The former goalkeeper of Sparta, Slavia and Tatran Prešov Miroslav Kováč died already two years ago. According to the Slovak website Nový Čas, they buried him only a few days ago. His urn was placed together with the other 48 deceased in a common grave, as none of his relatives showed interest in him.
Miroslav Kováč wore the jersey of Sparta and Slavia in the early 1980s. He played a total of 55 matches for the Prague clubs and played alongside such legends as Jan Berger, Ivan Hašek, Jozef Chovanec, František Straka and Luboš Kubík, Karel Jarolím and Josef Pešice. But he did not win the league title, because at that time Baník Ostrava, Dukla Praha and Bohemians Praha were in the limelight.
After his engagements in Prague, he moved to Tatran Prešov, where he spent four years, and spent the rest of his career at Magnezit Jelšava. He also has four appearances for the youth national team. When he hung up his football boots, he made a living as a goalkeeper coach, janitor and maintenance man at the boarding house where he also lived.
However, he allegedly did not keep in touch with his relatives and died during the covid pandemic. According to the Slovak website Nový Čas, Ervín Némethy was the last to speak with him. “He was hospitalized with covid. I used to carry things for him back then. During the last phone call, he already spoke a little unintelligibly. Then after a few days I found out he was dead, maybe it was heart failure but it was definitely covid related. I’m surprised because we were on the third vaccination together, but he probably had a weakened organism. We met often and he liked to talk about his career, but towards the end he didn’t even want to hear about it. It’s sad how he turned out.“
But no one organized his funeral at the time, so he was placed in a common grave with 48 other deceased a few days ago. “The city searches for relatives of each deceased. If we cannot find them, after one year we can bury him or scatter the ashes. We decided to approach it with dignity and give everyone a final farewell. If the relatives decide to take over the urn with the remains, they will be allowed to do so after paying the costs,” said Eva Čunderlíková from Funeral and cemetery services of the city of Prešov.
TN.cz
