Tomas Hubocan

Biography

Tomáš Hubočan (Slovak pronunciation: ; born 17 September 1985) is a Slovak professional footballer who plays as a defender for Cypriot club Karmiotissa. He made his senior international debut in 2006. He has gone on to make 73 appearances for Slovakia, representing his nation at the UEFA Euro 2016 and the UEFA Euro 2020 tournaments. He retired as 9th most capped international footballer in December 2021. Hubočan played his first international match for Slovakia against United Arab Emirates on 11 December 2006. He was a part of Slovakia's squad for the country's first European Championship tournament in 2016. Hubočan announced his national team retirement on 22 February 2019, at age 33 along with another national team defender and captain Martin Škrtel and forward Adam Nemec. The trio shared a farewell game on 13 October 2019 in a friendly against Paraguay, which coincided with a national team return to Tehelné pole, after 10 years. Although Nemec and Škrtel had starred from the start of the game, Hubočan only entered the game symbolically in the 87th minute, due to a sprain. He entered with the game at 1–1. Ironically, this was Hubočan's first international game at the famed Slovakian stadium, home to the national team for a number of years. The game concluded in the same score. In November 2020, he came out of retirement, playing in the UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying play-offs clinching game against Northern Ireland. In June 2021, he was included in the final 26-man roster for the rescheduled UEFA Euro 2020 tournament. After Slovakia failed to qualify for the 2022 FIFA World Cup, Hubočan announced his second and definitive retirement in an interview with Denník Šport, citing age and family commitments as main motivations.