Krzysztof Ireneusz Warzycha (, el, Κριστόφ Βαζέχα; born 17 November 1964) is a Greek-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

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

for

Ruch Chorzów Ruch Chorzów () is a Polish association football club based in Chorzów, Upper Silesia. It is one of the most successful football teams in Poland: fourteen-time national champions, and three-time winners of the Polish Cup. Currently the team play ...

and for Greek club

Panathinaikos Panathinaikos Athlitikos Omilos ( el, Παναθηναϊκός Αθλητικός Όμιλος, literally in English: "Panathenaic Athletic Club" or Panathinaikos A.C.), also known simply as Panathinaikós , is a major Greek multi-sport club ba ...

. At international level, he represented the Poland national team, scoring nine goals in 50 appearances. He is widely considered as the best Panathinaikos player of all time.

Club career

Ruch Chorzów

Warzycha played for Polish team

, won the Polish Championship in 1989 and was the top scorer in the Polish premier league the same year.

Panathinaikos

Warzycha joined

in December 1989, and won five Greek championships (1990, 1991, 1995, 1996, 2004), five Greek cups (1991, 1993, 1994, 1995, 2004), two Greek super cups 1993, 1994, while he was the highest scorer of the Greek championship 3 times (1994, 1995, 1998). He is Panathinaikos' all-time leading goalscorer and an idol for the club. Warzycha is considered by many to be one of the best foreign players who have played in Greece. He was one of two Poles in the title-winning side of 1995, with fellow countryman Józef Wandzik keeping over a dozen clean sheets (

shutout 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 ...

s) during the season. He was the top scorer of Panathinaikos with 319 goals in all competitions.

The most iconic goal

On 3 April 1996, Warzycha scored probably the most important goal of his career (according to a late interview), against Ajax Amsterdam in 1995–96 UEFA Champions League Semi-Finals in

Amsterdam Olympic Stadium The Olympic Stadium (Dutch: ''Olympisch Stadion'', ) is a sporting venue which was used as the main stadium for the 1928 Summer Olympics in Amsterdam. The venue is currently used mostly for athletics, other sports events and concerts. When comp ...

br>
and gave Ajax their first home defeat in four years, in their last home match before the demolition of the stadium.

First goal scorer

At the end of the 2000–01 season, Warzycha had scored an incredible 235 goals in 352 matches and had been the Greek

Alpha Ethniki The Super League Greece 1 ( el, Ελληνική Σούπερ Λιγκ 1), or Super League 1, is the highest professional association football league in Greece. The league was formed on 16 July 2006 and replaced ''Alpha Ethniki'' at the top of ...

premier league's top scorer in three different years in the 90s (1994, 1995 and 1998 seasons). His appearances in the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

have been no less impressive – he scored six goals in Panathinaikos' nine games on the way to the semi-finals of the 1995–96 competition. With eight goals scored in all UEFA Champions League games, Warzycha remained the best scorer of Polish nationality in this competition until the 2012–13 season, when Robert Lewandowski scored 10 times for Dortmund in Dortmund's surprise run to the Champions League final. On 29 April 2001, during the match with

Ionikos FC Ionikos Football Club ( el, ΠΑΕ Ιωνικός) or Ionikos Nikaia is a Greek professional football club based in Nikaia, Piraeus, Greece, currently competing in the Super League Greece, the top-tier of the Greek football league system. Fr ...

, Warzycha scored the 233rd goal of his career in Greece, climbing to second place on the list of all-time goal scorers, tied with

Mimis Papaioannou Dimitrios "Mimis" Papaioannou ( el, Δημήτριος "Μίμης" Παπαϊωάννου; born 23 August 1942) is a Greek former professional football player, who played as a forward, mostly for AEK Athens and a former manager. His nickname wa ...

. Warzycha later scored his 234th goal and become sole occupant of this spot. He was granted Greek citizenship in 1998. He retired in 2004.

Managerial career

After Panathinaikos head coach

Henk Ten Cate Hendrik Willem ten Cate (born 9 December 1954) is a Dutch football manager and former professional player. In the 2005–06 season, he was assistant to Frank Rijkaard at Barcelona when the team won the UEFA Champions League and La Liga titles. ...

was let go on 8 December 2009, Warzycha was appointed as assistant coach alongside

Nikos Nioplias Nikos Nioplias ( el, Νίκος Νιόπλιας; born 17 January 1965) is a Greek professional football manager and former player. Playing career Club His career began with OFI Crete in 1983, winning the Greek Cup in 1987, and he remained fo ...

. On 1 March 2012, Warzycha was appointed as the head coach of

Delta Ethniki Delta commonly refers to: * Delta (letter) (Δ or δ), a letter of the Greek alphabet * River delta, at a river mouth * D (NATO phonetic alphabet: "Delta") * Delta Air Lines, US * Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2 that causes COVID-19 Delta may also r ...

side

Egaleo Aigaleo or Egaleo ( el, Αιγάλεω ) is a suburban municipality in the western part of Athens, belonging to the West Athens regional administrative unit. It takes its name from Mount Aigaleo. Its population was 69,946 at the 2011 census. Ge ...

, with this being his first venture into management. In 2012, Warzycha was the head coach of

Fokikos F.C. A.C. (Athletic Club) Fokikos ( el, Α.Σ. Φωκικός) is a Greek professional football club of Phocis, Greece, established in Amfissa. The club was first founded in 1932 (unofficially existed from 1928) under the name "Panamfissaikos" and twe ...

In April 2017 he replaced

Waldemar Fornalik Waldemar Fornalik (born 11 April 1963 in Myślenice) is a Polish football manager who is currently in charge of Ekstraklasa club Zagłębie Lubin. A former player, he spent his entire playing career with Ruch Chorzów. He currently serves as t ...

manager position.

International career

Warzycha played 50 times 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 ...

, scoring nine goals. He played his last game for the Polish national team in April 1997 against

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

in Napoli, in a 3–0 loss.

Later life

Warzycha ran in the

Greek local elections, 2014 Local elections were held in Greece on 18 May 2014 (first round) and 25 May 2014 (second round). Voters elected representatives to the country's local authorities, comprising 13 regions and 325 municipalities. Background Traditionally, candidates ...

with a

New Democracy New Democracy, or the New Democratic Revolution, is a concept based on Mao Zedong's Bloc of Four Social Classes theory in Chinese Communist Revolution, post-revolutionary China which argued originally that democracy in China would take a path ...

backed combination for the municipality of

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

. He was also an

ANEL The Independent Greeks - National Patriotic Alliance ( el, Ανεξάρτητοι Έλληνες (ΑΝΕΛ), ''Anexartitoi Ellines'', ANEL) is a national-conservative political party in Greece. The party was the junior coalition partner to the ...

candidate to parliament in January 2015 legislative elections, but without success.

Career statistics

Club

International goals

:''Scores and results list Poland's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Warzycha goal.''

Honours

Ruch Chorzów *

Ekstraklasa Poland Ekstraklasa (), meaning "Extra Class" in Polish, named PKO Ekstraklasa since the 2019–20 season due to its sponsorship by PKO Bank Polski, is the top Polish professional league for men's association football teams. Contested by 18 cl ...

: 1988–89 Panathinaikos * Superleague: 1989–90, 1990–91, 1994–95, 1995–96, 2003–04 *

Greek Cup The Greek Football Cup ( el, Κύπελλο Ελλάδος Ποδοσφαίρου), commonly known as the Greek Cup or Kypello Elladas is a Greek football competition, run by the Hellenic Football Federation. The Greek Cup is the second most im ...

: 1990–91, 1992–93, 1993–94, 1994–95, 2003–04 Individual *

top goalscorer: 1988–89 (24 goals) *

Super League The Super League (officially known as the Betfred Super League due to sponsorship from Betfred and legally known as Super League Europe), is the top-level of the British rugby league system. At present the league consists of twelve teams, of wh ...

top goalscorer: 1993–94 (24 goals), 1994–95 (29 goals), 1997–98 (32 goals),

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Warzycha, Krzysztof Polish footballers Panathinaikos F.C. players 1964 births Sportspeople from Katowice Living people Ruch Chorzów players Poland international footballers Polish expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Greece Ekstraklasa players Super League Greece players Polish emigrants to Greece Naturalized citizens of Greece Panathinaikos F.C. non-playing staff Association football forwards Polish football managers Polish expatriate football managers Greek football managers Greek expatriate football managers Egaleo F.C. managers Ruch Chorzów managers Greek beach soccer players