Dariusz Gładyś (born 27 April 1969) is a Polish former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who played as a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

Biography

Playing career

Born in

Zielina Zielina , German Zellin is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Strzeleczki (Gemeinde Klein Strehlitz), within Krapkowice County, Opole Voivodeship, in south-western Poland. It lies approximately south-west of Strzeleczki, west of ...

, Poland, he was first introduced to football by his father, who played professionally for clubs in the South-West of Poland. His father took him to training sessions from an early age, eventually training with the youth sides of

Odra Wodzisław Odra may refer to: Rivers * Odra (Poland), also known as Oder, a river in Czech Republic, Poland and Germany * Odra (Kupa), a river in Croatia * Odra (Spain), a river in Spain Populated places * Odra, Silesian Voivodeship, a village in southern ...

. Gładyś graduated from mining school, qualifying to be a machine mechanic, stating that if he never became a footballer he would have used his training to work in the mines. In 1988 Gładyś joined the

first team, spending two seasons with the first team making 4 appearances in the league, before joining Błękitni Kielce due to his mandatory military service. During his first year with Błękitni Kielce the team were promoted from the III liga. It is not known how many appearances Gładyś made in his first season with Błękitni, but it is known that he made 34 appearances the following season in the II liga as the team finished in 6th place, well clear of any relegation threats. After his mandatory military service Gładyś moved to Gdańsk, joining II liga side

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 made his Lechia debut playing against Chemik Police on 8 August 1992. Gładyś went on to have his single longest spell at a club, playing for Lechia over the next four and a half seasons. For the 1995–96 season Lechia were involved in a merger with

Olimpia Poznań Olimpia Poznań is a Polish multi-sport club from Poznań. It has athletics, archery, basketball, boxing, kendo, judo, swimming, tennis, and triathlon sections. The sections are formally independent of each other, sharing the history and name o ...

, creating the

Olimpia-Lechia Gdańsk Olimpia-Lechia Gdańsk was a short lived Polish association football club, created by a merger of Lechia Gdańsk and Olimpia Poznań, which played in the Ekstraklasa for the 1995-96 Ekstraklasa, 1995–96 season. History Pre-merger Olimpia Po ...

team. Gładyś made 12 appearances for Olimpia-Lechia in 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 ...

while also making 12 appearances for the Lechia Gdańsk II team in the III liga. After this season the Olimpia-Lechia team were disbanded and the Lechia Gdańsk II team took its place in the league, simply being called Lechia Gdańsk again. He spent a further 6 months at Lechia, making a total of 99 appearances in all competitions for both Lechia teams. He joined Lechia's rivals

Arka Gdynia Morski Związkowy Klub Sportowy Arka Gdynia () is a Polish professional football club, based in Gdynia, Poland, that plays in the Polish I liga. The club was founded as Klub Sportowy Gdynia in 1929. History The history of Arka dates back to ...

for 6 months, and joined Pomezania Malbork for the following season. Gładyś spent the final 3 seasons of his career playing for lower league side

Gedania Gdańsk KS Gedania Danzig was an ethnically-Polish association football club that was part of German football competition in the inter-war period. It was formed in 1922 in what was at the time the Free City of Danzig (present day Gdańsk, Poland). B ...

, retiring from professional football in 2001.

Coaching career

Gładyś has been a coach at Lechia over two different spells. Between 2005 and 2007 his role was as an assistant coach, while he was the goalkeeping coach for Lechia from 2009 to 2013. Gładyś also held the role of goalkeeping coach with

Bytovia Bytów Bytovia Bytów is a Polish semi-professional association football club based in Bytów, Poland, founded in 1946. Bytovia currently plays in the IV liga Pomerania. Players Current squad Out on loan League histor ...

between 2014 and 2016.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gładyś, Dariusz 1969 births Living people People from Krapkowice County Footballers from Opole Voivodeship Men's association football goalkeepers Polish men's footballers Odra Wodzisław Śląski players Błękitni Kielce players Lechia Gdańsk players Arka Gdynia players Pomezania Malbork players Gedania 1922 Gdańsk players Ekstraklasa players I liga players II liga players Association football goalkeeping coaches