Kacper Szymon Kozłowski (born 16 October 2003) is a Polish 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 plays as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

for Dutch club Vitesse, on loan from

Brighton & Hove Albion Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club (), commonly referred to simply as Brighton, is an English professional football club based in the city of Brighton and Hove. They compete in the Premier League, the top tier of the English football league ...

Club career

Kozłowski started his career with

Pogoń Szczecin Pogoń Szczecin Spółka Akcyjna, commonly referred to as Pogoń Szczecin (), is a Polish professional football club, based in Szczecin, West Pomeranian Voivodeship, which plays in the Ekstraklasa, the top tier of the national football league s ...

. In January 2022, he transferred to

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

side

where he was immediately loaned to Brighton's sister club

Union SG Royale Union Saint-Gilloise , abbreviated to Union SG or USG, unofficially simply called Union, is a Belgian football club originally located in the municipality of Saint-Gilles, in Brussels, although since the 1920s it has been based at the Jos ...

Belgian First Division A The Belgian Pro League,(officially the Jupiler Pro League due to sponsorship reasons with Jupiler), is the top league competition for association football clubs in Belgium. Contested by 18 clubs since the 2020–21 season and reduced to 16 team ...

for the rest of the season. In August 2022, Kozłowski joined Vitesse in the Netherlands on loan until the end of the 2022–23 season. On 18 July 2023, he rejoined Vitesse on another season-long loan spell.

International career

In June 2021, Kozłowski featured for

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 ...

UEFA Euro 2020 The 2020 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2020 (stylised as UEFA EURO 2020) or simply Euro 2020, was the 16th UEFA European Championship, the quadrennial international men's football championship of Europe ...

in a 1–1 draw with

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

, to become the youngest player of any nationality to play at a European Championship, aged 17 years and 246 days, breaking the previous record of

Jude Bellingham Jude Victor William Bellingham (born 29 June 2003) is an English professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Bundesliga club Borussia Dortmund and the England national team. Bellingham joined Birmingham City as an under-8, became t ...

, who himself had broken the same record only six days prior. Kozłowski was named in the provisional squad for

for the

2022 FIFA World Cup The 2022 FIFA World Cup is an international association football, football tournament contested by the men's national teams of FIFA's member associations. The 22nd FIFA World Cup is taking place in Qatar from 20 November to 18 December 2022 ...

campaign, but he was not included in the final 26-man squad.

Personal life

On 10 January 2020, Kozłowski suffered a traffic accident that almost ended his football career.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Individual *Ekstraklasa Young Player of the Month: December 2020

References

External links

* * 2003 births Living people Sportspeople from Koszalin Polish men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Pogoń Szczecin players Royale Union Saint-Gilloise players SBV Vitesse players Ekstraklasa players Belgian Pro League players Poland men's international footballers Poland men's youth international footballers Poland men's under-21 international footballers UEFA Euro 2020 players Polish expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Belgium Polish expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Expatriate men's footballers in England Polish expatriate sportspeople in England Expatriate men's footballers in the Netherlands Polish expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Footballers from West Pomeranian Voivodeship {{Poland-footy-midfielder-stub