Pavol à  afranko (born 16 November 1994) is a Slovak professional footballer who plays as a forward for Azerbaijan Premier League club Sabah.
Born in Stropkov, eastern Slovakia, à  afranko began his football career in the local club Tesla Stropkov, whose senior side only plays in lower regional divisions of the Slovak league system. He later transferred to Slovakia's oldest club, and the biggest one in Preà ¡ov Region, Tatran Preà ¡ov, where he spent two years in the youth teams. After graduation from the academy, he made a competitive debut for Tatran in a II. liga fixture against Spartak Trnava B, in a 7âÂÂ0 victory, in the first round on 20 July 2013. He came on in the 82nd minute as a substitute for Peter Nworah. Overall, in his first season in senior football, he made 18 appearances, but made it to the starting line-up only once, again against Spartak Trnava B, on 6 October 2013.
In the next one and a half season he spent in Preà ¡ov, à  afranko played 38 games and scored 20 goals. These good performances got him transferred to à ½P à  port Podbrezová, who was a top division club, despite being a village of just over 4,000 people. à  afranko made a Fortuna liga debut on 27 February 2016, in a 1âÂÂ0 home win over Senica. Unlike his premier season at Tatran, à  afranko immediately became a starting line-up player, although he only scored a single goal against ZemplÃÂn Michalovce (2âÂÂ0 win) on 2 April 2016. In the autumn period of the 2016âÂÂ17 Fortuna liga he however scored 4 in 18 games, attracting the attention of an ambitious club from the upper half of the table DAC Dunajská Streda, to which he transferred in January 2017.
After he only spent roughly half a year in DAC, but managed to score 6 goals in 17 competitive games, Ã Â afranko was transferred to his first international club. On 21 August 2017 it was announced that he joins Aalborg, playing in the Superligaen.
In Aalborg, à  afranko joined his two fellow countrymen: young defensive midfielder Filip Lesniak, a grandson of then Slovakia national team's coach Ján Kozák and a former international Jakub Sylvestr. In his first fixture, he made it to the starting line-up immediately, playing against Aarhus in a goal-less tie on 26 August 2017. Despite the fact that he played mostly as a center-forward, à  afranko only scored two goals in 28 games and his play-time dropped as the season progressed.
Consequently, after the initial rounds of 2018âÂÂ19 season, à  afranko was sent on a loan to Scottish Championship side, Dundee United. In Scotland, à  afranko made a notable impression soon after his arrival. He scored the second goal in a 2âÂÂ1 win, in his debut match, against Queen of the South and before the end of the calendar year, he scored 7 further goals, most in September and October. Even in 2019, à  afranko continued to be fruitful, scoring 6 further goals (2 in the SFA Cup), some in the final decisive rounds of the main part of the season, which saw Dundee United finish second, 6 points behind Ross County, but managing to qualify to the Premiership relegation play-off. In March 2019, à  afranko was called up for first competitive fixtures of Slovak national team, after his performances and made a competitive debut too. In May's play-offs, Dundee United managed to overcome Inverness in the semi-finals, with à  afranko scoring one of four goals in the two-leg fixture. However, in the final of the play-off against St. Mirren after, two goal-less times, in the decisive penalty shoot-out, à  afranko's penalty was saved by Václav Hladký and Dundee United lost the shoot-out 3âÂÂ1. Before the play-offs à  afranko had stated, that he intends to win a promotion for Dundee United.
After the season concluded, it was reported that Scottish Premiership's leading sides have shown interest in à  afranko, who tallied a total of 15 goals in 40 games in the season, with Rangers and Aberdeen being named. The latter were apparently prepared to offer a transfer during the winter transfer window, however as à  afranko had already played for Aalborg and Dundee United that season, he would have been ineligible to play. Nonetheless, after this successful season, it was reported that Aalborg had requested a transfer fee of ã1m, as à  afranko was still bound by a year of contract.
On 1 August 2019 AaB announced, that they had sold à  afranko to Romanian Sepsi OSK.
On 9 July 2024, Ã Â afranko signed two-year contract with Sabah.
à  afranko was first called up to the senior national team for two friendly fixtures held in Abu Dhabi, UAE, in January 2017 versus Uganda and Sweden. Safranko made his debut versus Uganda, being fielded in the 85th minute, when he substituted Filip Orà ¡ula. Slovakia went on to lose the game 3âÂÂ1. à  afranko also played the initial 60 minutes of Slovak 6âÂÂ0 defeat to Sweden on 12 January 2017 before being replaced by another striker TomÃ¡à ¡ Malec.
à  afranko's first call-up for a competitive international fixture came over two years later, when he was nominated by Pavel Hapal, on 12 March 2019, for a double UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying fixture against Hungary and Wales. He was nominated to replace Adam Nemec, who was a long-term center-forward in the national team, but retired from international football earlier in February 2019. He was fielded in the first match against Hungary, on 21 March 2019, in Trnava, marking his competitive debut in the Slovak senior national team. He was fielded in the 88th minute, when he replaced Ondrej Duda, who scored the first goal of the match in 42nd minute and assisted Rusnák's goal in the 85th minute. Slovakia won the match 2âÂÂ0. à  afranko however did not play in Slovakia's 0âÂÂ1 away loss to Wales.
Mamelodi Sundowns
Sepsi OSK