Martin Chrien

Martin Chrien
	Chrien with Dukla Banská Bystrica in 2013
Personal information
Full name	Martin Chrien
Date of birth	8 September 1995 (age 29)
Place of birth	Banská Bystrica, Slovakia
Height	1.82 m (6 ft 0 in)
Position(s)	Midfielder
Team information
Current team	Ružomberok
Number	30
Youth career
	Dukla Banská Bystrica
Senior career*
Years	Team
2012–2014	Dukla Banská Bystrica
2014–2017	Viktoria Plzeň
2015	→ Dynamo České Budějovice (loan)
2015–2016	→ Zbrojovka Brno (loan)
2016	→ Ružomberok (loan)
2017	Benfica
2017–2020	Benfica B
2018–2019	→ Santa Clara (loan)
2021	Mezőkövesd
2022	Pohronie
2022–	Ružomberok
International career‡
2013–2014	Slovakia U19
2014–2018	Slovakia U21
2019	Slovakia
	*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 26 June 2024; ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 7 June 2019

Martin Chrien (Slovak pronunciation: [ˈmartiŋ ˈxrɪen]; born 8 September 1995) is a Slovak professional footballer who plays for MFK Ružomberok as a midfielder.

Club career

Born in Banská Bystrica, Chrien made his professional debut for the local club Dukla Banská Bystrica against Košice on 1 December 2012.^[1]^{[better source needed]}

On 14 May 2014, he signed a four-year contract with Czech club Viktoria Plzeň, joining the senior team at the start of the 2014–15 Czech First League.^[2]^{[dead link]}

On 29 June 2017, Chrien moved to Portugal and signed a five-year contract with defending champions Benfica Lisbon.^[3] The same year on 20 August, he made his 2017–18 Primeira Liga debut against Belenenses in a 5–0 victory, coming on in the 71st minute of the match.^[4] Due to lack of enough playing time, Chrien was linked with a loan move to Croatian clubs Hajduk Split^[5] and Osijek.^[6]

Chrien spent the 2018–19 season with Santa Clara, who returned to the top division after 15 years of absence.^[7]

In January 2020, Chrien signed with Mezőkövesd as a free agent, following low play in Benfica in 2020.^[8]

International career

Chrien received his first call-up to the Slovak senior squad by Pavel Hapal for UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying fixture against Hungary and Wales.^[9] On 7 June 2019, Chrien debuted in a friendly match against Jordan as a starter, scoring the second goal which ended in a 5–1 victory for the Slovaks.^[10]