Mário Pečalka

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Mário Pečalka (born 28 December 1980) is a Slovak former football defender. He is 1.84 m tall and played as a centre back. He started in his hometown with OFK Rudina, then moved to Kysucké Nové Mesto, and later played for FK Mutěnice and Slovan Rudinská. In 2004 he was on loan to Slovan Bratislava, then joined MŠK Žilina, where he made 103 league appearances and scored 4 goals. With Žilina he won the Slovak league title twice and played five group matches in the 2010–11 UEFA Champions League. He also had loan spells at Lučenec (2005) and Inter Bratislava (2006). In 2011 he moved to Hapoel Tel Aviv in Israel, making 19 appearances and scoring 1 goal, and in 2012 he was loaned back to Slovan Bratislava (5 appearances). Internationally, Pečalka earned three caps for Slovakia between 2009 and 2011, debuting against Ukraine on 10 February 2009. He was in Slovakia’s preliminary 2010 World Cup squad but did not make the final team. He retired from professional football in May 2013 due to persistent back problems.