The Union of football professionals is an organization with the nature of a protective body against injustice to players.
I set up this organization back in summer 2015 when I announced my return to Slovakia.
A successful career abroad and a different approach to cooperation within the relationship between players and management, made me realize that there’s plenty of space for improvement in Slovak football.
In December of 2015, I invited over the meeting captains and their assistant captains of the teams from the highest Slovak football league.
The purpose of this meeting was to acquaint them with the idea of more professional, purposeful, and equitable football conditions for players, whose rights would be represented by the Union of Football Professionals.
The fulfillment of all administrative matters resulted in the election of the chairman for a four-year term, to which I was elected after the outcome of the general meeting.
In 2020 I was elected as a chairman for another four-year term. Thanks to our hard and constant work in the matter of defending the rights of football players, we managed to become an official member of FIFPro. FIFPro is a worldwide representative organization for over 65, 000 professional footballers.
I am very proud that the Union of Football Players was chosen to represent Slovakia, as one of 65 other countries which are members of FIFPro.
As President of the UFP, I received an official certificate from FIFPro Secretary General Jonas Baer-Hoffmann and FIFPro's European Division President Bobby Barnes.
This happened during the World Congress, which took place in Paris. UFP was accepted as a full member of FIFPro with retroactive effect from July 1, 2021.
I consider the admission as a full member of FIFPro to be a significant milestone in the only five-year history of our union. I would like to thank the members of the Board, the Supervisory Board, and also all the members because without their support we would not have achieved this success.
We want to place great emphasis on education so that footballers are prepared for life after an active sports career. In conclusion, I would like to thank our friends from FIFPro, who stood by our side throughout the entry process and supported us whenever necessary.
My many years of experience as a player proved to be a solid foundation in the field of sports broadcasting. I was hosted numerous times in football studios to talk about game trends and actions which affect the game.
Additional game analysis was no exception where I quickly predicted the development of the game. These opportunities helped me to watch the game from a different perspective to perform as a better goalkeeper coach.
I am looking forward to the many opportunities that are yet to come.
