Ladislav Pavlovich, nicknamed the „Russian Tsar“, comes from 12 children - he and his two years younger brother Rudolf made it to the first football league. Both of them wore the jersey of the oldest football club in Slovakia (Tatran Prešov) for a total of 22 years. In addition to being an exceptional football player, Laco also played hockey for many years. The football family remembers him as a classic right winger with an excellent appetite for the game, with excellent and devious tackles, speed, tenacity and accurate shooting.
Football skill, genius and, on the other hand, modesty and humility towards sport and life itself make a man a personality that is rarely forgotten. All this constantly abounded one of the unforgettable football legends of Prešov football and the best and most popular Prešov sportsman of the last century.
He played 17 years in the first league, except for his military service in Bratislava Red Star always for Tatran Prešov. In 1960 they took 3rd place in the Nations Cup. In 1961 he shared the title of the king of scorers with Rudolf Kucher, in the following year 1964 with nobody. He wore the Czechoslovakia national jersey 14 times and scored 2 goals. The second one in 1960 in Marseille is memorable and perhaps his most famous one, because Czecho-Slovakia, after the victory over France, finished 3rd in the Nations Cup, which was the unofficial European championship. When the League Cannonballers Club was founded, he was awarded badge number 4, scoring a total of 164 league goals. Although Ladislav Pavlovic officially retired from active service on the pitch on 11 May 1966, this did not close the chapter of his footballing life. Thanks to his wife's understanding, he continued to educate football players and out of 102 adolescents he coached, 30 players played in the 1st Czechoslovak league, others in the 2nd league and in other competitions. He was also the founder of women's football in Prešov.
Among other things, it should be added that Ladislav Pavlovic was a true football knight on the field. During his entire rich career he was not once sent off. He is a proud recipient of the Fair Play Award of the Slovak Olympic Committee and the MUDr. Ivan Chodák Football Fair Play Award. A deserved champion of sport, he is also a holder of the title of Exemplary Coach.
The Prešov football legend was loved by the fans for his devotion to sport and football itself, for his unbreakable will that no ball is lost, for his skill and for his loyalty to Tatran Prešov. Football gave Ladislav Pavlovič love, life filling, he loved it immensely also because it allowed him to travel a part of the world and get to know not only new countries, but especially new people.
Source: presov.sk
Photo source: By Doko - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=66054342
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