Bronze medalist from the Tokyo World Championships in athletics in the 400 m hurdles. Emma Zapletalová became the winner of the Athlete of the Year 2025 poll. The prime minister sat on the throne for the king or queen of Slovak sports.
The most successful team of 2025 was the under-17 handball team. The results of the traditional survey of the Club of Sports Editors (KŠR) were announced at a gala evening in the Opera House of the Slovak National Theater in Bratislava, organized by the Slovak Olympic and Sports Committee.
She clearly dominated the 2025 Athlete of the Year poll. She received 1133 votes. Before the second, football player Stanislav Lobotko, the member of VŠC Dukla Banská Bystrica had a lead of 470 points, which is the third highest difference in the history of the poll. Martina Moravcová won the highest in 2001, when the second-placed Petr and Pavle Hochschorner were separated from her by 619 points.
Last year, Matej Beňuš defeated Gabriela Gajanová by 478 points. Dávid Hancko, another football player, finished with 534 points in the imaginary bronze rank in the vote of 118 sports journalists and members of the Club of Sports Editors. Zapletalová appeared on 116 ballots, sports journalists ranked her first 106 times. After Matej Tóth, she is the second female athlete to win the poll.
“I am very happy that I managed to win the Athlete of the Year poll. It’s a dream come true for me. When I was little, I used to watch this event on TV at home and I always felt that it must be great to win and be the best athlete of our country that year. I told myself that I would follow this dream and it became a reality. I am very happy that I am experiencing these beautiful moments and especially that my great success is behind the result of this poll.” Zapletalová was happy in front of the journalists present.
Shooter Zuzana Rehák Štefečeková, cyclist Viktória Chladoňová, hockey player Juraj Slafkovský, water slalom skier Zuzana Paňková, hockey player Martin Fehérváry, wrestler Tajmuraz Salkazanov and figure skater Adam Hagara finished behind the trio of Zapletalová, Lobotka and Hancko.
“I would like to thank you very much for the opportunity to be in this poll and for all the votes I received. I really appreciate it. I also want to thank all the people who got me here and who have always stood by me. I am satisfied with the past year, I think I can carry it on and I will try to achieve only better and better results,” said Hagara.
Sportswoman of the year 2012 Zuzana Rehák Štefečeková earned points from journalists mainly thanks to winning four medals at the European Championships in Chateauroux, France. “Four medals and fourth place in the poll is a nice comparison. But first of all, I’m happy to be here as an award-winning athlete after a long time. The peak of the season was obviously what it should have been for me to be standing here today.”
Among the teams, handball players from Slovakia under the age of 17 appeared most frequently on the ballots. The European champions in this age category are the first youth and at the same time handball team to win the Athlete of the Year poll. Only one point decided the 2nd and 3rd places. rungs. The basketball players of the club Patrioti Levice finished in the silver position, and the Slovakian football team took the bronze.
“Honestly, I have to say that I am surprised and find it difficult to find words, because we did not expect that we could succeed in something like this. Moreover, when there was a competitor, our big brother football. But on the other hand, I think the girls deserved it. Not only did they win the European Championship, but they presented themselves with such a game that won the recognition of the experts present. It was modern handball, the kind that is played in the world, and everyone said in unison that we rightly became European champions. We are most pleased with that,” he said handball coach Pavol Streicher.
Levice basketball players were also very satisfied with the second place. “It’s a great award for the whole club and I think that the results resonated with the general public as well. Basketball became known. We are glad that we contributed to this and were evaluated in this survey as well,” declared coach Michal Madzin.
Even the captain of the football team, Francesco Calzona, did not hide his joy: “It is a great honor for us to be in the top three of this poll for the third year in a row. The first goal after my arrival on the national bench was to get the people back to the stadium, which we did, and to see them enjoying the home victory over Germany was a great feeling of pride. We need now to all come together and fulfill our big goal, which is to advance to the World Cup.”
Veronika Vadovičová became the Paralympian of the year. In the poll for the most successful Paralympian, she triumphed over shooting colleague Radoslav Malenovský and dancer Helena Kašická. Archers Dávid and Denis Ivanov became the Paralympic team of the year, the mixed team of wheelchair curlers and the para-hockey national team of the Slovak Republic finished on the other rungs. “I’m really looking forward to the victory. It’s a beautiful end to the season. We didn’t expect that everything would turn out so beautifully this year,” admitted Vadovičová.
The Talents of 2025 were announced at the gala evening among the summer athletes, the gymnast Lucia Piliarová, the winter biathlete Michaela Straková, and the para-athlete archer Denis Ivan. Last year, Viktória Chladoňová and Adam Hagara received the Talents of the Year awards, who are in the top ten this year. “I can’t believe it, I didn’t even expect it. I’m very happy for it and I’m looking forward to it. The season was very difficult, but the successes were indescribable feelings,” said Piliarová.
This year, the Sports Legend award went to the European football champions from 1976. For the first time, the Club of Sports Editors decided to award the award to the collective on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the triumph in Belgrade. In 1976, there were up to 15 Slovaks in the Czechoslovakian team – Ján Pivarník, Anton Ondruš, Jozef Čapkovič, Koloman Gögh, Karol Dobiaš, Ján Švehlík, Jozef Móder, Marián Masný, Ladislav Jurkemik, Alexander Vencel, Pavol Biroš, Jaroslav Pollák, Dušan Herda, Dušan Galis and Pavol Michalík.
“It surprised us, we didn’t even expect that there would be a situation where we can remember the huge success of Czechoslovak football on such a big forum. It is an incredible pleasure for us that we received such an honor and there could be nothing nicer to return to this success after so many years. The whole team was formed for several months, and the results we achieved in the qualification indicated that we could surprise. We didn’t go there as favorites, but the match against the Netherlands already showed that there is a lot of strength and a lot of determination in that team. We went to the finals as outsiders, we already said that we had achieved our goal. But the Yugoslav spectators, since they did not travel and there were only a few of ours, created such an environment for us that helped us in a difficult fight against a big favorite. I think we deserved the title for that work,” he said Alexander Wenceslas.
At the same time, the club of sports editors awarded during the gala evening The Štefan Masłonka award for long-term press services, which was accepted by the representatives of the organizing committee of the International Peace Marathon in Košice.
