Slovakia beat off competition from Slovenia, Czech Republic and Poland to qualify for their first World Cup in history. Young Napoli midfielder Marek Hamsik is the team's star player and national team coach Vladimir Weiss is full of praise for the attacking midfielder.

"It’s true that there are older and more experienced players in the team, but Marek is incredibly gifted, a world class player and worth his weight in gold," said Weiss to the FIFA website.

"He’s always produced big performances for us and in every position I’ve used him in. Those are the reasons why I decided to make him captain. Marek is very mature for his age.

"He is without doubt one of my most versatile players and he’s just as effective an attacking midfielder as he is a support striker. Ever since he went to Napoli he’s approached every game as if it were a battle. With Marek, the players’ heads don’t go down and we’ve turned a few games around because of that."