Tomasz Radzinski (born 14 December 1973) is a former professional

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 ...

player who played as a striker and winger. He featured for clubs including

North York Rockets The North York Rockets were a professional soccer team based in North York, Toronto, Ontario that competed in the original Canadian Soccer League. They were one of four teams to participate in every season of the CSL. Upon the demise of the CSL, ...

in Canada,

Germinal Ekeren Koninklijke Beerschot Antwerpen Club (), simply known as Beerschot AC, was a Belgian football club based in southern Antwerp. Beerschot played in the Belgian Pro League from 1999–2000 (as Germinal Beerschot) until 2012–13, when they were r ...

Anderlecht Anderlecht (, ) is one of the 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium. Located in the south-western part of the region, it is bordered by the City of Brussels, Forest, Molenbeek-Saint-Jean, and Saint-Gilles, as well as the ...

(where he won the national championship twice), Lierse and

Waasland-Beveren Sportkring Beveren is a professional Belgian association football club located in the municipality of Beveren, East Flanders. They play in the Belgian First Division B. History The club was founded in 1936 as Red Star and registered to an amat ...

in Belgium, Everton and

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea. The area faces Wandsworth ...

in England and

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 Greece. Born in Poland, he represented

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

at international level having moved there as a teenager, receiving 46 full

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Java ...

between 1995 and 2009.

Club career

Prior to his moving to Canada, Radziński began his playing career as a youth with Cuiavia Inowrocław in his native Poland, and Germany's

VfL Osnabrück VfL Osnabrück is a German multi-sport club in Osnabrück, Lower Saxony. It currently fields teams in basketball, gymnastics, swimming, table tennis, and tennis but is by far best known for its football section. History Foundation to WW2 The cl ...

. He joined the

of the

Canadian Soccer League The Canadian Soccer League (CSL; french: Ligue canadienne de soccer — LCS) is a semi-professional league for Canadian soccer clubs primarily located in the province of Ontario, and claims the history of the Canadian National Soccer League (C ...

in 1990 and remained with the club through the league's demise in 1992 to the club's last year, played in the

National Soccer League The National Soccer League (NSL) was the top-level soccer league in Australia, run by Soccer Australia and later the Australian Soccer Association. The NSL, the A-League's predecessor, spanned 28 seasons from its inception in 1977 until its d ...

(NSL), in 1993. He played in the summer of 1994 with the St. Catharines Wolves (of the same league which however was by then renamed to the Canadian National Soccer League). Radziński returned to Europe, joining

in Belgium in 1994. From there he eventually signed for Belgian giants

for whom he scored 57 goals in 90 appearances – including five

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 ...

strikes in his last season with the Belgian champions – before moving to Everton for around £4.5 million, the highest transfer fee paid for a Canadian up to that time. At Everton, Radziński scored 25 times in 91 Premiership outings before requesting a transfer, eventually securing a three-year deal with

Fulham F.C. Fulham Football Club is an English professional football club based in Fulham, London, which compete in the . They have played home games at Craven Cottage since 1896, other than a two-year period spent at Loftus Road whilst Craven Cottage unde ...

worth £1.75 million. Radzinski wasn't as prolific at Fulham as he was in his previous side, but won over the fans with several crucial goals. Radzinski was released at the end of the 2006–07 season by new manager

Lawrie Sanchez Lawrence Philip Sanchez (born 22 October 1959) is a Northern Irish football manager and former international footballer. The defining moment of his playing career came in the 1988 FA Cup Final, when he scored the winning goal for Wimbledon a ...

, totalling 17 goals in 117 appearances. On 28 August 2007, he signed for Greek team

, on a free transfer. One year later, on 30 August 2008, he signed a one-year contract for Belgian Second Division club Lierse, although his previous contract was valid until 2010. Lierse first had their eye on

Peter Utaka Peter Maduabuchi Utaka (born 12 February 1984) is a Nigerian professional footballer who plays as a forward for Ventforet Kofu. He is the younger brother of fellow professional footballer John Utaka. Club career Early career Born in Enugu, Ni ...

, but when he transferred to

Odense Odense ( , , ) is the third largest city in Denmark (behind Copenhagen and Aarhus) and the largest city on the island of Funen. As of 1 January 2022, the city proper had a population of 180,863 while Odense Municipality had a population of 20 ...

, they elected to sign Radzinski. Radzinski had disclosed to the press his belief that members of Skoda Xanthi had been involved in

match fixing In organized sports, match fixing is the act of playing or officiating a match with the intention of achieving a pre-determined result, violating the rules of the game and often the law. There are many reasons why match fixing might take place, ...

and was seeking a transfer. On 29 January 2012, Belgian Second Division side

announced they had signed Radzinski on a short-term deal until the end of the 2011–12 season with an option for an additional year.

International career

Radzinski made his debut for the Canadian national team in a June 1995 friendly match against

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

. He earned a total of 46 caps, scoring 10 goals making him tied 9th with

Paul Peschisolido Paolo Pasquale Peschisolido (born 25 May 1971), commonly known as Paul Peschisolido, is a Canadian soccer manager and former player. Peschisolido was manager of English League Two club Burton Albion from May 2009 until March 2012. A forward, Pes ...

in all-time scoring for Canada. Tomasz Radzinski

In October 1999, Radzinski had been called up to the Canada national team by coach

Holger Osieck Holger Osieck (born 31 August 1948) is a German football manager who last managed the Australia national team. Prior to the Australian role, he most recently managed J. League club Urawa Red Diamonds, where he won the 2007 AFC Champions League ...

, he promised to attend, failed to turn up and later refused to be interviewed about it. The

Canadian Soccer Association The Canadian Soccer Association (Canada Soccer) is the governing body of soccer in Canada. It is a national organization that oversees the Canadian men's and women's national teams for international play, as well as the respective junior sides ( ...

approached

FIFA FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...

to have Radzinski prevented from playing for Anderlecht as a result. Kevan Pipe, the head of the CSA called Radzinski's actions "an insult to his teammates, his coach and the country". In October 2001, he announced that he'd like to play for Canada again as they had a friendly against European opponents, Malta. He has represented Canada in 19

FIFA World Cup qualification The FIFA World Cup qualification is a competitive match that a national association football team takes in order to qualify for one of the available berths at the final tournament of the (men's) FIFA World Cup. Qualifying tournaments are hel ...

matches. in three

campaigns ( 1998,

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

and

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

) He also holds a Belgian passport through his marriage.

Post-playing career

Radzinski was the technical director of Belgian football club

Lierse S.K. Koninklijke Lierse Sportkring (), often simply known as Lierse, was a Belgian professional football club from the city of Lier in the Antwerp province. Lierse have won four championship titles and two Belgian Cups. Lierse was one of the six Be ...

from 2013 to 2015.

Career statistics

International

:Source:

International goals

:''Scores and results list Canada's goal tally first.''

Honours

Club

Germinal Ekeren *

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 ...

: 1996–97 Belgian Cup, 1996–97 Anderlecht *

Belgian First Division 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 season and reduced to 16 team ...

: 1999–2000, 2000–01 *

Belgian Super Cup The Belgian Super Cup ( nl, Belgische Supercup, ; french: Supercoupe de Belgique; german: Belgischer Fußball-Super Cup), ''Pro League Supercup'', is a Belgian club competition played as a single match between the Belgian First Division A champio ...

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

Lierse * Belgian Second Division: 2009–10 Individual *

Belgian First Division Top Scorers The following is the list of Belgian Pro League top scorers by season, since the inception of the Belgian First Division A in 1895 until the present day. Arthur Ceuleers and Jules Van Craen hold the record for most goals in a single season at 41. ...

: 2000–01

References

External links

* * * / Canada Soccer Hall of Fame
ESPN Soccernet profile
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Radzinski, Tomasz 1973 births Living people Footballers from Poznań Naturalized citizens of Canada Naturalised citizens of Belgium Belgian people of Canadian descent Belgian people of Polish descent Association football forwards Soccer people from Ontario Canadian soccer players Canada men's under-23 international soccer players Canada men's international soccer players Polish footballers Belgian footballers North York Rockets players St. Catharines Roma Wolves players Beerschot A.C. players R.S.C. Anderlecht players Everton F.C. players Fulham F.C. players Xanthi F.C. players Lierse S.K. players S.K. Beveren players Canadian Soccer League (1987–1992) players Belgian First Division A players Belgian First Division B players Premier League players Super League Greece players Canadian expatriate soccer players Canadian expatriate sportspeople in Greece Polish emigrants to Canada Polish expatriate footballers Polish expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Polish expatriate sportspeople in England Polish expatriate sportspeople in Greece Belgian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Belgium Expatriate footballers in England Expatriate footballers in Greece 1996 CONCACAF Gold Cup players Canadian National Soccer League players Canadian expatriate sportspeople in England