* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only
Ladislav Jurkemik (born 20 July 1953) is a former Slovak football player and later a football manager. He played in the Czechoslovak First League for Inter Bratislava and Dukla Banská Bystrica. Jurkemik played internationally for Czechoslovakia; he played a total of 57 matches and scored 3 goals. He managed Slovakia in 2002 and 2003. Jurkemik played as central defender and defensive midfielder, famous for his rocket shot which brought him 53 goals in 315 league games. He was very good in heading, strong and with good vision, offensive minded defender with decent passing and ball control. Widely regarded as one of the best Czechoslovakian defenders of all time.
Club career
Jurkemik is a graduate of the Inter Bratislava club, where he joined as a junior, and he made his debut in the colors of the first team in the 1973/1974 season. Ladislav, despite playing in defense, scored a lot of goals in the league, e.g. in the 1978/1979 season he scored 6 goals, as in the next one. Jurkemik played for Inter until 1984, only in the 1980/1981 season he played for another club from Slovakia, Dukla Banská Bystrica.
In the summer of 1984, Ladislav went to Switzerland and became a player of FC St. Gallen. In this team, as in Inter, he had a certain place in the squad, but this club did not achieve much success either. In St. Gallen, for 5 seasons, he played nearly 130 matches and scored 4 goals in the Nationalliga A, and the highest place he took with this club was 4th place in the 1984/1985 season. In the winter of 1988, Jurkemik moved to the second division FC Chur, where he played for 2.5 years and ended his football career in 1991.
International career
Jurkemik made his debut for the Czechoslovak national team on 7 June 1975 in a 0–0 draw against Austria. A year later, he was in the squad for the European Championships in Yugoslavia, where he was a substitute, but he appeared in all matches. In the final against West Germany, he replaced Ján Švehlík in the 80th minute, and in the penalty shootout he used his turn, and soon after he and his teammates could enjoy winning the European Championship.
In 1980, Jurkemik played at another European championship tournament, this time in Italy. There he was a player of the first eleven, and in the match for 3rd place against Italy he scored a goal, and then used a penalty kick in the penalty shootout and won the bronze medal with Czechoslovakia.
In 1982, Jurkemik was in the World Cup squad for the only time in his career. He appeared on the pitches of Spain 2 times – in a 1–1 draw with Kuwait and a 0–2 loss with England. Ladislav Jurkemik ended his national team career in 1983 in the Euro 84 qualifiers. He appeared 57 times for the national team and scored 3 goals.
Management career
After his playing career Jurkemik became a manager, taking charge of various club sides as well as the Slovakia national football team.[1] In 2008 he took charge of 1. FC Slovácko in the Czech Second League, his first appointment in the Czech Republic. He was relieved of his duties in December 2008 with the club 14th in the league and just two points above the relegation zone.[2] Jurkemik managed FC Nitra but became the second departing manager of the 2012–13 Slovak First Football League after an eight-game winless streak left Nitra bottom of the league after 15 matches in November 2012.[3]
