Michał Zygmunt Ruciak (born 22 August 1983) is a Polish former 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 Summ ...

player. He was part of the Polish national team in 2004–2014, a participant at 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 var ...

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 ...

, the 2009 European Champion and the 2012 World League winner.

Personal life

Michał Ruciak was born in

Świnoujście Świnoujście (; german: Swinemünde ; nds, Swienemünn; all three meaning "Świna ivermouth"; csb, Swina) is a city and seaport on the Baltic Sea and Szczecin Lagoon, located in the extreme north-west of Poland. Situated mainly on the islands o ...

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 ...

. On 22 September 2007 he married Justyna (née Terlecka). They have two sons: Rafał (born on 2 June 2008) and Filip (born on 18 March 2011). In 2014 they split up. In 2016 he married Paulina. In April 2018 they revealed they are expecting their first child. Michał Ruciak (8087190316)

Career

Clubs

He began to play with Maraton Świnoujście, later moving to Morze Szczecin,

Skra Bełchatów Skra Bełchatów, competing for sponsorship reasons as PGE Skra Bełchatów and officially called KPS Skra Bełchatów SA, is a professional men's volleyball club based in Bełchatów in central Poland, founded in 1957. They compete in the Polis ...

and AZS Olsztyn. In 2008 moved to

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 PlusLi ...

. After 7 seasons in

, he left this club in April 2015.

National team

Michał Ruciak was in the Polish squad when the Polish national team won the gold medal of European Championship 2009. On September 14, 2009 he was awarded Knight's Cross of Polonia Restituta. The Order was conferred on the following day by the Prime Minister of Poland,

Donald Tusk Donald Franciszek Tusk ( , ; born 22 April 1957) is a Polish politician who was President of the European Council from 2014 to 2019. He served as the 14th Prime Minister of Poland from 2007 to 2014 and was a co-founder and leader of the Civic Pla ...

. He won with Polish team three medals in 2011 - silver at

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 World League and European Championship. He is a gold medalist of 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 ha ...

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 Macedon ...

.''Poland wins historical gold at the 2012 World League''
– fivb.org – 08-07-2012

Honours

Clubs

CEV Cup The CEV Cup is the second tier official competition for men's Volleyball clubs of Europe. The competition takes place every year. Until 2000, it was the CEV Cup Winners' Cup. In 2000 it was renamed CEV Top Teams Cup and in 2007 it was renamed CE ...

2010/2011 – with

* National championships ** 2004/2005 Silver medal with cup

Polish Championship, with AZS Olsztyn ** 2010/2011 Silver medal with cup

Polish Championship, with

** 2012/2013 Simple gold cup

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. ...

, with

** 2012/2013 Silver medal with cup

Polish Championship, with

** 2013/2014 Simple gold cup

, with