Kamil Chontofalsky Football player Date of Birth: 03.06.1978 Country: Slovakia

Biography of Kamil Čontofalski

Kamil Čontofalski is a Slovak football player, who is best known for his career as a goalkeeper. He has represented both the Slovak national team and the Slovak club "Košice". In 1999, he made his debut for the Prague club "Bohemians 1905", playing 14 matches and conceding 17 goals in his debut year. He then spent two seasons as a starting goalkeeper, and was recognized as the best foreign player in the Gambrinus Liga.

In the 2002/03 season, Čontofalski only played 10 matches before being bought by "Zenit" for approximately 300,000 dollars. From 2003 to 2009, he played for the St. Petersburg-based club "Zenit". He made his debut in Moscow in a victorious match against "Lokomotiv" with a score of 2-1. However, his second match was overshadowed by a humiliating defeat against "Dynamo" with a score of 1-7. As a result, the head coach Vlastimil Petržela started to trust Vyacheslav Malafeev as the number one goalkeeper. Čontofalski only became the first-choice goalkeeper in the 2005 season. In the beginning of the 2006 season, he suffered an injury, and Malafeev regained his place in the starting lineup. After the arrival of the new head coach Dick Advocaat, Čontofalski signed a new contract with "Zenit".

The 2007 season was a championship-winning season for "Zenit", and Čontofalski and Malafeev played on equal terms. However, due to a tightening of the limit on foreign players, Čontofalski's career was negatively affected. There were plans to help him obtain Russian citizenship, but he ultimately refused, as he did not want to lose his Slovak citizenship. On November 29, 2007, he played in a UEFA Cup group stage match against German club "Nürnberg" (2-2) and made several grave mistakes. After that, he did not play in any official matches for a year and a half, lost his place in the Slovak national team, and decided to change clubs. Čontofalski considered the 2008 season the worst in his career, despite winning the UEFA Cup and UEFA Super Cup with "Zenit", as he did not play in any official matches that season. In the beginning of the 2009 season, nothing changed for Čontofalski.

In January 2009, he had the opportunity to join the London-based club "Chelsea" as the second goalkeeper after Carlo Cudicini's move to "Tottenham Hotspur", but the deal fell through at the last moment. On July 6, 2009, Čontofalski went for a trial at "Feyenoord". The next day, before a friendly match against Belgian club "Anderlecht", Malafeev suffered an injury for the first time in several years and was out for three weeks.

Čontofalski returned to the field on July 12, 2009, in a home match against "Moscow" (1-0). He played the full 90 minutes and saved a penalty. After the resignation of Dick Advocaat, the main goalkeeper Vyacheslav Malafeev started making mistakes, and interim head coach Anatoliy Davydov decided to field Čontofalski in the decisive match of the Europa League against Portuguese club "Nacional". Despite playing a solid game throughout, Čontofalski made a mistake towards the end of the match, allowing Ruben Micael to score the winning goal, resulting in "Zenit" being eliminated from the Europa League. After the match, Čontofalski, who had also suffered an injury, apologized to the fans.

In total, he played 82 matches for "Zenit" and conceded 86 goals. He is a member of the Leonid Ivanov Club. His contract with "Zenit" expired at the end of 2009, and Čontofalski then moved to the Cypriot club "AEL".

On December 27, 2010, Čontofalski signed a contract with the Greek club "Larissa" for 1.5 years.

On July 4, 2011, it was announced that Čontofalski would continue his career at "Slavia" in Prague, signing a two-year contract with the Czech club.

He has also represented the Slovak national team and participated in the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney and the 2000 UEFA European Under-21 Championship.

Personal Life:
Čontofalski was previously married but divorced his wife shortly after joining "Slavia" in Prague. His ex-wife's name is Michaela. He has three children: twin daughters named Valeria and Victoria, and a daughter named Elizabeth. His son Kamil tragically drowned in the pool of their own home.