Igor Bališ is a former Slovakia

Slovakia

The Slovak Republic is a landlocked state in Central Europe. It has a population of over five million and an area of about . Slovakia is bordered by the Czech Republic and Austria to the west, Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east and Hungary to the south...

n footballer

Football (soccer)

Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball...

 who currently plays for the 4. liga club FC Horses Šúrovce

FC Horses Šúrovce

FC Horses Šúrovce is a Slovak football team, based in the town of Šúrovce. The club was founded in 1928.- Current squad :- External links :*...

. Bališ played for West Bromwich Albion

West Bromwich Albion F.C.

West Bromwich Albion Football Club, also known as West Brom, The Baggies, The Throstles, Albion or WBA, are an English Premier League association football club based in West Bromwich in the West Midlands...

 in England. He has also appeared for Slovan Bratislava

ŠK Slovan Bratislava

ŠK Slovan Bratislava is a football club based in Bratislava, Slovakia, that plays in the Corgoň liga. Founded as 1. ČsŠK Bratislava in 1919, the club changed its name to Slovan Bratislava in 1953...

 and Spartak Trnava, as well as the Slovakia national team

Slovakia national football team

The Slovakia national football team represents Slovakia in association football and is controlled by the Slovak Football Association , the governing body for football in Slovakia. Slovakia's home stadium is Štadión Pasienky and their head coach is Vladimír Weiss...

.

Bališ moved to Albion for £150,000 in November 2000. He made his Albion debut on 23 December 2000, coming on as a late substitute in a 3–0 win against Nottingham Forest

Nottingham Forest F.C.

Nottingham Forest Football Club is an English Association Football club based in West Bridgford, Nottingham, that plays in the Football League Championship...

. Despite being a penalty specialist in international football he failed to convey this when arriving at West Brom and it was only later discovered that he was the international penalty taker for Slovakia. This came in useful when he converted a dramatic stoppage time penalty against Bradford City

Bradford City A.F.C.

Bradford City Association Football Club is an English association football club based in Bradford, West Yorkshire, playing in League Two....

 in the penultimate game of the 2001-02 season

2001-02 in English football

The 2001-02 season was the 122nd season of competitive football in England.-Arsenal cruise to title glory:In what had earlier been one of the most closely fought Premiership title races for years, Arsenal won the championship by seven points. Their crown was won in the penultimate game of the...

, which put Albion on the brink of promotion to the Premier League. After completing a season in the Premiership with Albion, Bališ quit the club and returned home to Slovakia, after suffering a recurrence of tinnitus

Tinnitus

Tinnitus |ringing]]") is the perception of sound within the human ear in the absence of corresponding external sound.Tinnitus is not a disease, but a symptom that can result from a wide range of underlying causes: abnormally loud sounds in the ear canal for even the briefest period , ear...

.
Balis is widely regarded as a cult hero at the Hawthorns, and is arguably their best right back of all time.

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