Michał Jarosław Kubiak (born 23 February 1988) is a Polish professional

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Sum ...

player. He was a member of the Poland national team from 2011 to 2021. A participant in the

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a vari ...

(

London 2012 The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

Rio 2016 ) , nations = 207 (including IOA and EOR teams) , athletes = 11,238 , events = 306 in 28 sports (41 disciplines) , opening = 5 August 2016 , closing = 21 August 2016 , opened_by = Vice President Michel Temer , cauldron = Vanderlei Cordeiro de ...

Tokyo 2020 The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the ...

), two–time

World Champion A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

(

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the Unit ...

), and the 2012 World League winner. At the professional club level, he plays for

Panasonic Panthers is a men's volleyball team based in Hirakata city, Osaka, Japan. It plays in V.League Division 1. The club was founded in 1951. The owner of the club is Panasonic Corporation. Team Current roster Notable players * Takahiro Yamamoto ...

Personal life

Michał Kubiak was born in

Wałcz Wałcz (pronounced ; german: Deutsch Krone) is a county town in Wałcz County of the West Pomeranian Voivodeship in northwestern Poland. During the years 1975 to 1998, the city was administratively part of the Piła Voivodeship. Granted city r ...

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 populou ...

. He has an older brother Błażej, who is also a volleyball player. He is married to Monika. On 23 February 2014 (Kubiak's 26th birthday) their daughter Pola was born. They also have a second child. Kubiak i Bartman

Career

Before his career as an indoor volleyball player, Michał Kubiak played beach volleyball with

Zbigniew Bartman Zbigniew Andrzej Bartman (born 4 May 1987) is a Polish volleyball player, member of the Poland men's national volleyball team in 2008–2013, participant at the 2012 Olympic Games, 2009 European Champion, 2012 World League winner, silver medali ...

. They won a gold medal at the European U18 Championship in 2004 and a silver medal at the World U18 Championship, also in 2004. Both Kubiak and Bartman gave up playing beach volleyball.

Clubs

Kubiak made his debut in the Polish volleyball league during the 2005/2006 season, and He played for three Polish clubs before moving to foreign leagues. In the 2008/2009 season, he played for Israeli club Hapoel Kiryat Ata. His career accelerated after good performances in the B squad of the Polish national team. After that he moved to Italian Serie A2 Volley Padwa. In the 2010/2011 season, he returned to the PlusLiga, specifically to AZS Politechnika Warszawska, where he played with

again. He wanted to leave the

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...

club in 2011, but the club stated that their contract was still valid and filed a lawsuit. Finally, Kubiak moved to

Jastrzębski Węgiel Jastrzębski Węgiel, is a professional men's volleyball club based in Jastrzębie-Zdrój in southern Poland, founded in 1961. They compete in the Polish PlusLiga. Two–time Polish Champion and one time Polish Cup winner. Since the beginning o ...

. With this club, he won a silver medal in the World Club Championship 2011. In 2012/2013 season he won a bronze medal in the Polish Championships. In 2013/2014 the club advanced to the Final Four of the Champions League in

Ankara Ankara ( , ; ), historically known as Ancyra and Angora, is the capital of Turkey. Located in the central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5.1 million in its urban center and over 5.7 million in Ankara Province, maki ...

and after defeating Zenit Kazan won the bronze medal. His team beat

ZAKSA Kędzierzyn-Koźle ZAKSA Kędzierzyn-Koźle, officially known for sponsorship reasons as Grupa Azoty ZAKSA Kędzierzyn-Koźle, is a professional men's volleyball club based in Kędzierzyn-Koźle in southern Poland, founded in 1994. They compete in the Polish PlusL ...

in the last matches in the fight for a medal.

, including Kubiak, ended the season with a second bronze in the Polish Championships. In July 2014, a year before his contract was due to end, Kubiak requested an early termination. The club agreed, and Kubiak was able to play for the Turkish club

Halkbank Ankara Halkbank Ankara is a professional men's volleyball team based in Ankara, Turkey and sponsored by the state-owned Halkbank. It was founded on 21 July 1983 as Halkbank Spor Kulübü with blue, white and red colors ...

for the season 2014/2015. Kubiak agreed with

that after the end of the contract in

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...

, he would return to the Polish club. On 29 March 2015 he won the Turkish Cup with his team

. In the final match, his team beat Arkas Izmir 3-0 and Kubiak scored 11 points. After one season in Japan with the

, he renewed his contract until the end of the 2018/2019 season.

National team

Kubiak was first selected to represent the Polish national team by coach

Andrea Anastasi Andrea Anastasi (born 8 October 1960) is an Italian professional volleyball coach and former player. He was a member of the Italy national team from 1981 to 1991. The 1990 World Champion, 1989 European Champion, and a two–time World League ...

in 2011. With the Polish team, he won three medals in 2011 - silver at the

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

and two bronzes at the World League and the European Championship. He was a gold medalist at the World League 2012 in

Sofia Sofia ( ; bg, София, Sofiya, ) is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain in the western parts of the country. The city is built west of the Iskar river, and h ...

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedo ...

. On 16 August 2014 he was selected to the Polish squad at the

World Championship A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

held in

. On 21 September 2014 Poland won the title of World Champion 2014. On 27 October 2014 he received a state award granted by the Polish President

Bronisław Komorowski Bronisław Maria Komorowski (; born 4 June 1952) is a Polish politician and historian who served as President of Poland from 2010 to 2015. Komorowski served as Minister of Defence from 2000 to 2001. As Marshal of the Sejm, Komorowski exercis ...

, the Gold Cross of Merit ''for outstanding sports achievements and worldwide promotion of Poland''. In November 2015 he was nominated for ''Polish Sports Personality of the Year'' by the

Plebiscite of Przegląd Sportowy The Polish Sports Personality of the Year ( Polish: ''Plebiscyt Przeglądu Sportowego na najlepszego polskiego sportowca roku'') is chosen annually since 1926 by the readers of the newspaper '' Przegląd Sportowy'', which makes it the second oldes ...

. He took 5th place in the list of 2015 ''Polish Sports Personality of the Year''. On 30 September 2018 Poland achieved title of the 2018 World Champion. Poland beat Brazil in the final 3-0 and defended the title from 2014. Kubiak received an individual award for the Best Outside Spiker and he was one of the main players in the team.

Controversies

In 2019, he made a comment against the

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

ian people that led to his suspension by FIVB for six games. He said referring to the people of Iran: "The Iranians think they are great and the best and we are the worst. But I believe that they are fatal, malicious and damned people. For me, this nation doesn’t exist, even though they proudly call themselves

Persians The Persians are an Iranian ethnic group who comprise over half of the population of Iran. They share a common cultural system and are native speakers of the Persian language as well as of the languages that are closely related to Persian. ...

, not Arabs. Sometimes we have to play with them, but for me, they don’t exist

https://www.newsweek.com/volleyball-poland-captain-michal-kubiak-iran-1444279] In response, Iran national volleyball team head coach, Igor Kolakovic addressed kubiak in an instagram post: “Dear Michal Kubiak, you are the great volleyball player, but you have the right to make a mistake. Come to Iran, please, to see how wonderful people live here.”

Honours

Clubs

* FIVB Volleyball Men's Club World Championship, FIVB Club World Championship ** Silver medal world centered-2

Doha 2011 – with

* AVC Asian Club Championship ** Silver medal asia

Taipei 2019 – with

* National championships ** 2014/2015 Simple gold cup

Turkish SuperCup, with

** 2014/2015 Simple gold cup

Turkish Cup The Turkish Cup ( Turkish: ''Türkiye Kupası'') is a football cup competition in Turkish football, run by the Turkish Football Federation since 1962. During a brief sponsorship period with Fortis, its sponsored name was ''Fortis Türkiye Kupas� ...

, with

** 2015/2016 Simple gold cup

Turkish SuperCup, with

** 2015/2016 Gold medal with cup

Turkish Championship Turkish may refer to: *a Turkic language spoken by the Turks * of or about Turkey ** Turkish language *** Turkish alphabet ** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation *** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey *** Turkish communities and ...

, with

** 2017/2018 Simple gold cup

Emperor's Cup, with

** 2017/2018 Gold medal with cup

Japanese Championship, with

** 2018/2019 Gold medal with cup

Japanese Championship, with

Youth national team

* Beach volleyball ** 2004 Gold medal europe

CEV U18 European Championship, with

** 2004

FIVB U19 World Championship, with

Individual awards

* 2014:

Polish Cup The Polish Cup in football ( pl, Puchar Polski w piłce nożnej ) is an elimination tournament for Polish football clubs, held continuously from 1950, and is the second most important national title in Polish football after the Ekstraklasa title. ...

– Best Opposite Spiker * 2015:

FIVB World League The FIVB Volleyball World League was an annual international men's volleyball competition. Created in 1990, it was the longest and richest of all the international events organized by the Fédération Internationale de Volleyball (FIVB). The wom ...

– Best Outside Spiker * 2016: Turkish Championship – Most Valuable Player * 2018: Japanese Championship – Most Valuable Player * 2018: FIVB World Championship – Best Outside Spiker * 2019: Japanese Championship – Most Valuable Player * 2019: AVC Asian Club Championship – Best Outside Spiker * 2021: FIVB Nations League – Best Outside Spiker

State awards

* 2014:

Gold Cross of Merit * 2018: POL Polonia Restituta Kawalerski BAR

Knight's Cross of Polonia Restituta

References

External links