Celtic legend Lubomir Moravcik makes move into Slovakian politics

Moravcik stood for election to both the regional and city parliaments in his native Nitra back in October and enjoyed significant success despite never having been involved in civic affairs in any capacity before.

The 80-times capped 57-year-old received no fewer than 4,677 votes as an independent candidate and narrowly failed to secure a seat in the regional parliament. 

But he fared even better standing for Hlas – the centre-left party formed by former prime minister Peter Pellegrini in 2020 to give a voice to “the working, the weak, the sick” ­- in the city parliament elections. He got 853 votes and was duly elected.

Moravcik is far from the first ex-footballer to go into politics – many former full-backs, wingers and sweepers have risen to prominent positions in public office after the full-time whistle has blown on their playing days. 

Albert Gudmundsson, the Icelandic forward who represented Rangers during the Second World War before going on to play for Arsenal and AC Milan, ran for the presidency in his homeland in 1980.

The Reykjavik representative in the Alpingi finished third in the general election - but he went on to serve on the government as both the Minister of Finance and the Minister of Industry before being forced to resign due to a tax scandal.

Elsewhere, peerless Flamengo playmaker Zico was the Minister for Sport in Brazil for a brief spell, Galatasaray goalscoring great Hakun Sukur spent two years as an MP in Turkey and Dynamo Kiev and Soviet Union striker Oleg Blokhin had two terms in the Ukrainian parliament.

The one-time AC Milan defender and two-time Champions League winner Kakha Kaladze is currently the Mayor of Tbilisi in Georgia.

Most famously, former Monaco, Paris Saint-Germain, AC Milan, Chelsea, Manchester City and Marseille striker George Weah, the recipient of the Ballon d’Or in 1995, was elected President of Liberia in 2016.

So what does Moravcik hope to achieve now that he has swapped his football boots for the ballot box?

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“Well, I don’t want to be president of the country like George Weah!” he said after returning from a flying visit to Glasgow to catch up with some old Scottish friends and watch his beloved Celtic play last week. “That is too much!”

He added: “I am now involved in politics a little in Slovakia. There were elections back in October and I put myself forward. The public voted and I received enough votes to be elected to the council in Nitra where I am from and still live.

“It’s a small role. I am the only sportsman involved in the council so I look after sport. That is my business so I suppose it make sense for me to focus on that. It is something different for me and I am enjoying being involved.”

But Moravcik, who completed an engineering degree in the Slovak University of Agriculture when he was a young player at the start of his career in communist Czechoslovakia, has no ambitions to emulate Weah.

“I like to work a little, but not too much,” he said. “I am happy just to do a little bit of politics.”

The man who Celtic signed from French club Bastia for just £330,000 in 1998 – he remains one of the best buys in the history of Scottish football – is still involved in an amateur youth football academy in Nitra.

He helps to identify and develop the best youngsters in the area in the hope that one day they can make the step up to the professional game.

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They could have no better individual to learn from. Moravcik, who played for Czechoslovakia on 42 occasions, including at Italia ‘90, and Slovakia 38 times, is one of the most gifted footballers ever to emerge from his country.

“Lubo” enjoyed watching the World Cup in Qatar and admitted he raised a glass to Lionel Messi – another creative player who has a small stature but considerable technical expertise - when the Paris Saint-Germain forward inspired Argentina to victory over France in a thrilling final at the grand old age of 35 earlier this month.

“I like football entertainers,” he said. “Messi is a genius. He has the ability to decide matches on his own. I did not envy him the pressure that he was under at the World Cup. But he led his country to glory.

“I am a pub type. I have one around 20 metres from my house and I went there to watch the World Cup. I would have two beers – one in each half – during the games. I would have a chat and then go home. It was great. I was happy to see Messi succeed.”

Moravcik helped the Czechoslovakian team managed by Dr Jo Venglos - who would take him, amid widespread derision in the Scottish media, to Celtic eight years later - to reach the quarter-finals of Italia ’90 before being red carded for dissent in a narrow 1-0 defeat to eventual champions West Germany.  

He was pleased to see current Parkhead players Cameron Carter-Vickers (United States), Josip Juranovic (Croatia), Aaron Mooy (Australia) and Daizen Maeda (Japan) all feature for their countries in the Middle East.

The man who helped the Glasgow giants to complete their first domestic treble in 32 years in 2001 when Martin O’Neill was manager, expects that quartet to spearhead the push for a clean sweep of silverware in the coming months despite their exertions in Qatar.

“Juranovic was excellent for Croatia in the World Cup and I think he will have benefitted from being involved with his national team in Qatar,” he said. “He came up against a lot of very good players and sides and performed well. I think his confidence will be high when he returns to action with Celtic.

“I thought Maeda did very well for Japan as well. I like all of the Japanese players at Celtic They are integral to how Ange Postecoglou wants his side to play. They play quickly and with a high press. It is all about passing and running and is really enjoyable to watch. I appreciate his style of football. I think they are a very good team to watch.”

Celtic take on Rangers for the second time this season at Ibrox on Monday afternoon. Moravcik distinguished himself in many Old Firm derbies during his time in Scotland and netted a memorable second-half double in a 3-0 triumph in Govan towards the end of 2000/01 season.

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The outcome of that encounter was meaningless as O’Neill’s team had been crowned champions three weeks earlier – and the player who won five major honours in this country feels the result of the game next week is not of massive importance to his old side either. 

“It was always a fantastic feeling to score in that game,” he said. “You know how important the game is to the supporters. But Celtic are dominant just now in the league. So for me this game is far more important for Rangers. They must win it if they are to have any chance of catching them. But the gap is so big that Celtic can lose and still win the title.”

Still, you can bet that Lubomir Moravcik will celebrate a Celtic triumph over Rangers at Ibrox on Monday down at his local watering hole every bit as much as he did when he won a seat in the Nitra city parliament in the Solvakian elections back in October.