Jan Karol Wasiewicz (6 January 1911 – 9 November 1976) was an interwar Polish

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

player. Wasiewicz was a midfielder both in Pogoń Lwów (one of the best teams of interwar Poland), and the Polish National Team. His career started in 1926 in another Lwów team – RKS. Then he moved to

Lechia Lwów Lechia Lwów (full name: ''Lwowski Klub Sportowy "Lechia" Lwów'') was the first Polish professional association football club, founded in summer 1903 in Lwów by students of the 3rd and 4th gymnasiums as well as former members of the Sokół foot ...

and in 1933 to Pogoń. In the last team, he played in the Polish Soccer League in the years 1933–1939, representing Pogoń in 102 games and scoring 3 goals. In the Polish National Team, Wasiewicz took part in 11 games, scoring 3 goals. He was part of Poland's squad for the

1936 Summer Olympics The 1936 Summer Olympics (German: ''Olympische Sommerspiele 1936''), officially known as the Games of the XI Olympiad (German: ''Spiele der XI. Olympiade'') and commonly known as Berlin 1936 or the Nazi Olympics, were an international multi-sp ...

. He was also a reserve team player during the

1938 FIFA World Cup The 1938 FIFA World Cup was the third edition of the World Cup, the quadrennial international football championship for senior men's national teams and was held in France from 4 June until 19 June 1938. Italy defended its title in the final, beat ...

, but did not go to France. Most probably, he would have played in the legendary game Poland – Brazil 5-6 (5 June 1938,

Strasbourg Strasbourg (, , ; german: Straßburg ; gsw, label=Bas Rhin Alsatian, Strossburi , gsw, label=Haut Rhin Alsatian, Strossburig ) is the prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est region of eastern France and the official seat of the Eu ...

, France), had it not been for an injury. At the last minute, Wasiewicz was replaced by

Ewald Dytko Edward Jan (or Ewald Oskar) Dytko (18 October 1914 – 13 June 1993) was a Polish football player, who, when his home country became Poland by Treaty of Versailles represented the no longer existing team of Dąb Katowice, also in 1935-39 he played ...

. Wasiewicz fought in the Invasion of Poland. After Poland's defeat, he escaped to Hungary. From there, moved to France and then to England, where he fought in General

Stanisław Maczek Lieutenant General Stanisław Maczek (; 31 March 1892 – 11 December 1994) was a Polish tank commander of World War II, whose division was instrumental in the Allied liberation of France, closing the Falaise pocket, resulting in the destructio ...

's First Polish Armoured Division. In late 1944 and early 1945, he fought in France, Belgium and Netherlands, in a famous 1st Polish Infantry Battalion "Bloody Shirts". In recognition of extraordinary service, Wasiewicz was honored with highest orders, including the Belgian Order of Léopold. Until 1946, he served in the occupation forces in Germany. Then he moved to England, and in 1949 to Argentina, where he died.

References

Sources

See also