Czesław Nowicki (16 September 1932 – 5 September 2002) was a Polish footballer who spent his entire professional career with

Lechia Gdańsk Lechia Gdańsk () is a Polish football club based in Gdańsk. The club was founded in 1945 by people expelled from Lwów, who were supporters of Poland's oldest football team Lechia Lwów, founded in 1903. The club's name comes from Lechia, a ...

. He was a key player in Lechia's early decades and still features highly in many appearance and goal statistics for the club.

Lechia Gdańsk

Nowicki started his career in 1951, making his debut against

Gwardia Warsaw Gwardia Warszawa was a Polish sports club based in Warsaw. The club was founded in 1948. It participated in the Polish 1st League from 1953–1960 (8 seasons), 1962–1966 (5 seasons), 1967–1968, 1969–1975, 1978–1979 and 1981–1983. The ...

in the promotion playoffs to reach the

I liga I liga ( pl, Pierwsza liga, ), currently named Fortuna I liga due to its sponsorship by Fortuna, is the men's second professional association football division of the Polish football league system, below the Ekstraklasa and above the II liga vi ...

. Playing as a midfielder, Nowicki was instrumental in Lechia's early years in the top division. Despite relegation back to the second division in 1953, Lechia bounced back straight away finishing runners up in the

II liga II liga (Druga Liga, ), currently named eWinner II liga due to sponsorship reasons by eWinner, is a Polish football league that sits at the third tier of the Polish football league system. Until the end of the 2007–08 season ''II Liga'' referr ...

for the 1954 season. After promotion Lechia stayed in the top flight for 9 seasons, a record of continuous seasons in the top division that was only broken by Lechia in the 2017-18 season when Lechia played their 10th season of top flight football in a row. Nowicki helped Lechia reach the

Polish Cup The Polish Cup in football ( pl, Puchar Polski w piłce nożnej ) is an elimination tournament for Polish football clubs, held continuously from 1950, and is the second most important national title in Polish football after the Ekstraklasa title. ...

final in 1955, before they lost to

Legia Warsaw Legia Warszawa (), commonly referred to as Legia Warsaw or simply Legia, is a professional football club based in Warsaw, Poland. Legia is the most successful Polish football club in history, winning record 15 Ekstraklasa champions titles, a ...

5–0. In 1956 Lechia finished 3rd in the Ekstraklasa, with Nowicki playing 21 of the 22 games that season. The third placed is still Lechia's highest finish in the

Ekstraklasa Poland Ekstraklasa (), meaning "Extra Class" in Polish, named PKO Ekstraklasa since the 2019–20 season due to its sponsorship by PKO Bank Polski, is the top Polish professional league for men's association football teams. Contested by 18 cl ...

, a record that was only equaled in the 2018-19 season. As the teams started to slide down the division, Nowicki was still impressing for Lechia, scoring 13 goals in the 1960 season, and finishing as one of the league's highest scorers. In 1963 Nowicki dropped down to the second tier after relegation with Lechia. After 3 seasons of failing to get out of the division, Nowicki retired football. Nowicki is still one of the most successful footballers for Lechia, making the fourth most appearances for Lechia in all competitions, as well as having Lechia's second highest appearances in the

(top division). In total for Lechia he played 290 times, scoring 40 goals, of which 189 appearances were in the Ekstraklasa, as were 30 of the goals. After his playing career he spent many seasons working as a coach in the youth teams.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nowicki, Czesław 1932 births 2002 deaths Lechia Gdańsk players Polish men's footballers Men's association football midfielders People from Mława County Footballers from Masovian Voivodeship