Grzegorz Szamotulski (; born 13 May 1976) 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 ...

. He was most recently the goalkeeping coach for

Zagłębie Lubin Zagłębie Lubin S.A. () is a Polish professional football club based in Lubin. Founded in 1945 as ''OMTUR Lubin'', the club competes in the Ekstraklasa. History The football team was founded in 1945 as OMTUR Lubin by local members of the ''Yo ...

. He has had a nomadic career, playing for 15 clubs in seven countries: Poland, Greece, Austria, Scotland, England, Slovakia and Israel.

Career

Born in

Gdańsk Gdańsk ( , also ; ; csb, Gduńsk;Stefan Ramułt, ''Słownik języka pomorskiego, czyli kaszubskiego'', Kraków 1893, Gdańsk 2003, ISBN 83-87408-64-6. , Johann Georg Theodor Grässe, ''Orbis latinus oder Verzeichniss der lateinischen Benen ...

, Szamotulski started his 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 ...

before making over 100 appearances for

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 ...

. Grzegorz then went on to play for

PAOK FC P.A.O.K. FC ( el, ΠΑΕ ΠΑΟΚ, Πανθεσσαλονίκειος Αθλητικός Όμιλος Κωνσταντινουπολιτών, '' Panthessaloníkios Athlitikós Ómilos Konstadinoupolitón'', "Pan-Thessalonian Athletic Club of ...

Śląsk Wrocław Wrocławski Klub Sportowy Śląsk Wrocław Spółka Akcyjna, commonly known as WKS Śląsk Wrocław, Śląsk Wrocław () or simply Śląsk, is a Polish football club based in Wrocław that plays in Ekstraklasa, the highest level of the Polish fo ...

Amica Wronki Amica Wronki was a Polish football club based in Wronki, Poland. The club was invariably linked to Amica, a manufacturer of white goods, predominantly stoves, which gave the club its nickname. The company's increasing profits gave the new te ...

, Admira Wacker Mödling and

Sturm Graz Sportklub Sturm Graz is an Austrian association football club, based in Graz, Styria, playing in the Austrian Football Bundesliga. The club was founded in 1909. Its colours are black and white. In its history, Sturm Graz has won the Austrian f ...

Dundee United Dundee United Football Club is a Scottish professional football club based in the city of Dundee. The club name is usually abbreviated to Dundee United. Formed in 1909, originally as Dundee Hibernian, the club changed to the present name in 1 ...

signed Szamotulski in July 2007 on a six-month contract to cover for the absence of his countryman

Łukasz Załuska Łukasz Załuska (; born 16 June 1982) is a Polish professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper. After playing for Stomil Olsztyn, Legia Warsaw, Jagiellonia Białystok (on loan) and Korona Kielce in Poland, Załuska continued his career ...

, who had broken a bone in his foot. He made his debut in a friendly against

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

on 26 July 2007. He was nicknamed "The Monk" by Dundee United fans due to his resemblance to the character from the film '' Mean Machine''.

Craig Levein Craig William Levein (born 22 October 1964) is a Scottish professional football manager and former player. He is currently a full-time advisor to the board of directors at Highland Football League club Brechin City. During his playing career ...

admitted that Szamotulski would be leaving the club at the end of his six-month contract, as he had rejected a contract offered by Dundee United. Szamotulski signed a six-month deal with

Preston North End Preston North End Football Club, commonly referred to as Preston, North End or PNE, is a professional football club in Preston, Lancashire, England, who currently play in the EFL Championship, the second tier of the English football league syste ...

on 6 February 2008, but soon suffered a knee injury. Two months later, and without making an appearance, Szamotulski left

Deepdale Deepdale is a football stadium in the Deepdale area of Preston, England, the home of Preston North End. Deepdale is "widely recognised as being the oldest 'continuously used' football stadium in the world, though this is contested". History ...

by "mutual consent". Szamotulski joined Israeli side

F.C. Ashdod SC Ashdod ( he, מועדון ספורט אשדוד, ''Moadon Sport Ashdod'', lit. Sport Club Ashdod, mainly known in Israel by the semi-acronym name , ''Mem Samekh Ashdod'', lit. S.C. Ashdod) is an Israeli football club, playing in the port cit ...

in August 2008, but he was released on 3 December. After leaving Ashdod, Szamotulski was linked with a move to Hibernian. Initially a contract could not be agreed with Hibs, but he signed for them on 2 January 2009 until the end of the 2008–09 season. Szamotulski made his first appearance for Hibs against Hearts as a half-time substitute for

Yves Ma-Kalambay Yves Makabu-Ma-Kalambay (born 31 January 1986) is a former professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper. He most recently played for English club Wycombe Wanderers. Ma-Kalambay has previously played for Chelsea, Watford, Hibernian, Swanse ...

. He kept a

clean sheet In team sports, a shutout ( US) or clean sheet ( UK) is a game in which one team prevents the other from scoring any points. While possible in most major sports, they are highly improbable in some sports, such as basketball. Shutouts are usuall ...

in his first start in a 2–0

league League or The League may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Leagues'' (band), an American rock band * ''The League'', an American sitcom broadcast on FX and FXX about fantasy football Sports * Sports league * Rugby league, full contact footba ...

win against St Mirren. Later in the season he kept four successive clean sheets, the first time a Hibs goalkeeper had achieved that feat since 1991. Injury problems affected Szamotulski after this, however, and he left Hibs at the end of the season. On 26 February 2010,

FK DAC 1904 Dunajská Streda FK or fk may refer to: In arts and entertainment: * Flyer Killer, fictional automated robots in the ''Terminator'' film franchise. * Fox Kids, a former American children's television programming block. * Funky Kong, a video game character. Place ...

from Slovakian first division signed the former Polish international, who was a free agent. In April 2011, he signed a contract with

Korona Kielce Korona Kielce, , (Korona – ''Crown'' – symbol of club and city, Kielce – name of city where club is based) is a Polish football club, which will compete in Ekstraklasa in the 2022–23 Ekstraklasa, 2022–23 season. In the year ...

. In October 2011, he signed a contract with

Warta Poznań Warta Poznań () is a multi-sports club based in Poznań, Poland. The name means ''the Guard'' in Polish and also the name of the river Warta on which Poznań is located. Founded in 1912, the association football club are two-time winners of the ...

.Grzegorz Szamotulski podpisał kontrakt z klubem z Poznania
20 October 2011, onet.pl

International career

Szamotulski represented

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

13 times between 1996 and 2003.

International

Honours

Legia Warsaw *

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. ...

: 1996–97 *

Polish Super Cup The Polish Super Cup (, ) is an annually held match between the champions of the Ekstraklasa and the Polish Cup winners or, if the Ekstraklasa champions also win the Polish Cup, the Cup's runners-up. As of 2021, the Polish Super Cup has been pl ...

: 1997

References

External links