“Pavol Jano, Former Slovak Player, Becomes New Coach of Tatrana Prešov Handball”

PREŠOV. 51-year-old Pavol Jano became the new coach of Tatrana Prešov handball players.

The club agreed on a one-year contract with the former long-time Slovak representative. Tatran’s official website informed about it.

Jano is returning to Prešov, where he previously worked as a player for one season, after nineteen years.

He will replace Marek Gernát on the bench of the acting vice-champion. The club continues to count on him in the position of youth coach, which he has held for many years.

In the past, Jano played as a pivot. In addition to several Slovak clubs, he also worked in the Czech Republic, Hungary and Germany. He won championship titles with Dukla Praha, Košice, Sečovci and Prešov.

He represented Slovakia 98 times as a player, and was also a participant in the European Championship 2006 in Switzerland.

He has been coaching since 2006, among other things he also led the junior national team of Slovakia.

He holds an A coaching license, while he is currently studying for the highest international Mastercoach license.

“After longer experiences with foreign coaches, we wanted to bet on a local, Slovak helmsman.

We expect him to bring more game discipline and combativeness to the field and to the cabin, and Tatran will return to a winning streak.

The goals remain unchanged – to win the title, the Slovak Cup and to be successful in the European Cup.

Of course, we will also focus on the performance growth of young players who will be included in the A-team squad,” Tatrana Prešov general manager Marián Magdoško told the club’s website.

During his playing career, Jano worked in Prešov in the 2003/2004 season, when he came to Tatran on loan from Hungarian Tatabánya.

With the team led by coach Petr Hatalčík, he won the championship title and also contributed to the victory in the Czech-Slovak Interleague (HIL).

“I was contacted by the representatives of the club and we agreed on cooperation. It is an honor for me to train a club like Tatran, which always has only the highest goals, with which I identify.

We will start working honestly and humbly and try to return Tatran to where it belongs. I also care a lot about the inclusion of young talented trainees in the squad so that they can gain experience in both preparatory and championship matches.

At the same time, I would like our game to be attractive to the audience,” said Jano, who is returning to coaching after a six-year hiatus.

He most recently led the team in Mezőkövesd in the highest Hungarian competition. In the meantime, he devoted himself to civilian employment: “I had some offers, but I needed to rest from coaching. However, the offer that came from Prešov was not rejected.”

Tatran Prešov did not defend its title when it lost in the final of the Niké Handball extraliga 2022/2023 play-off with MŠK Považská Bystrica 2:3 on matches. The players thus ended the 15-season hegemony of Prešov.