Tomasz Wojciech Wałdoch (; born 10 May 1971) is a Polish former professional

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 lea ...

who played as a defender in Poland and Germany. Wałdoch had a ten-year international career with Poland. He often captained the side, including at the 2002 World Cup. Most of his club career was spent in German leagues with

VfL Bochum Verein für Leibesübungen Bochum 1848 Fußballgemeinschaft, commonly referred to as VfL Bochum (), is a Football in Germany, German professional association football club based in the city of Bochum, North Rhine-Westphalia. They currently play ...

and

Schalke 04 Fußballclub Gelsenkirchen-Schalke 04 e. V., commonly known as Schalke 04 (), and abbreviated as S04 (), is a professional sports club from the Schalke district of Gelsenkirchen, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is best known for its football team, w ...

Club career

Wałdoch played for

Górnik Zabrze Górnik Zabrze Spółka Akcyjna, commonly referred to as Górnik Zabrze S.A. or simply Górnik Zabrze (), is a Polish association football, football club from Zabrze. Górnik is one of the most successful Polish football clubs in history, winning ...

and

Jagiellonia Białystok Jagiellonia Białystok () is a Polish professional football club based in Białystok that plays in the Ekstraklasa, the top level of Polish football. The club was founded in 1920 by soldiers in the 42nd Infantry Regiment Reserve Battalion in Bi ...

International career

Wałdoch played for the Poland national team, for a total of 74 caps. He was a participant at the

1992 Summer Olympics The 1992 Summer Olympics (, ), officially the Games of the XXV Olympiad (, ) and officially branded as Barcelona '92, were an international multi-sport event held from 25 July to 9 August 1992 in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. Beginning in 1994 ...

, where Poland won the silver medal. He was the captain of the Polish team for 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 ...

Coaching career

On 1 July 2006, Wałdoch was named as the assistant coach of the

FC Schalke 04 Fußballclub Gelsenkirchen-Schalke 04 e. V., commonly known as Schalke 04 (), and abbreviated as S04 (), is a professional sports club from the Schalke district of Gelsenkirchen, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is best known for its football team, ...

U17 team. From 15 April 2008 until 30 June 2008, he was the assistant coach at Schalke 04 II. On 11 November 2009, it was announced that he would become the temporary assistant coach of Poland national team, assisting

Franciszek Smuda Franciszek Smuda (; 22 June 1948 – 18 August 2024) was a Polish football player and manager. As a player, he spent his career playing for clubs in Poland, the United States and Germany. In 1983, he turned to coaching, becoming the manager of ...

. He was later replaced in the role by his former teammate Jacek Zielinski. On 20 April 2010, he was named the new

sporting director A sporting director, or director of sport, is an executive management position in a sports club. The role is well known as a manager role for European football clubs, which are sometime also "sports clubs", offering many types of sports. The ...

of his first professional club

. He left later that year, in November. He went on to be coach of the Schalke 04 U17 team from July 2011 to June 2012. From July 2012 to June 2014, he was the coach of the Schalke 04 Jugend team. Currently, he is the assistant coach of the Schalke 04 II team for the second time, serving under Jürgen Luginger.

Personal life

Wałdoch holds German citizenship. He is married with four children – two sons and two daughters. His son Kamil (born 4 July 1992) currently plays in the German fourth-tier for club

FC Kray The FC Kray is a German football club from the Kray suburb of Essen, North Rhine-Westphalia. The club's greatest success has been to earn promotion to the tier four Regionalliga West in 2012, and again in 2014. History FC Kray was formed in 1 ...

, situated in

Essen Essen () is the central and, after Dortmund, second-largest city of the Ruhr, the largest urban area in Germany. Its population of makes it the fourth-largest city of North Rhine-Westphalia after Cologne, Düsseldorf and Dortmund, as well as ...

Career statistics

International

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

Honours

VfL Bochum * 2. Bundesliga: 1995–96 Schalke 04 *

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany and the highest level of the German football league system. The Bundesliga comprises 18 teams ...

: runner-up 2000–01 *

DFB-Pokal The DFB-Pokal (), also known as the German Cup in English language, English, is a German knockout Association football, football cup competition held annually by the German Football Association (DFB). Sixty-four teams participate in the competiti ...

: 2000–01, 2001–02 *

DFB-Ligapokal The DFL-Ligapokal (, officially Premiere Ligapokal , previously DFB-Ligapokal ) or the ''German League Cup'' was a German association football, football competition that took place before the start of the Bundesliga season, featuring the top five t ...

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

; runner-up

2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...

2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...

UEFA Intertoto Cup The UEFA Intertoto Cup (from , "between" and , " betting pool"),Most precisely, from ( football pool); cf. originally called the International Football Cup, was a summer football competition between European clubs. The competition was dis ...

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

Poland Olympic *

Olympic Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece bet ...

silver medal:

1992 1992 was designated as International Space Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 – Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt replaces Javier Pérez de Cuéllar of Peru as United Nations Secretary-General. * January 6 ** The Republ ...

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Waldoch, Tomasz Living people 1971 births Footballers from Gdańsk Polish men's footballers Men's association football defenders Poland men's international footballers 2002 FIFA World Cup players Olympic medalists in football Medalists at the 1992 Summer Olympics Footballers at the 1992 Summer Olympics Olympic footballers for Poland Olympic silver medalists for Poland Ekstraklasa players I liga players Bundesliga players Górnik Zabrze players VfL Bochum players FC Schalke 04 players Jagiellonia Białystok players Polish expatriate men's footballers Polish expatriate sportspeople in Germany Expatriate men's footballers in Germany 20th-century Polish sportsmen