Marek Sebastian Leśniak (born 29 February 1964) 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 ...

who played as a striker. A prolific goalscorer, he was successful in his country in the 1980s, and then had a career in Germany which spanned nearly 20 years, broken by a half-year stint in Switzerland.

Career

Leśniak was born in

Goleniów Goleniów ( csb, Gòłonóg; german: Gollnow) is a town in Pomerania, northwestern Poland with 22,844 inhabitants (2011). It is the capital of Goleniów County in West Pomeranian Voivodeship (since 1999); previously it was in Szczecin Voivodeshi ...

. He started his professional 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 ...

, topping the

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 ...

goal charts in 1986–87, for a final runner-up position. In 1988, he moved abroad, with Germany's

Bayer Leverkusen Bayer 04 Leverkusen Fußball GmbH, also known as Bayer 04 Leverkusen (), Bayer Leverkusen, or simply Leverkusen, is a professional football club based in Leverkusen in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The club competes in the Bundesliga, t ...

, starting well (three

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footba ...

goals in his first six games). After a couple of solid seasons, Leśniak lost his importance in the side after the arrival of

Ulf Kirsten Ulf Kirsten (born 4 December 1965) is a German former professional footballer who played as a striker. Nicknamed ''Der Schwatte'' (dialect for ''Der Schwarze'', 'The Black One'), he is the first player in history to reach a total 100 caps play ...

, eventually leaving in 1992 to

SG Wattenscheid 09 SG Wattenscheid 09 is a Football in Germany, German association football club located in Wattenscheid, Bochum, North Rhine-Westphalia. The club claimed an official founding date of 18 September 1909 as Ballspiel-Verein Wattenscheid out of the me ...

, totalling 25 goals in three seasons. He continued to play in the country until 2006 (aged 42), in various levels (from 2002–05, he also acted as

player-coach A player-coach (also playing coach, captain-coach, or player-manager) is a member of a sports team who simultaneously holds both playing and coaching duties. A player-coach may be a head coach or an assistant coach. They may make changes to the sq ...

for SSVg Velbert).

Career statistics

International goals

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

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lesniak, Marek 1964 births Living people People from Goleniów Sportspeople from West Pomeranian Voivodeship Polish footballers Association football forwards Ekstraklasa players Pogoń Szczecin players Bundesliga players 2. Bundesliga players Bayer 04 Leverkusen players SG Wattenscheid 09 players TSV 1860 Munich players KFC Uerdingen 05 players Fortuna Düsseldorf players SC Preußen Münster players SSVg Velbert players Swiss Super League players Neuchâtel Xamax FCS players Poland international footballers Poland youth international footballers Polish expatriate footballers Polish expatriate sportspeople in Germany Expatriate footballers in Germany Polish expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland Expatriate footballers in Switzerland Polish football managers SSVg Velbert managers