Ádám Szalai

Szalai started his career in his hometown of Budapest, playing for Budapest Honvéd FC and Újpest FC. In 2004, he moved to Germany to complete his development, spending two years at the youth academy of VfB Stuttgart.

Szalai made his senior debut in the 2006–07 season, playing with the reserves in Regionalliga Süd.

In August 2007, Szalai was transferred to Real Madrid Castilla, the reserve team of Real Madrid, for approximately €500.000.[2]

In his second season in Segunda División B – the only tier in which he competed during his spell in Spain – he scored 16 goals in 37 games, but the side could only rank sixth, thus missing out on the playoffs.

On 9 January 2010, Real Madrid loaned Szalai to 1. FSV Mainz 05 until June.[3] He made his Bundesliga debut seven days later, coming on as a 63rd-minute substitute in a 2–4 away loss against Bayer 04 Leverkusen.[4]

Szalai scored his first goal for Mainz in a 1–0 home win over Borussia Dortmund on 10 April 2010.[5] He netted his second against FC Bayern Munich on 25 September in a 2–1 away win, with a powerful shot into the top corner in what was the Rhineland-Palatinate club's sixth consecutive win of the season, in an eventual run of seven;[6] on 29 January 2011, at 1. FC Kaiserslautern, the player sustained a knee injury – cruciate ligament – which sidelined him for the remainder of the campaign[7]

On 22 January 2012, Szalai returned to action with Mainz after his injury, playing the second half of a 2–3 loss at Leverkusen.[8] On 1 August he signed a contract extension with the club running until June 2015[9][10] and, on 27 October, scored his first hat-trick for the team in a 3–0 home defeat of TSG 1899 Hoffenheim.[11]

On 10 February 2013, Szalai scored his 12th goal of the campaign against FC Augsburg, thereby becoming the most productive Hungarian goalscorer in a single German top-division season, surpassing both Lajos Détári and Vasile Miriuță, whom netted 11 for Eintracht Frankfurt in 1987–88 and FC Energie Cottbus in 2000–01 respectively.[12] On 15 April, Sky Sports published an article on the player where Horst Heldt, general manager of FC Schalke 04, reportedly showed interest in signing him, pending the club's qualification to the UEFA Champions League in order to fund the transfer.[13]

Szalai in 2013

On 27 June 2013, Szalai signed a four-year contract with Schalke.[14] After making his official debut against amateurs FC Nöttingen in the first round of the DFB-Pokal,[15] he played his first league match against Hamburger SV, scoring the hosts' last goal in a 3–3 draw after a shot from Christian Clemens was poorly handled by René Adler.[16]

Szalai was instrumental in helping his team reach the group stage of the Champions League. After a 1–1 draw in the first leg against PAOK FC[17] he grabbed a brace in the second match in Thessaloniki (3–2 win), and played the full 90 minutes on both occasions.[18]

On 3 July 2014, Szalai was transferred to Hoffenheim for €6 million. Alexander Rosen, the sporting director, said that he fitted into the club's style.[19] He made his debut for his new team against Augsburg, opened the scoring in a 2–0 home win[20] and was voted "Player of the Day" on the Bundesliga website.[21]

On 22 November 2014, Szalai was sent off for the first time in his career after committing a foul on Dante in the 90th minute of the league fixture against Bayern Munich at the Allianz Arena,[22] being banned for two matches by the German Football Association.[23] On 12 December, he replaced Anthony Modeste at the hour-mark of a home game against Eintracht Frankfurt; he scored the 2–2 equaliser three minutes later, and in the 87th he provided an assist with his ankle for Roberto Firmino's winner.[24]

On 4 January 2016, after being linked to a host of clubs,[25] Szalai continued in Germany by being loaned out to Hannover 96 for the remainder of the campaign.[26]

On 27 August 2019, Szalai rejoined Mainz on a free transfer and a two-year contract.[27]

After a 8–1 defeat in the Netherlands for the 2014 World Cup qualification campaign, Szalai took part in a press conference where he gave poignant answers about what he thought the reasons behind the long-term underachievement of the national side were.[34][35] Subsequently, he found himself on the international wilderness.[36]

On 13 November 2013, Attila Pintér, manager of Hungarian League club Győri ETO FC, reacted to Szalai's statements and doubted his honesty. The coach claimed that the player said in an interview before the loss in Amsterdam that he did not have any problems with Hungary boss Sándor Egervári, further disapproving of him for his irresponsibility of criticising the Hungarian coaches even though he did not know them.[37]

Hungary played its first match of 2014 on 5 March, and Szalai was left out. In an interview with Nemzeti Sport, he said that he could not comment on his future with the national team since he was not invited and he did not have the option to decide whether to join or not.[38]

On 28 August 2014, Pintér selected his list for the Euro 2016 qualifier against Northern Ireland at the Groupama Arena on 7 September, and Szalai was not on it.[39] On 4 September, he posted an announcement on his Facebook profile saying that he did not want to play for his country as long as Pintér was in charge,[40] and thus became the second Hungarian footballer in 20 years to renounce to the national side after Szabolcs Huszti in 2007.[41]

On 18 September 2014, Pál Dárdai was appointed as Hungary's interim manager.[42][43] Eight days later, Szalai announced his return to the national team as the new coach stated the player was one of the side's "leading personalities".[44]

On 11 October 2014, Szalai marked his return by featuring the full 90 minutes in Romania in a 1–1 draw for the Euro 2016 qualifiers.[45] Three days later, for the same competition, he scored the game's only goal for an away win over the Faroe Islands in Tórshavn;[46] After the victorious qualifying play-off match against Norway, he was recorded on video attending a bar in Budapest where fans were celebrating, and after giving a rousing speech about how they suffered the most during the unsuccessful period of Hungarian football, bought 200 shots of pálinka for the people present.[47] The next day, he jokingly noted in a Facebook comment that he did not remember giving a speech.[48]

Szalai was selected for Hungary's Euro 2016 squad.[49] He started and scored the opening goal in their first game in the tournament, a 2–0 defeat of Austria in Bordeaux[50] which marked his first after a 40-match dry spell that lasted over a year;[51] shortly before this happened, the Hungarian fans were chanting the name of fellow striker Dániel Böde, demanding a substitution.[52]

On 10 October 2016, Szalai netted for the third time in the 2018 World Cup qualifying phase, helping to a 2–0 victory in Latvia.[53]

As of match played 26 November 2020[54][55]

As of 14 October 2020[56]

As of 15 November 2019 (Hungary score listed first, score column indicates score after each Szalai goal)[56]

No	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1.	8 October 2010	Ferenc Puskás, Budapest, Hungary	San Marino	2–0	8–0	UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying
2.				4–0
3.				5–0
4.	12 October 2010	Olympic Stadium, Helsinki, Finland	Finland	1–0	2–1
5.	29 February 2012	ETO Park, Győr, Hungary	Bulgaria	1–0	1–1	Friendly
6.	7 September 2012	Estadi Comunal, Andorra la Vella, Andorra	Andorra	3–0	5–0	2014 FIFA World Cup qualification
7.	16 October 2012	Ferenc Puskás, Budapest, Hungary	Turkey	2–1	3–1
8.	14 October 2014	Torsvollur, Torshavn, Faroe Islands	Faroe Islands	1–0	1–0	UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying
9.	14 June 2016	Nouveau Stade, Bordeaux, France	Austria	1–0	2–0	UEFA Euro 2016
10.	7 October 2016	Groupama Arena, Budapest, Hungary	Switzerland	1–1	2–3	2018 FIFA World Cup qualification
11.				2–2
12.	10 October 2016	Skonto Stadium, Riga, Latvia	Latvia	2–0	2–0
13.	13 November 2016	Groupama Arena, Budapest, Hungary	Andorra	4–0	4–0
14.	31 August 2017		Latvia	2–0	3–1
15.	23 March 2018		Kazakhstan	1–2	2–3	Friendly
16.	15 October 2018	A. Le Coq Arena, Tallinn, Estonia	Estonia	2–1	3–3	2018–19 UEFA Nations League C
17.				3–3
18.	15 November 2018	Groupama Arena, Budapest, Hungary		2–0	2–0
19.	18 November 2018		Finland	1–0	2–0
20.	24 March 2019		Croatia	1–1	2–1	UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying
21.	15 November 2019	Puskás Aréna, Budapest, Hungary	Uruguay	1–2	1–2	Friendly