Michał Ryszard Żewłakow (; born 22 April 1976) is a Polish former

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 defender. He captained the Poland national team and is its third most capped player ever. Besides Poland, he has played in Belgium, Greece, and Turkey.

Club career

Early career in Poland

Born in

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 ...

in April 1976, Żewłakow spent eight years with

Polonia Warsaw Polonia Warsaw ( pl, Polonia Warszawa, ), founded on 19 November 1911, is the oldest existing Varsovian sports club, best known for its football and basketball teams. It also has track and field, swimming, chess, mountain biking, and contract ...

and broke into the first team in 1996–97.

Belgium

Żewłakow was loaned to Belgium's

KSK Beveren Koninklijke Sportkring Beveren (''Royal Sporting Club of Beveren'') is a Belgian association football club from the town of Beveren in East Flanders. KSK Beveren was particularly successful during the late 1970s and early 1980s in which it won ...

in October 1998 before signing – together with his twin brother Marcin – for

R.E. Mouscron Royal Excelsior Mouscron was a Football in Belgium, Belgian football club from the municipality of Mouscron, Hainaut (province), Hainaut. In December 2009 they were declared bankrupt and soon ceased to exist. A new club known as Royal Excel Mous ...

for a combined fee of €485,000. Żewłakow went on to become a key player, helping the club reach the 2002

Belgian Cup The Belgian Cup (french: link=no, Coupe de Belgique; nl, Beker van België []; german: link=no, Belgischer Fußballpokal) is the main Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in Belgium, run by the Belgia ...

final.

Anderlecht

After following coach

Hugo Broos Hugo Henri Broos (born 10 April 1952) is a Belgian association football, football coach (sport), manager and former player. He is the manager of South Africa national soccer team Playing career He started his football career in his hometown Hu ...

R.S.C. Anderlecht ; french: Les Mauves et Blancs) , short name = R.S.C.A. , founded = , ground = Constant Vanden Stock Stadium , capacity = 22,500 , owntitle = Chairman , owner = Wouter Vandenhaute , manager = Brian Riemer , ...

, in his second season he made his

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 ...

debut as Anderlecht wrested back the Belgian title from

Club Brugge (), known simply as Club Brugge (in English also: ''Club Bruges''), is a Belgian professional football club based in Bruges, Belgium. It was founded in 1891 and its home ground is the Jan Breydel Stadium, which has a capacity of 29,062.

. The next season, he lost his place but regained it in 2005–06 as Anderlecht won the

league League or The League may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Leagues'' (band), an American rock band * ''The League'', an American sitcom broadcast on FX and FXX about fantasy football Sports * Sports league * Rugby league, full contact footba ...

again.

Olympiacos

In the summer 2006, Żewłakow moved to

Olympiacos Olympiacós Sýndesmos Filáthlon Peiraiós ( el, Ολυμπιακός Σύνδεσμος Φιλάθλων Πειραιώς, Olympic Club of Fans of Piraeus) is a major multi-sport club based in Piraeus, Greece. Olympiacos is parent to a number ...

on a free transfer.

Ankaragücü

At the end of the 2009–10 season, Olympiacos gave Żewłakow a low offer, so he preferred not to renew his contract. On 16 June 2010 Ankaragücü signed him on a free transfer.

Legia Warsaw

In June 2011, Żewłakow joined Polish club Legia Warsaw on a one-year contract.Michał Żewłakow podpisał kontrakt z Legią Warszawa
13 June 2011, onet.pl

International career

The Poland national team's first-choice left-back during qualifying for the 2002 FIFA World Cup, Żewłakow was the only player to appear in all ten of his country's qualifying matches. He played in two games at the

2002 World Cup The 2002 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Korea Japan 2002, was the 17th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial Association football, football world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams organized by ...

and was a regular in qualifying for UEFA EURO 2004 and the 2006 World Cup, where he again appeared three times in the finals in Germany.

Personal life

Michał Żewłakow has a twin brother, Marcin, who played as a striker. They became the first twins ever to play together for Poland when they were picked in the starting lineup to face

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

in February 2000 and were teammates at the 2002 World Cup.

Career statistics

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

Honours

Anderlecht *

Belgian League 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 Belgian First Division A, 2020 ...

: 2003–04, 2005–06 Olympiacos *

Greek Super League 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 ...

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

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 ...

Greek Super Cup The Greek Super Cup ( el, Σούπερ Καπ Ελλάδος), officially known as the Cup of Friendship and Solidarity ( el, Κύπελλο Φιλίας και Αλληλεγγύης) was a Greek Football (soccer), association football one-match ...

: 2007 Legia Warsaw * Polish Ekstraklasa: 2012–13 *

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. ...

: 2011–12, 2012–13

References

External links

*
National team stats
on the website of the

Polish Football Association The Polish Football Association ( pl, Polski Związek Piłki Nożnej; PZPN) is the governing body of association football in Poland. It organizes the Polish football leagues (without the Ekstraklasa), the Polish Cup and the Polish national footb ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zewlakow, Michal 1976 births Living people Polish footballers Footballers from Warsaw Association football fullbacks Poland international footballers FIFA Century Club 2002 FIFA World Cup players 2006 FIFA World Cup players UEFA Euro 2008 players Belgian First Division A players Polonia Warsaw players K.S.K. Beveren players R.E. Mouscron players R.S.C. Anderlecht players Olympiacos F.C. players MKE Ankaragücü footballers Legia Warsaw players Hutnik Warsaw players Ekstraklasa players Super League Greece players Süper Lig players Polish expatriate footballers Polish expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Expatriate footballers in Belgium Polish expatriate sportspeople in Greece Expatriate footballers in Greece Polish expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Expatriate footballers in Turkey Twin sportspeople Polish twins