The departure of his wife and the fall of Inter. The football legend also survived cruel moments – Other – Football

Do you still experience football like you used to?

Of course, I am not indifferent. Especially when Inter plays and when setbacks come. It is an addiction that I will never get rid of, and it doesn’t matter if he plays in the fifth or third league, where he is now.

You always want to win, at every level. That’s natural. If you play in a competition, you also need points. We do not work in easy conditions. And when something succeeds in them, I am doubly happy.

One of the most successful clubs in Slovak history almost disappeared from the football map. How does it work now?

It’s not tip-top as I would imagine, but it’s within our current capabilities. I still believe that the situation will turn for the better. Inter was a club that made Bratislava a good name for decades, and I am most sorry that the city is unable to help us.

How could it help you?

It is important for us to find suitable spaces, land, where we could settle down and exist. We wander around, paying a lot of money for rent. All of them are commercial, we find it difficult to raise money for them.

The city of Bratislava does not deal with sports, the infrastructure is poor, more than forty sports venues have disappeared, new ones have not been built. I made a list myself and I had 38 pitches on it that were gone.

Let’s compare it only with the surrounding countries – the Czech Republic, Hungary, Austria. We are the worst. Inter did not need land to build and do business on. We needed to build playgrounds and offer suitable conditions for the youth.

Inter, which made a significant mark in the history of Slovak and Czechoslovakian football, was threatened with extinction fifteen years ago…

It was a bad time, everything was ready for liquidation, we lost a roof over our heads in Pasienky. After the transformation into a trading company, the only shareholder was the Inter Sports Club Association. She decided to sell the football club because it was a financial burden on her.

The new owners were also Inter’s gravediggers. I still feel like it was a planned process. They sold the license to Senica, which replaced Inter in the top competition. It meant the demise of men’s football and the youth scattered in all directions.

However, Inter did not disappear from the football map… You also made a significant contribution to this. What helped him?

There were a few enthusiasts thanks to whom Inter is still alive. Maybe my person also weighed in. But even the Bratislava Football Association was not in our favor at that time.

We fell to the fourth league. We teamed up with Vajnormi, where we also played. We took all their players on loan. In this critical period, club legends Jozef Šajánek, Marián Šuchančok, Marián Novotný, Miro Kovařík came forward to lend a helping hand. I was aware that once we put down our weapons, it would be bad, we would bury Inter and the way back would be difficult.

Many children worked at Inter at that time, many talents grew up there…

Now we have even more…

Shortly after the forced departure from Pasienko, we did a selection of children, thirty, maybe forty of them came. They are already coming back to us regularly. The last time we made a selection was in June on Drieňová street, and 170 people applied.

How many of them work in the club now?

We have 350 youths, which is not a little. But we are not competing with other clubs to see who will have more of them. That’s not the point. What is important is what conditions we can offer them, that limits us.

However, I am glad that after all the ups and downs, the club is fully functioning, that we have a broad youth base. However, if we want to move to the top with men as well, we need wider support.

Information recently appeared that Inter will return to Pasienky after fifteen years. When will he be home again?

This summer we concluded an agreement with Slovan, men can now use the main area of ​​the stadium. Adults will have access to an artificial lawn. We will no longer operate in Stupava, which was a very complicated solution.

We have already trained in Wolfsthal, Austria, then in Rajka, and until recently in Dunajská Lužná. Finally, our children and adults can work in Bratislava. However, we still have four centers where our teams train and play.

After the team’s return to Pasienky, could the old glory of the club be revived and the first team appear in the top competition?

That’s a tricky question. It is certainly not a matter of the near future. Adequate economic infrastructure would have to be built, then it would be possible. It is true that the higher the competition you play, the higher the demands on the organization, conditions, and stadium.

Partners and sponsors would have to be found to support Inter in this. But I don’t think it would be on Pasture. I am afraid that sooner or later this campus will disappear and become unavailable. Slovan has a new stadium, uses only some pitches in Pasienky, its academy is located in Rapida.

You never had similar problems. You spent almost your entire exceptional playing career at Inter and Pasienky. What do you remember most about it?

It’s hard to pick something out of her, I’ve never thought of her that way. I was lucky to have passionate, enthusiastic people in it, as well as excellent teammates. We managed everything together.

I came to Bratislava at the age of fifteen and achieved things that I had never dreamed of until then. I didn’t have very big eyes. It was all a natural, logical progression. First, I made a name for myself in the club, then in the Czechoslovak youth national teams, and finally in the men’s national team.

You spent five years there, starting with Hungary in 1977 and ending with France in 1982…

I made 52 starts, I played at the 1982 WC and two years before that I was a member of the team that won bronze medals at the EC. Personal awards also depended on this.

I was selected for the best Czechoslovak eleven of the season five times. I was ranked among the ten best footballers of the year four times, while in 1978 I took second place behind Zdenek Nehod and ahead of Marián Masný.

When I was in the army in Dukla Prague, we celebrated the title of champion of the Czechoslovak Republic. But when my football career is mentioned, everyone always brings out two moments in particular.

Which one?

I scored one of the most memorable own goals in Czechoslovak history because it was scored at the 1982 World Cup in Spain. We played against England, Francis attacked me. I wanted to stop the ball or change its direction and I beat the goalkeeper Stan Semana with the tip of my foot.

I didn’t see it as too dramatic at the time. Against the English, this goal only sealed our 0:2 loss. I was more sorry for the own goal in the youth team, with which we lost in Nitra 0:1…

And the second moment?

Many no longer remember these events. At the European Championships in 1980, we fought for bronze against home country Italy, and the decision was made in a penalty shootout. I converted the decisive penalty, beating the famous Italian goalkeeper Dino Zoff.

It was our last shot at the championship, thanks to which we took third place. Four years earlier, Czechoslovakia enjoyed the title of European champions in Belgrade. We were going to Italy as the defending champions and expectations were high.

The model of the tournament was different for the first time, we met in a group with strong Germans and with the Dutch and also with the Greeks. Bronze was taken for granted, almost like a failure.

Even four years before, the EC final was decided by penalties, the Czechoslovak Republic was more successful in the match against Germany. A curious situation arose in Naples…

Penalties were kicked by the same players as four years earlier in Belgrade, even in the same order. And again everyone transformed. So did the five Italians, and so it continued. It wasn’t until the ninth series that Collovati beat our goalkeeper Netolička.

It was your turn and you could decide. Aren’t your knees shaking?

I was not the executor of the eleven, but now and then I had to stand up to the ball. I was a little reassured by the fact that even if I don’t give a penalty by chance, the shootout will continue. The coaches didn’t have many options anymore.

When the first five shot and there was no decision, they asked the others if they were going for a penalty or if they dared. I didn’t refuse, after all there was a threat that we would all take turns anyway, including the goalkeepers. I had shot a few elevens before and quite successfully. I waited for Zoff’s move and beat him.

Did you plan to continue in football as a coach and official?

My idea was completely different. I wanted to look behind the scenes of football, find out how big football works, and then use the knowledge and experience at home in the village where I grew up, I come from Bešeňov.

I graduated from the Faculty of Law and originally wanted to study law. I also joined a law firm, where I spent half a year. For the next six months, I worked at the National Property Fund.