Janusz "John" Kowalik (born 26 March 1944) is a Polish former

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

striker who scored prolifically in both the European leagues and the

North American Soccer League The North American Soccer League may refer to: *North American Soccer League (1968–1984), a former Division I league *North American Soccer League (2011–2017) The North American Soccer League (NASL) was a professional men's soccer league b ...

. He was the 1968 NASL MVP.

Player

Club career

Kowalik was born in

Nowy Sącz Nowy Sącz (; hu, Újszandec; yi, Tzanz, צאַנז; sk, Nový Sonč; german: Neu-Sandez) is a city in the Lesser Poland Voivodeship of southern Poland. It is the district capital of Nowy Sącz County as a separate administrative unit. It has ...

. In 1968, the owners of the Chicago Mustangs of the

(NASL) signed Kowalik. That season, he led the league in scoring with thirty goals in twenty-eight games. This led to his selection as the league

MVP In team sports, a most valuable player award, abbreviated 'MVP award', is an honor typically bestowed upon an individual (or individuals, in the instance of a tie) whose individual performance is the greatest in an entire league, for a particu ...

and a first team All Star. At the end of the season, he moved to the

California Clippers California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the mo ...

. However, the NASL lost most of its teams with all west coast teams, but the Clippers, folding. The Clippers decided to leave the NASL, join a local league and exist on playing exhibition games against foreign teams. In January 1969, the team ownership decided to cease operations. In 1969, Kowalik returned to Europe where he signed with Sparta Rotterdam of the Dutch

Eredivisie The Eredivisie (; ''"Honour Division"'' or ''"Premier Division"'') is the highest level of professional football in the Netherlands. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start of professional football in the Netherlands. It is c ...

. In 1974, he moved to

NEC is a Japanese multinational information technology and electronics corporation, headquartered in Minato, Tokyo. The company was known as the Nippon Electric Company, Limited, before rebranding in 1983 as NEC. It provides IT and network soluti ...

for one season. Kowalik returned to the NASL with the

Chicago Sting The Chicago Sting (1974–1988) was an American professional soccer team representing Chicago. The Sting played in the North American Soccer League from 1975 to 1984 and in the Major Indoor Soccer League in the 1982–83 season and again from 1 ...

in 1975, where he played fourteen games, scoring nine goals in 1976. He then returned to the Netherlands to play with

MVV Maastricht Maatschappelijke Voetbal Vereniging Maastricht (), commonly known as MVV Maastricht (, ) or simply as MVV, is a Dutch professional football club from the city of Maastricht. Founded on 2 April 1902, MVV Maastricht currently compete in the Eerst ...

. In 1977, he returned to the Sting where he scored only one goal in an unknown number of games.Chicago Sting All Time Scoring Records
In the 1978–79 season he returned to MVV.

International career

He was capped 6 times for the Polish national team.

Coach

Kowalik later coached

Vitesse Arnhem Vitesse may refer to: * Vitesse Models, a diecast model car company * Vitesse (band), Dutch rock band * Bugatti Veyron Grand Sport Vitesse, a car * Rover 216 Vitesse, a car * Rover 3500 Vitesse, a car * Rover 800 Vitesse, a car * Triumph Vites ...

Górnik Zabrze Górnik Zabrze Spółka Akcyjna, commonly referred to as Górnik Zabrze S.A. or simply Górnik Zabrze (), is a Polish football club from Zabrze. Górnik is one of the most successful Polish football clubs in history, winning the second-most Poli ...

and Rangers International of Enugu.

References

External links

NASL stats
*

at

Voetbal International ''Voetbal International'' (VI) is a Dutch football magazine. It is the oldest Dutch football magazine that is still running. History and Profile ''Voetbal International'' was established in 1965. VI was one of the founding members of ESM but l ...

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kowalik, Janusz Living people 1944 births Sportspeople from Nowy Sącz Association football forwards Polish footballers Poland international footballers MKS Cracovia (football) players Chicago Mustangs (1967–68) players Oakland Clippers players Sparta Rotterdam players NEC Nijmegen players Chicago Sting (NASL) players MVV Maastricht players K. Patro Eisden Maasmechelen players Ekstraklasa players North American Soccer League (1968–1984) players Eredivisie players Eerste Divisie players Polish expatriate footballers Polish expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate soccer players in the United States Polish expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Expatriate footballers in the Netherlands Polish expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Expatriate footballers in Belgium Expatriate football managers in Belgium Polish football managers Polish expatriate football managers K. Patro Eisden Maasmechelen managers Górnik Zabrze managers K.R.C. Genk managers Expatriate football managers in the Netherlands