FK Železiarne Podbrezová

FK Železiarne Podbrezová (Slovak pronunciation: [ˈʐelezɪɐrɲe ˈpɔdbrezɔʋaː]) is a Slovak football team, based in the village of Podbrezová.

Podbrezová

Full name	Futbalový klub Železiarne Podbrezová
Nickname(s)	Železiari (Ironmongers) Horehronci (People from Upper Hron Region)
Founded	1920; 105 years ago (1920) as RTJ Podbrezová
Ground	ZELPO Aréna
Capacity	4,061
Owner	Železiarne Podbrezová a.s.[1] 35% Stanislav Lobotka 35% Other investors 30%
President	Július Kriváň
Manager	Štefan Markulík
League	Slovak First Football League
2023–24	Slovak First Football League, 6th of 12
Website	www.zpfutbal.sk
Home colours Away colours Third colours

History

Podbrezová was formed in 1920 as RTJ Podbrezová. The club is also particularly famous for its youth program that has produced many Slovak talents over the years, including Juraj Kucka, Michal Breznaník, Róbert Pich, Peter Štyvar and Marek Bažík. Podbrezová has been cooperating with the Italian club Inter, in a worldwide social project – Inter Campus (2002–2008). Argentine midfielder Pablo Podio, who played for Podbrezová, is a product of the Inter Campus project. Major achievements in the history of the club include: second place in the I. liga in the 2007/2008 season and the semifinals of the Slovak Cup in the 2001/2002 season. In 2009–10, the club withdrew from the Slovak First League.^[2]

Slovak First Football League promotion

In 2013–14, Podbrezová were promoted to the top flight of Slovak football for the first time in their history. The success was born under the leadership of coach Jaroslav Kentoš. The keys players were Vratislav Greško, Blažej Vaščák, Jozef Hanák, Michal Pančík and others.

Events timeline

• 1920 – Founded as RTJ Podbrezová^[3]
• 1930 – Merged with Tatran Horná Lehota and renamed ŠK Podbrezová
• 1936 – Renamed ŠKP Podbrezová
• 2006 – Merged with Brezno and renamed FO ŽP Šport Podbrezová
• 2017 – Renamed FK Železiarne Podbrezová^[4]

Affiliated clubs

The following clubs are affiliated with Podbrezová:

• Kardemir Karabükspor (2017–)^[5]
• FK Poprad (2021–)
• FC Nordsjælland (2019–)
• FK Pohronie (2022–)^[6]
• Baník Kalinovo (2022–2024)^[7][8]

Honours

Domestic

• Slovak Second Division (1993–)
  • Champions (2): 2013–14, 2021–22
  • Runners-up (3): 2007–08, 2011–12, 2012–13

Transfers

FK have produced numerous players that have gone on to represent the Slovak national football team. Over the last period there has been a steady increase of young players leaving Podbrezová after a few years of first-team football and moving on to play football in bigger Slovak clubs (Juraj Kucka to MFK Ružomberok^[9] in 2007, Michal Breznaník to ŠK Slovan Bratislava^[10] in 2007, Mahmudu Bajo to Dunajská Streda^[11] in 2024, Jakub Kiwior to MŠK Žilina^[12] in 2019) and European clubs of a higher standard (Peter Kováčik to Italian Como 1907^[13] in 2024). The same year moved also Patrik Blahút and Richard Ludha to Czech league 1. FC Slovácko^[14] and FK Teplice.^[15] The top transfer was agreed in 2024 when 20 years old forward Moses Cobnan moved to Russian FC Krasnodar for a fee €1 million.^[16]

Record transfers

Rank	Player	To	Fee	Year
1.	Moses Cobnan	FC Krasnodar	€1 million	2023[17]
2.	Mahmudu Bajo	Dunajská Streda	€350.000	2024[18]
3.	Jakub Kiwior	MŠK Žilina	€250.000	2019[19]
4.	Mark Assinor	LNZ Cherkasy	€230.000	2024[20]

*-unofficial fee

Sponsorship

Period	Kit manufacturer	Shirt sponsor
1998–1999	Puma	none
1999–2001	ATAK Sportswear
2001–2002	NIKE	Železiarne Podbrezová
2002–2004		ŽP Trade
2004–2005	Puma	none
2005–2006	NIKE	ŽP Trade
2006–2007	ALEA	none
2007–2010	Jako	Železiarne Podbrezová
2010–2022	Adidas
2022–present		Niké

Club partners

source^[21]

• Železiarne Podbrezová
• Zaninoni
• ŽDAS
• SLOVRUR
• Moravia Steel
• REA-S
• Pipex Italia

Current squad

As of 16 February, 2025 Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 3 DF  SVK Filip Mielke 4 DF  SVK Matej Oravec 7 FW  SVK Roland Galčík 8 MF  CZE Ondřej Deml (on loan from Viktoria Plzeň) 9 FW  CZE Daniel Smékal 10 FW  GAM Alasana Yirajang 11 FW  ESP Jorge Velasco 13 MF  SVK Vincent Chyla 14 DF  SVK Matej Grešák 15 MF  SVK René Paraj 17 FW  SVK Peter Juritka 18 DF  HUN Alex Marković

No. Pos. Nation Player 20 DF  SVK Peter Kovacik (on loan from Como) 23 DF  SVK Adrián Slávik 24 DF  SVK Kristián Koštrna 25 MF  SVK Šimon Faško 26 MF  SVK Samuel Stefanik 28 GK  SVK Adam Danko 37 DF  SVK Jakub Luka 44 MF  UKR Andriy Havrylenko 80 MF  EST Kevor Palumets 91 GK  SVK Pavol Bajza 95 GK  SVK Matej Juricka 99 FW  CMR Lionel Abate

For recent transfers, see List of Slovak football transfers summer 2024 and
List of Slovak football transfers winter 2024-25

Out on loan

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player — DF  CZE Daniel Macej (at Pohronie until 30 June 2025) — MF  SVK Jozef Špyrka (at Komárno until 30 June 2025)

No. Pos. Nation Player — MF  GAM Yusupha Kambi (at Pohronie until 30 June 2025)

Staff

Current technical staff

As of 6 July 2024

Staff	Job title
Štefan Markulík	Manager
Vladimír Cifranič	Assistant manager
Peter Tomko	Assistant manager
Lukáš Ďuriška	Assistant manager
Dominic Rajna	Assistant manager
František Kunzo	Team Leader
Miroslav Seman	Goalkeeping coach
Ernest Caban	Team Doctor
Richard Horňák	Fitness coach
Dárius Kolodzej	Masseur

Club officials

Position	Name
President	Július Kriváň
Vice president	Marián Kurčík
Vice president	Vladimír Soták ml.

Notable players

Had international caps for their respective countries

For full list, see Category:ŽP Šport Podbrezová players

• Marius Alexe
• Mahmudu Bajo
• David Depetris
• Vratislav Greško
• Filip Hlohovský
• Juraj Chvátal
• Jakub Kiwior
• Ján Krivák
• Juraj Kucka
• Milan Nemec
• Kevor Palumets
• Michal Pančík
• Dejan Peševski
• Štefan Rusnák
• Pavol Šafranko
• Siradji Sani
• Samuel Štefánik
• Peter Štyvar
• Blažej Vaščák
• Mateusz Zachara

Notable managers

• Milan Nemec (1998–2001)
• Ladislav Kuna (2001–04)
• Anton Jánoš (15 Aug 2006 – 31 May 2008)
• Raffaele Quaranta (1 Jun 2008 – 11 Oct 2010)
• Jaroslav Kentoš (2011– Feb 2015)
• Jozef Mores (February 2015 – June 2015)
• Zdenko Frťala (15 June 2015 – 22 Sep 2015)
• Marek Fabuľa (22 Sep 2015 – 25 April 2017)
• Karol Praženica (25 April 2017 - 20 Sep 2017)
• Marek Fabuľa (20 Sep 2017 – 21 Nov 2018)
• Gergely Geri (21 Nov 2018 – 4 Jan 2019)
• Vladimír Veselý (4 Jan 2019 – 26 Aug 2019)
• Jozef Mores (26 Aug 2019 – 6 Mar 2020)
• Martin Poljovka (6 Mar 2019 – 1 June 2020)
• Vladimír Cifranič (1 June 2020 – 4 Dec 2020)
• Mikuláš Radványi (17 Dec 2020 – 28 May 2021)
• Roman Skuhravý (28 May 2021 – 6 July 2024)
• Vladimír Cifranič (12 July 2024-2 Sep 2024)
• Štefan Markulík (2 Sep 2024-)