Marek Hamšík/import

Marek Hamšík (born 27 July 1987 in Banská Bystrica) is a Slovak football midfielder, who currently plays for Napoli in Serie A. He represents Slovakia at the international level.

Early career
Although Hamšík grew up in Banská Bystrica, he never played for the major team Dukla Banská Bystrica. He started playing for a small youth team called Jupie Podlavice in Banská Bystrica. In 2002 he signed with a major Slovak team Slovan Bratislava. He played for the Slovan A-team in one match, in which he scored a goal.

He moved to Brescia in 2004 as a 17 year old young talent from Slovan. The transfer cost Brescia €500,000. His first match in Serie A with Brescia was against Chievo Verona in 20 March 2005 (17 years and 237 days). Later that season, Brescia finished 19th and was relegated to the Serie B. In 2005–06 he played in 24 league matches for Brescia in Serie B, as Brescia finished 10th. He had an impressive 2006–07 season, scoring ten goals in 40 matches.

Napoli
On 28 June 2007 newly-promoted Serie A club Napoli announced Hamšík signed a five-year contract with them. The transfer cost Napoli €5.5 million, the president of the club De Laurentiis described him as a player to look for in the future.

He played his first major match for Napoli against Cesena in the first round of the Italian Cup. Napoli won 4-0, Hamšík passed to the opening goal and scored the second goal himself. Scored his first goal in the Serie A on 16 September 2007, in the match against U.C. Sampdoria.

His football icon is Czech midfielder Pavel Nedvěd. In 2007 he was voted second best Slovak footballer of the year (behind Martin Škrtel) and also voted best young Slovak footballer (The Peter Dubovský 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 new 2008/09 season, Hamšík scored in both of Napoli's first two games. He had 9 goals in this season and he is for the second time the best scorer of SSC Napoli 2008-09 season. In 2009 he was voted second best slovak footballer of the year and repeated his success as best young Slovak footballer. .

International career
Hamšík has represented Slovakia in the junior caregories. He played for Slovakia at qualification for the UEFA Under-17 European Championships and for the UEFA Under-19 European Championships. He played also for the Slovak U-21 national team.

He is the 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, Slovakia lost 2-1, Hamšík played the whole match. He has since then become the key member of the attacking squad. He usually plays (left or middle) attacking midfielder in the national team.