Marek Hamšík was born 27 July 1987 is a Slovak football midfielder who currently plays for Serie A club S.S.C. Napoli and captains the Slovakia national team. Despite the fact that Hamšík grew up in Banská Bystrica, he never played for major local team Dukla Banská Bystrica. Instead he began playing for a small youth team Jupie Podlavice. In 2002, he signed with a major Slovak team Slovan Bratislava. He played once for the Slovan A-team and scored a goal.
He moved from Slovan to Brescia in 2004 as a 17 year old young talent at a transfer fee of €500,000. His first match in Serie A with Brescia was against Chievo Verona on 20 March 2005 when he was 17 years and 237 days old. Later in that season, Brescia finished 19th in the Serie A league and were relegated to the Serie B. On 28 June 2007 newly-promoted Serie A club Napoli announced that Hamšík had signed a five-year contract with them. The transfer cost Napoli €5.5 million. The president of the clubDe Laurentiis described him as a player who should be closely watched in the future. In 2005–06, he played 24 league matches for Brescia in Serie B, with Brescia finishing tenth. He had an impressive 2006–07 season, scoring 10 goals in 40 matches.
His football icon is Czech midfielder Pavel Nedved. In 2007 he was voted the second best Slovak footballer of the year and also he was voted the best young Slovak footballer (The Peter Dubovsky Trophy). Hamšík ended his first season with Napoli as the club's top scorer, with nine goals from 37 games. At the start of the 2008–09 season, Hamšík scored in both of Napoli's first two games and went on to score a further 9 goals in his second season with the club, finishing as Napoli's top scorer for the second year running. In 2009 he was again runner-up as best Slovak footballer of the year and repeated his success as the best young Slovak footballer.
The 2010–11 season was very productive for Hamsik as he helped lead Napoli to a very successful season and earn automatic qualification into the Champions League by finishing third in Serie A. Hamsik played in 36 of the 38 Serie A games that season, netting 11 goals and contributing with a further six assists.
Hamšík scored the winning goal in their 2–0 home victory over Villarreal on 27 September, earning Napoli their first ever victory in the UEFA Champions League. On 29 November Napoli welcomed league leaders Juventus to the Stadio San Paolo, Hamšík missed a 15th minute penalty before heading in a goal to give the hosts the lead seven minutes later. On 19 September 2010, Hamsik scored Napoli's first goal as they came back from a goal down to defeat Sampdoria 2–1 in Genoa. Following this on 23 September, Hamsik signed a three-year contract extension on his contract that ties him with the club until June 2015. Three days later Hamsik scored his second goal of the new season with an 81' minute penalty to earn Napoli a 4–1 comeback win away to newly promoted Cesena. On 30 January 2011, Hamsik scored a well taken effort as Napoli hammered Sampdoria 4–0. The match was enthralling and ended in a 3–3 draw, after Napoli conceded two late goals to preserve Juventus' unbeaten start to the season.
He provided an assist for Gökhan Inler's opening goal against Villareall on 7 December and then scored the decisive goal, helping Napoli to a 2–0 victory in Spain. The win secured qualification to the Round of 16 in a very difficult group, that also included Bayern Munich and Manchester City. Hamsik helped Napoli finish the first half of the 2011–12 campaign on a high, netting a superb goal in their 6–1 hammering of Genoa on 21 December. Hamsik also provided assists for strikes by Goran Pandev and Walter Gargano during the game. Through the first half of the 2011–12 campaign, Hamsik had appeared in 16 Serie A games, contributing with both five goals and five assists. In their European campaign, Hamsik appeared in all six group stage matches and contributed with two goals and an assist. Following the winter break, Hamšík provided an assist for Edinson Cavani's goal and netted Napoli's third goal in their 3–1 defeat of US Palermo on 8 January 2012.
Hamšík was also very influential as Napoli reached the Coppa Italia final against Scudetto winners Juventus on 20 May. After being slipped in by Goran Pandev, Hamšík was one on one with Marco Storari and made no mistake as he touched it past the onrushing Juventus goalkeeper, securing a 2-0 win that delivered The Partenopei their first trophy in over twenty years. Hamšík represented Slovakia at junior level, playing in the UEFA Under-17 European Championships qualifiers and the UEFA Under-19 European Championships. He played also for the Slovak U-21 national team. On 9 March, Hamšík signed a one-year contract extension with Napoli, keeping him at the Italian club until June 2016. The announcement was made following Hamsik netting an incredible angled shot against Cagliari Calcio earlier that day, as Napoli ran out 6-3 winners. Hamšík's final goal of the season came in a 2-0 victory Palermo on 1 May, as he doubled their lead in the 35th minute following a penalty from Cavani. Napoli finished the season in fifth place in Serie A and the Slovakian forward contributed with nine league goals and nine assists.
He is a regular member of the Slovak national team. He made his debut on 7 February 2007 in the friendly match against Poland which ended 2–2. He played his second match against Germany in the Euro 2008 qualification, which Slovakia lost 2–1. He has become the key member of the attack in the national team, usually playing as a left or central attacking midfielder. Hamsik captained his country in their first World Cup experience in South Africa 2010, where Slovakia was beaten by later finalist Netherlands in the first knockout stage match.
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