2009. Archived from the original on 22 July 2011. Retrieved 28 September 2009.
8. "Český mladík Kozák v Itálii gólem zařídil vítězství Lazia, pomalu se zvedá Inter" [Czech youngster Kozák scored a winning goal for Lazio in Italy, Inter is slowly rising]. Mladá fronta Dnes (in Czech). 15 January 2011. Retrieved 4 August 2024.
9. "Kozak puts Lazio second". Eurosport. 29 January 2011. Retrieved 4 August 2024.
10. "Czech Republic to call up Kozak". Football Italia. 18 February 2011. Retrieved 18 May 2016.
11. "Transfer news: Aston Villa sign Lazio striker Libor Kozak in £7m deal". The Independent. 3 September 2013. Retrieved 4 August 2024.
12. "Kozak's treble sees Lazio progress". The Standard. 15 March 2013. Retrieved 4 August 2024.
13. "Villa complete deadline day swoop for striker Kozák". Aston Villa. 2 September 2013. Archived from the original on 5 September 2013. Retrieved 2 September 2013.
14. "Norwich 0–1 Villa". BBC Sport. BBC. 21 September 2013.
15. "Stoke City 2–1 Aston Villa". BBC Sport. BBC. 21 December 2013. Retrieved 10 July 2015.
16. "Aston Villa striker Libor Kozak breaks leg in training". BBC Sport. BBC. 2 January 2014. Retrieved 3 January 2014.
17. "Aston Villa striker Libor Kozak could be out until next year after nightmare injury setback". Aston Villa Football Club. 2 October 2014. Retrieved 8 October 2014.
18. "Wolves U21 0–1 Villa U21 report: Kozak back in derby win". Aston Villa. 8 April 2015. Archived from the original on 10 April 2015. Retrieved 11 July 2015.
19. "Report: Villa 1–3 Fulham". Aston Villa Football Club. 10 July 2015. Archived from the original on 13 July 2015. Retrieved 11 July 2015.
20. Waddon, Mitch (17 February 2017). "Aston Villa confirm Libor Kozak will miss the rest of the season". Squawka. Retrieved 7 March 2017.
21. Dicken, Alex (29 August 2017). "Former Aston Villa striker Libor Kozak has a new club". Birmingham Mail. Retrieved 30 August 2017.
22. Dicken, Alex (16 July 2018). "Transfer news Live: Birmingham City dealt double blow; Leeds United snap up starlet; Aston Villa trialist revealed". Birmingham Mail.
23. Vacek, Jan (28 May 2019). "Druhá letní posila na Letnou! Do Sparty přichází útočník Kozák". Blesk (in Czech). Czech News Center.
24. Thorpe, Chris (7 October 2021). "Aston Villa in the EFL: Remember Libor Kozák? Here's what he's up to nowadays". Football League World. Retrieved 3 May 2022.
25. Koštuřík, Michal (17 June 2022). "Kozák ve Slovácku, těší se na dlouhou přípravu: Mám ambice a tým taky". Blesk (in Czech). Czech News Center. Retrieved 19 June 2022.
26. Dosadil, Pavel (13 January 2023). "Hned dva útočníci pro Zlín, se Slovákem přichází i nedávný král střelců české ligy". Sport.cz (in Czech).
27. "Kozák se po konci ve Zlíně vrací do Itálie. Zahraje si za nováčka Serie C". Blesk (in Czech). Czech News Center. 8 August 2023.
28. "Rescissione del contratto con Libor Kozák" [Termination of contract with Libor Kozák]. SS Arezzo (in Italian). 31 January 2024. Retrieved 1 February 2024.
29. "Libor Kozák se vrací do Opavy". SFC Opava (in Czech). 23 July 2024. Retrieved 23 July 2024.
30. "Kozák si zvykl, že ani góly mu místo v sestavě nezajistí". Deník (in Czech). 14 November 2012. Retrieved 28 July 2024.
31. Novák, Miloslav (14 August 2013). "Maďarsko 1–1 Česko: Nadějný rozjezd, šance, pak chyba a gól z penalty". Mladá fronta Dnes (in Czech). Retrieved 28 July 2024.
32. "Libor Kozak". Soccerbase. Retrieved 28 December 2013.
33. "Libor Kozak". Soccerway. Retrieved 7 March 2017.
34. "Libor Kozák | National football team player". EU-Football.info. Retrieved 16 November 2015.
35. "Kozák, Libor". National Football Teams. Retrieved 30 May 2017.
36. "Regulations of the UEFA European Under-21 Championship" (PDF). UEFA. Retrieved 4 May 2020.
37. "Switzerland vs. Czech Republic | Under-21". UEFA. Retrieved 28 July 2024.

External links

• Libor Kozák at Fortunaliga.cz
• Libor Kozák at FAČR (in Czech)
• Libor Kozák at Soccerbase