Matěj Kovář

Manchester United

Kovář began his career with 1. FC Slovácko in his native Czech Republic, but moved to England to join Manchester United in January 2018 at the age of 17. After being an unused substitute for the under-19s in a 2017–18 UEFA Youth League match against rivals Liverpool on 21 February 2018, he made his debut for the club's under-18s side in a 4–1 league win at home to Everton three days later. He played in all but two of the team's remaining matches that season, replacing Alex Fojtíček as first-choice goalkeeper. Kovář was again the first-choice goalkeeper for the reserve team the following season, playing in 17 of their 22 league matches; he also played in six of the seven matches for the under-19s in the 2018–19 UEFA Youth League. In 2019–20, he played in 11 of the 17 league matches the reserves played before the season was curtailed by the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom, as well as all four matches they played in the 2019–20 EFL Trophy, in which they came up against the senior sides of the teams in EFL League One and Two. His performances for the reserves earned him a new contract with the club, signed in October 2019. With the first team's qualification for the knockout phase of the 2019–20 UEFA Europa League secure, manager Ole Gunnar Solskjær selected a young team for their matchday 5 game against Astana in Kazakhstan on 28 November 2019; Kovář was named on the bench as back-up for Lee Grant, but did not play in the match. Ahead of the…

Kovář has represented the Czech Republic at under-18, under-19, under-20 and under-21 youth levels. He was a member of the Czech squad at the 2021 UEFA European Under-21 Championship in March 2021, but did not make any appearances in the tournament. He made his debut for the under-21 team in September 2021 against Slovenia. Kovář was first called up to the Czech Republic senior team on 8 September 2021 for a friendly match against Ukraine after Tomáš Vaclík suffered an injury. He debuted on 26 March 2024 in a friendly match against Armenia. On 29 May 2024, Kovář was included in the final Czech squad for the UEFA Euro 2024, making his competitive debut in a 1–2 loss against Turkey which led the Czech Republic to be eliminated from group stage. On 31 May 2026, Kovář was selected in the 26-man squad for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

Club

As of match played 2 August 2026

International

As of match played 24 June 2026

Sparta Prague

Czech First League: 2022–23 Bayer Leverkusen

Bundesliga: 2023–24 DFB-Pokal: 2023–24 DFL-Supercup: 2024 PSV

Eredivisie: 2025–26 Johan Cruyff Shield: 2025 Individual

Czech First League Goalkeeper of the Season: 2022–23