Dominik Greif: Lyon's 'keeper is making the difference
Unlikely joint leaders of Ligue 1 McDonald's despite a summer exodus, Olympique Lyonnais can look to Dominik Greif's strong form in goal as a primary reason for their strong start to the season. Learn more about the Slovakia international in our latest "One to Watch."
Forging a new path
To say Greif faced a challenging road in joining Lyon would be an understatement. While Slovakia is hardly a footballing backwater, it hasn't tended to produce stars of the highest quality -- save Marek Hamsik and perhaps former Liverpool defender Martin Skrtel, there are few household names to have made an impact at Europe's top table.
When they have played in the continent's bigger leagues, it has often been in Germany or Italy. While several Slovak players have impressed in their tenures in France's top flight-- including playmaker Lubomir Moravcik and goalkeeper Alexander Vencel, save Milan Skriniar's ill-fated stint at Paris Saint-Germain, the league had been without a single player from the country until Greif and countryman Mario Sauer (Toulouse FC) arrived this summer for the better part of a decade.
Born in the capital of Bratislava, Greif is a pure product of the city's most successful club, Slovan. In his time with the club, he helped them to a trio of league titles, and earned his first national team cap, in 2019.
Dominik Greif. Unstoppable. 🇸🇰🧤 pic.twitter.com/M3EXj9H6oh
— Ligue 1 English (@Ligue1_ENG) September 29, 2025
A move to spain, and a historic run
His strong play for both club and country saw him draw interest from abroad and in the summer of 2021, he moved to Spain, joining RCD Mallorca. A combination of injury and illness severely limited his playing time there, he slowly cast aside his previous struggles. In 2023-24, despite not being first choice in the league, he was instrumental in helping his unfancied side reach the Copa del Rey final.
Installed as the number one last season, he helped the Balearic side finish a comfortable tenth, and joined Lyon this summer. The opportunity was there for Greif to play in Europe, but at a club which had seen many of its best players -- including key strikers Alexandre Lacazette and Georges Mikautadze -- depart. Greif was up for the task of replacing Lucas Perri, but his play would be even more important given the club's limits in attack.
And given the chance, Greif has shown just that. While Lyon have scored more than once just once in their seven competitive matches this season, that they have six wins from those is down to the Slovakian, who has been in goal since Rémy Descamps suffered a wrist injury against Rennes. With three 1-0 wins in the club's last three matches, Les Gones have indeed struggled to score, but with the assured Greif in goal, they have scarcely missed a beat.
Sterner tests are sure to come this season, including clashes with Strasbourg and PSG in the next six weeks, but his stock continues to rise, having impressed manager Paulo Fonseca, who remarked, “He’s a goalkeeper who communicates a lot, who has progressed a lot and gained experience. Technically, he’s a fast and very reactive goalkeeper. When he arrived here, he needed to understand our style of play, because we involve the goalkeeper a lot in the build-up.”
With that understanding now having reached a new level, look for Greif and Lyon to continue to push their more moneyed rivals both in Europe and domestically.
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