Ondrej Duda (born 5 December 1994) is a Slovak professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Serie A club Hellas Verona and the Slovakia national team.
Duda began his football career at his hometown club MFK Snina. He later moved to Kosice, where he rose through the youth team ranks, making his first-team debut for the club at the age of 17 as a late substitute during a 1–0 home win against Slovan Bratislava.
On 20 July 2016, Duda signed for Bundesliga side Hertha Berlin on a five-year deal. After being sidelined with a knee injury shortly after signing and also undergoing knee surgery in November 2016, Duda made his competitive debut for Hertha on 25 February 2017 in a 2–0 win over Eintracht Frankfurt as an 89th-minute substitute, 7 months after signing with the club. Duda famously scored against Bayern Munich, as he smashed home a cross into the roof of the Bayern net, past a helpless Manuel Neuer. Duda's goal was Hertha Berlin's second goal against Bayern, as the Slovak international inspired the Berliners to a 2–0 victory over the German champions.
He made his debut and first starting line-up appearance on a first possible occasion, on 18 January 2020, in a home fixture against Bournemouth. After some 30 minutes of play, Duda had made a goal-bound shot, that had beaten Cherries' goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale. His premier goal was however denied, after a handball by Steve Cook, who was subsequently sent-off. Teemu Pukki had converted the resulting penalty with his 10th goal of the season, to secure a narrow 1–0 victory for the home side. In a post-match interview, Duda had stated he was relieved that Pukki had converted the penalty and was glad about the victory. He was applauded for smart play with other attacking players and his debut was commented on as "impressive".
On 29 January 2023, Koln announced that Duda would join Serie A side Hellas Verona on loan until the end of the season. After the club avoided relegation at the end of the season, Duda joined the club on a permanent basis for a reported fee of around €2 million.
Duda made his international debut for Slovakia on 18 November 2014, replacing Marek Hamsik in the 59th minute of a 2–1 friendly win over Finland in Zilina.
Duda scored Slovakia's first goal in their UEFA Euro 2016 campaign with an equalising goal to make it 1–1 against Wales. Slovakia went on to lose 2–1. His first goal in any of the qualifying competitions was scored in the 10th game of the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification against Malta (3–0 win), sealing the second place in the group for Slovakia.
Duda was a regular member of the national team under Pavel Hapal as well as stefan Tarkovic, although commonly unavailable due to injuries. He continued to feature under Francesco Calzona. In March 2023, following a goal-less home draw versus Luxembourg, Erik Farkas of Dennik sport wrote critically of Duda's overall national team performances arguing that despite prime age of 28 years, he did not appear capable of replacing Marek Hamsik after his international retirement in creativity and game organisation, though he was often fitted into the position by multiple experts. |
