Norwich City midfielder Ondrej Duda and Newcastle United goalkeeper Martin Dúbravka have been nominated for the Slovakian Footballer of the Year for 2019.
The players are shortlisted by daily newspaper Pravda and the Slovak Football Association (SFA).
Duda joined the Canaries on loan from Hertha Berlin in January after struggling for regular playing time with the German side. Despite that, the Norwich player was given opportunities in the national side and made six appearances for Slovakia last year.
The Magpies keeper has been the first-choice custodian for Slovakia, Dúbravka has made eight starts for them in 2019. He’s also the regular goalkeeper at Newcastle, making 29 appearances this season.
Marek Hamšík, who left Napoli for Chinese side Dalien Yifang in 2019, has won it the last six years in a row and is shortlisted again.
Inter Milan’s Milan Škriniar, former Liverpool man, and current Basaksehir Istanbul defender, Martin Škrtel and Napoli’s January signing Stanislav Lobotka are some of the other candidates who have made it to the list.
Although Pravda and the SFA select only 10 players, there’s been an exception this year as 11 players are in contention to win the Player of the Year award. That’s because two had received the same number of points.
The candidates are below:
- László Bénes
- Róbert Boženík
- Martin Dúbravka
- Ondrej Duda
- Dominik Greif
- Marek Hamšík
- Juraj Kucka
- Stanislav Lobotka
- Albert Rusnák
- Milan Škriniar
- Martin Škrtel
