How six Britons could play in one game in Slovakia’s ‘fast track’ top flight

Trencín, Slovakia – When AS Trencin line up against Zemplin Michalovce on Saturday, the Slovak top-flight fixture could make a small slice of European football history: six British players, all schooled in English academies or non-league football, are in contention to share the same pitch.

The hosts have three of them. Former Manchester United midfielder Sean Goss, 30, will anchor a youthful Trencin side that also includes Tottenham academy graduate Roshaun Mathurin and Everton product Cody David. Across the halfway line, Zemplin coach can call on a trio forged in north London and the English non-league: Arsenal old boys Kido Taylor-Hart and Ben Cottrell, plus ex-Hemel Hempstead Town winger Kai Brosnan.

Goss, who spent 18 months in Greece before relocating to this year’s European Capital of Culture, says the move has re-energised his career. “At United, coaches and senior pros kept telling me my game would suit continental football,” he explained. “When the chance to join Trencin came, it felt right.”

Taylor-Hart followed a similar path. Released by Arsenal, he tried his luck with PAS Giannina in Greece before Cottrell, a former Hale End team-mate, sold him on Slovakia. “Agents kept mentioning abroad rather than League One or Two,” he said. “Sometimes you have to drop a level to play, fall back in love with the game, and then leap forward again.”

The leap is easier in eastern Europe. Post-Brexit work-permit hurdles have tightened across the continent, but Slovakia’s thresholds remain manageable, offering British players a viable gateway to senior football. Clubs are capitalising: Trencin’s squad averages 23 years of age and last month stunned seven-time champions Slovan Bratislava away from home. In January, 19-year-old winger Suleman Sani was sold to RB Leipzig in a deal that could reach €6 million; Damir Redzic left DAC 1904 for RB Salzburg for €5 million.

Goss believes the environment accelerates development. “In England, one bad game and you’re out. Here, coaches give youngsters 10, 15, 20 matches to grow. Every weekend you’re in the shop window, sometimes against Europa League opposition.”

That exposure lures players like Brosnan, who juggled part-time football with a recruitment job last season. Six months after joining Zemplin, the 22-year-old is already being monitored by bigger clubs. “It’s a fast track,” Taylor-Hart insists. “Moves you can’t get from League Two are possible from Slovakia because the league is scouted heavily by Red Bull clubs and German sides.”

The calendar helps: 32 league games versus 46 in League One, fewer midweek fixtures, more training-ground hours. “You’re not just surviving, you’re learning,” adds Goss.

Money is not the motivator. Salaries are comfortable but modest; the decision is framed as a long-term career investment. Slovak clubs value British players for their physicality, tactical education and, increasingly, their willingness to relocate.

Saturday’s encounter, eighth versus sixth, will not dominate back-page headlines in London or Manchester, yet for Goss, Mathurin, David, Taylor-Hart, Cottrell and Brosnan, it represents a statement that British talent can thrive beyond the English pyramid. All six could feature in the same match-day squad; five could start. Whatever the result, the British presence in Slovakia’s top flight is no longer an anomaly—it is a pathway.