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Stanislav Varga (born October 8, 1972 in Lipany) is a football player from Slovakia, currently playing as a defender for Sunderland.

Varga is a tall and commanding centre-back, recruited by Peter Reid for £650,000 from Slovan Bratislava during the summer of 2000. Varga began his career at the Stadium of Light with an impressive opening day display in Sunderland's 1-0 victory over Arsenal, comfortably picking up the man of the match award.

A regular in the international side with over fifty caps to his name, the classy Slovakian has also captained his country on a number of occasions. He was first spotted by Peter Reid when playing for Slovakia in a friendly game against Norway before Euro 2000 and impressed the Black Cats' boss with the way he kept Tore André Flo and Ole Gunnar Solskjær out of the game.

A relative unknown in England, Varga enjoys nothing short of hero status in Slovakia where thousands of fans watched his every step in the Premiership and the Scottish Premier League.

He spent the end of 2001/02 on loan with West Brom. The towering centre back returned from a long-term injury to find himself out of the first team picture and his last game before going on loan ended when he was taken off at half-time at Old Trafford, where Sunderland lost 4-1. With Björklund and Jody Craddock ahead of him, Varga never really found his way back into the team, and was released in January 2003.

Less than a month later and Martin O'Neill had snapped up the defender on a short-term deal. Despite only making one appearance for Celtic in that time, he was rewarded with a two-year contract in July 2003.

He was an ever-present in the side during the 2003/04 campaign and helped his new team-mates to domestic glory.

Such success continued in the 2004/05 season as he proved to be a rock in the Celtic defence. He even got up-field to score 6 times, including one in Celtic's unlucky 3-1 defeat to A.C. Milan in the UEFA Champions League Group Stage. On 31st August 2006 he returned to Sunderland under new manager Roy Keane, a former colleague from Celtic, alongside Celtic's Ross Wallace, for a combined fee of up to £1,100,000.

His strong and powerful presence, ability in the air and no nonsence defending has made him a rising fan favourite at the stadium of light. Although currently warming the bench on a regular basis, behind first choice centre halves Nyron Nosworthy and Man Utd Loan star Jonny Evans, with other centre half option Kenny Cunningham out injured, the Slovakian powerhouse can still hope to play a part in SAFC's final charge for the play off's, and perhaps even automatic promotion. Roy Keane has publicly praised his centre back and hopes his experience will prove vital.

• Stanislav Varga career stats at Soccerbase
• Sunderland AFC profile
• Stanislav Varga profile, detailed club and national team statistics, honours (palmares) and timeline

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