Erik Jirka

Erik Jirka (born 19 September 1997) is a Slovak footballer who plays for Spanish club Real Oviedo and the Slovak national team as a winger.

Erik Jirka
Personal information
Full name Erik Jirka
Date of birth (1997-09-19) 19 September 1997
Place of birth Trnava, Slovakia
Height 1.84 m (6 ft 0 in)
Position(s) Winger
Club information
Current team
 Real Oviedo
Number 11
Youth career
2005–2016 Spartak Trnava
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2014–2018 Spartak Trnava 76 (12)
2019–2021 Red Star Belgrade 6 (0)
2019 → Radnički Niš (loan) 16 (4)
2020 → Górnik Zabrze (loan) 17 (4)
2020–2021 → Mirandés (loan) 32 (5)
2021– Real Oviedo 19 (0)
National team‡
2015–2016 Slovakia U18 5 (0)
2017 Slovakia U19 6 (1)
2017–2018 Slovakia U21 11 (1)
2021– Slovakia 7 (1)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 13:12, 24 March 2022 (UTC)
‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 23:56, 29 March 2022 (UTC)

Club career

Jirka was a FC Spartak Trnava youth graduate. He made his league debut for Trnava on 8 November 2014 against Ružomberok.[1]

In September 2018, Jirka signed a four–year contract with Red Star Belgrade, effective from January 2019.[2] However, in summer 2019, in order to get more playing time, he headed to vice-champions from Radnički Niš for a half-season loan.[3] In January 2020 he was sent on another half-season loan, this time to Polish team Górnik Zabrze.[4]

In August 2020, Jirka was sent on a loan for a third time since arriving at Red Star, this time to the Spanish side CD Mirandés for the entire 2020–21 season with an option to buy at the end of a season.[5] On 17 July 2021, Jirka signed with Real Oviedo a two-year contract with a further year dependent on the completion of objectives .[6]

International career

Jirka was a regular in the Slovak U19 and Slovak U21 teams.[7]

He received his first call for the main Slovakia national football team for a friendly game on 18 November 2020, against Czechia, however, he failed to debut on that occasion. He made his debut on 1 June 2021 in a friendly against Bulgaria.[8]

In March 2022, Jirka was additionally called up as an alternate to Ivan Schranz for two friendly fixtures against Norway and Finland.[9] In the first match against Norway, on 25 March, Jirka came in as a late second-half replacement for Lukáš Haraslín in the 2-0 defeat.[10] However, on 29 March 2022, in a match against Finland played on a neutral pitch at Estadio Nueva Condomina in Murcia, Jirka scored his first international goal. In the first half, Slovaks took the lead through Ondrej Duda. In the second half, in the 72nd minute, Jirka scored with a left-footed shot from outside the penalty box past Lukáš Hrádecký following a pass by Róbert Boženík and sealing the 2-0 victory. He remained on the pitch for the entirety of the match.[11][12]

Honours

Spartak Trnava

Red Star Belgrade

References
  1. Trnava si odnáša z Ružomberka bod, Jarábek: Remíza je spravodlivá 8.11.2014, profutbal.sk
  2. GOTOVO: Zvezda dovela i Jirku! 03.09.2018, mozzartsport.com
  3. Zvezda definitivno POJAČALA Radnički: Tandem na "Čairu"! 4.7.2019, mondo.rs
  4. NEĆE U DOMOVINU: Jirka će u Poljsku, ovo je klub… 9.1.2020, hotsport.rs
  5. "Erik Jirka, jugará cedido en el C.D. Mirandés" [Erik Jirka, will play on loan at C.D. Mirandés]. CD Mirandés (in Spanish). Retrieved 13 August 2020.
  6. Jirka signs for Real Oviedo; Real Oviedo, 17 July 2021 (in English)
  7. Erik Jirka profile at Soccerway
  8. "Slovakia v Bulgaria game report". ESPN. 1 June 2021.
  9. Jurigová, Monika (2022-03-23). "MUŽI A – Ďalšie dve zmeny v Tarkovičovej nominácii". futbalsfz.sk (in Slovak). Retrieved 2022-04-07.
  10. "Norway vs. Slovakia - 25 March 2022 - Soccerway". us.soccerway.com. Retrieved 2022-04-07.
  11. "Nemá dno, robí šialené veci. Slovákov potešil hráč, ktorý nehráva". sportnet.sme.sk (in Slovak). Retrieved 2022-04-07.
  12. "Finland vs. Slovakia - 29 March 2022 - Soccerway". us.soccerway.com. Retrieved 2022-04-07.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.