Rafał Grzelak (; born 24 June 1982) is a Polish professional footballer who plays as a

left winger A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

for KP Starogard Gdański.

Career

Born in

Łódź Łódź, also rendered in English as Lodz, is a city in central Poland and a former industrial centre. It is the capital of Łódź Voivodeship, and is located approximately south-west of Warsaw. The city's coat of arms is an example of cant ...

, Grzelak made his

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 ...

debut on 22 May 1999 for

ŁKS Łódź ŁKS Łódź (''Łódzki Klub Sportowy Łódź''; ) is a Polish sports club based in Łódź. They are best known for their football club but are represented in many sports such as basketball, volleyball, tennis, athletics and in the past ice ...

against

Wisła Kraków Towarzystwo Sportowe Wisła Kraków Spółka Akcyjna, commonly referred to as Wisła Kraków (), is a Polish professional football club based in Kraków. It currently competes in the I liga, the second level of Polish football league system. ...

. He spent the 2006–07 season on loan at Boavista from Pogon Szczecin. In June 2007, he signed a three-year deal with the Portuguese club. He transferred to Greek side

Skoda Xanthi Xanthi Football Club ( el, Α.Ο. Ξάνθη Π.Α.Ε.) is a Greek professional football club based in Xanthi, Western Thrace and plays at Xanthi FC Arena. The club resigned from the Super League 2 due to financial issues. Founded in 1967, Xa ...

in January 2008. On 30 June 2009, it was reported that Steaua București have signed the Polish midfielder from

. On 23 July 2009, he scored his first goal for Steaua București in a

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. ...

match against

Újpest FC Újpest Football Club () is a Hungarian professional football club, based in Újpest, Budapest, that competes in Nemzeti Bajnokság I. Formed in 1885, Újpest reached the first division of the Hungarian League in 1905 and has been relegat ...

; he scored the second goal in the 2–1 victory. On 2 August 2009, Grzelak played his first

Liga I The Liga I (; ''First League''), also spelled as Liga 1, is a Romanian professional league for men's association football clubs. Currently Sponsor (commercial), sponsored by betting company Superbet, it is officially known as the SuperLiga. It ...

match in Steaua's shirt against Ceahlăul Piatra Neamţ, Steaua won away with 2–0. In January 2010, Grzelak was demoted to the B squad. In August 2011, he joined Ruch Chorzów on a one-year contract. Grzela joined kKP Starogard Gdański in July 2018.Rafał Grzelak w KP Starogard Gdański
90minut.pl, 21 July 2019

Career statistics

Club

Honours

Club

Lech Poznan *

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. ...

: 2003–04

International

Poland * U-18 European Champion: 2001

References

External links

Rafał Grzelak's profile at SteauaFC.com
* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Grzelak, Rafal 1982 births Living people Footballers from Łódź Association football midfielders Polish footballers Poland international footballers MSV Duisburg players Widzew Łódź players ŁKS Łódź players Arka Gdynia players Ruch Chorzów players Flota Świnoujście players Chojniczanka Chojnice players Boavista F.C. players Xanthi F.C. players FC Steaua București players FC Steaua II București players Polish expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Germany Expatriate footballers in Greece Expatriate footballers in Romania Expatriate footballers in Portugal Polish expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Polish expatriate sportspeople in Romania Primeira Liga players Liga I players Super League Greece players Ekstraklasa players 2. Bundesliga players