Paweł Cyganek (1913–1995) was a

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

forward player of interwar

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 ...

, who in one game played on the Poland national team. Cyganek was born in

Wirek Wirek (german: Antonienhütte) is a district in the centre of Ruda Śląska, Silesian Voivodeship, southern Poland. In 2006 it had an area of 5.9 km2 and was inhabited by 20,595 people. On January 12, 2006 a part of it was split off to form a ...

, a district of the Upper Silesian city of

Ruda Śląska Ruda Śląska (formerly ) is a city in Silesia in southern Poland, near Katowice. It is a district in the Upper Silesian Metropolitan Union, a metropolis with a population of two million. It is in the Silesian Highlands, on the Kłodnica River (t ...

. From early childhood he loved soccer and was a very fast runner, so at age 14 he became a forward on the local team

Wawel Wirek The Wawel Royal Castle (; ''Zamek Królewski na Wawelu'') and the Wawel Hill on which it sits constitute the most historically and culturally significant site in Poland. A fortified residency on the Vistula River in Kraków, it was established on ...

. In the 1930s Wawel played in Silesian A-Class, the strongest regional league in Poland (in interwar Poland, A-Class was equivalent of today’s Second Division). Cyganek was widely regarded as too good for this division and several top teams of the Polish Soccer League wanted to buy him. Among these were

Śląsk Świętochłowice Śląsk Świętochłowice (full name: Miejski Klub Sportowy Śląsk Świętochłowice (Silesia Świętochłowice City Sports Club) is one of the Polish sports clubs from Upper Silesia, strongly connected with the region, which is reflected in its ...

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

Cracovia Cracovia is the Latin name for the Polish city of Kraków (Cracow). It may refer to: * Cracovia SC, a football club in Australia * Cracovia (vodka) ''Cracovia'' is Polish brand of vodka Vodka ( pl, wódka , russian: водка , sv, vodka ) ...

. Their offers were refused, but finally, at the beginning of 1939, he decided to move to Fablok Chrzanów, another A-Class team, from the

Kraków Kraków (), or Cracow, is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city dates back to the seventh century. Kraków was the official capital of Poland until 1596 ...

region. In 1939 his team won Kraków’s qualifiers, which allowed it to play in inter-regional games for promotion to the Polish Soccer Division. On the way, however, Fablok lost to

. Cyganek, who was making good money with Fablok, was feeling good there, improving his play virtually every day. After a Kraków - Upper Silesia 4-1 game (mid-1939) his class was noticed by

Józef Kałuża Józef Ignacy Kałuża (11 February 1896 – 11 October 1944) was a Polish footballer and later coach, was one of the legends of Polish sports. Club career Kałuża was one of the most experienced forward players of 1920s Poland. His whole car ...

, who called him to the National Team.

Lone game for the Poland national team

On 27 August 1939 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 ...

Poland faced

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...

. Cyganek was among the starters, sidelining

Gerard Wodarz Gerard Wodarz (10 August 1913 – 8 November 1982) was one of the best football players of interwar Poland. He was a multiple champion of the country (representing Ruch Wielkie Hajduki, which in January 1939 became Ruch Chorzów) and also played ...

, one of the best left wingers in Poland. The game vs. Hungary was a big success for the Poles, as they beat the

1938 World Cup The 1938 FIFA World Cup was the third edition of the World Cup, the quadrennial international football championship for senior men's national teams and was held in France from 4 June until 19 June 1938. Italy defended its title in the final, beat ...

runners-up 4-2. Apart from

Ernest Wilimowski Ernest Otton Wilimowski (, born Ernst Otto Prandella; 23 June 1916 – 30 August 1997), nicknamed "Ezi", was a footballer who played as a forward. He ranks among the best goalscorers in the history of both the Poland national team and Polish c ...

Leonard Piątek Leonard Franciszek Piątek (born Leonard Franz Piontek, 3 October 1913 – 1 July 1967) was a Polish footballer who played as a forward in the interwar period. In the spring of 1937 he changed his name to Leonard Franciszek Piątek (a Polonize ...

and

Ewald Dytko Edward Jan (or Ewald Oskar) Dytko (18 October 1914 – 13 June 1993) was a Polish football player, who, when his home country became Poland by Treaty of Versailles represented the no longer existing team of Dąb Katowice, also in 1935-39 he played ...

, Cyganek, a debutant, was regarded as the best player on the field. Chrzanów’s player was hoping for more such games and looking forward to the 1940 Olympic Games in

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

, but his plans were brutally thwarted on 1 September, when with the

German attack on Poland The invasion of Poland (1 September – 6 October 1939) was a joint attack on the Republic of Poland by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union which marked the beginning of World War II. The German invasion began on 1 September 1939, one week aft ...

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

began.

German occupation

In late autumn 1939 Germans decided to reopen soccer games in occupied Upper Silesia. Cyganek, who in the meantime had returned to Wirek, started playing for the German-sponsored team Winter Sport-Verein Antonienhutte (formerly Wawel Wirek). He supposedly lost none of his class, as was noticed by Sepp Herberger, manager of the Germany national team. However, the player was soon kicked out by Herberger, because he continued to speak Polish.

End of career

In early 1945, after the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and, after ...

poured into Upper Silesia, Cyganek started to organize soccer games under new, Communist authorities. Soon afterwards Fablok’s officials got in touch with him, so he returned to Chrzanów. He spent several years there, finishing his career in 1955 as a defender of Otmęt Krapkowice. Afterwards, he became a coach of several teams such as Pogoń Zabrze,

Urania Ruda Śląska Urania ( ; grc, , Ouranía; modern Greek shortened name ''Ránia''; meaning "heavenly" or "of heaven") was, in Greek mythology, the muse of astronomy, and in later times, of Christian poetry. Urania is the goddess of astronomy and stars, he ...

and Wawel Wirek. Cyganek died in 1995 in Wirek.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cyganek, Pawel 1913 births 1995 deaths Polish men's footballers Poland men's international footballers Footballers from Ruda Śląska Sportspeople from the Province of Silesia Men's association football forwards

Lone game for the Poland national team

German occupation

End of career

See also

References