Wojciech Kowalczyk (born 14 April 1972) is a Polish retired

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 striker, currently working as a football expert. The bulk of his professional career was spent with Legia Warsaw and in

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

. Early into his international career, he helped the Polish national team win the silver medal at the

1992 Summer Olympics The 1992 Summer Olympics ( es, Juegos Olímpicos de Verano de 1992, ca, Jocs Olímpics d'estiu de 1992), officially known as the Games of the XXV Olympiad ( es, Juegos de la XXV Olimpiada, ca, Jocs de la XXV Olimpíada) and commonly known as ...

Club career

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 ...

, Kowalczyk played his youth football with local Olimpia and Polonez, joining country giants Legia Warsaw in 1990 at the age of 18. Almost from the very beginning, he was an automatic first-choice; in his weakest season, his first, he only appeared in 11

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 ...

games, but was crucial in helping oust

U.C. Sampdoria Unione Calcio Sampdoria, commonly referred to as Sampdoria (), is an Italian professional football club based in Genoa. The club was formed in 1946 from the merger of two existing sports clubs whose roots can be traced back to the 1890s, ...

in the quarter-finals of the

UEFA Cup Winners' Cup The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The cup was, chronologically, the second seasonal inter-European club competition organised by UEFA. The tourn ...

by scoring twice in

Genoa Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Italian region of Liguria and the sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of the 2011 Italian census, the Province of ...

for the 2–2 draw and qualification for the semifinals 3–2 on aggregate. After having started the 1994–95 campaign with Legia (five matches, three goals, another league title), Kowalczyk moved abroad and signed with

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known simply as Primera División in Spain, and as La Liga in English-speaking countries and officially as LaLiga Santander for sponsorship reasons, stylized as LaLiga, is the men' ...

side

Real Betis Real Betis Balompié, known as Real Betis () or just Betis, is a Spanish professional football club based in Seville in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded in 1907, it plays in La Liga. It holds home games at the Estadio Benito Vill ...

, but was never able to reproduce his previous form. He finished his five-year spell in Spain with

UD Las Palmas Unión Deportiva Las Palmas, S.A.D. is a Spanish football team based in Las Palmas, on the island of Gran Canaria in the autonomous community of Canary Islands. Founded on 22 August 1949, it plays in Segunda División, holding home games at t ...

in the

second division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

, where he also appeared sparingly. After almost one year out of football, Kowalczyk returned to his country and his main club, Legia. In late 2001 he changed countries again, joining

Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is ge ...

Anorthosis Famagusta FC Anorthosis Famagusta ( el, Ανόρθωση Αμμοχώστου, translit=Anorthosi Ammochostou), commonly known as Anorthosis in English or Anorthosi in Greek, is a Cypriot football club, part of the Anorthosis Famagusta multi-sport club fo ...

and netting a career-best 24 goals; after a nearly non-existent second season he finished his professional career in the same country, with

APOEL FC APOEL FC ( el, ΑΠΟΕΛ; short for Αθλητικός Ποδοσφαιρικός Όμιλος Ελλήνων Λευκωσίας, ''Athletikos Podosferikos Omilos Ellinon Lefkosias'', literally "Athletic Football Club of Greeks of Nicosia") ...

, retiring at 32 – afterwards, he would play in amateur football until 2019, with AZS Absolwent UW Warsaw and Weszło Warsaw.

International career

Kowalczyk gained 39

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 Ja ...

for

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 populou ...

, scoring 11 goals. His debut came at the age of 19 on 21 August 1991, against Sweden. His biggest international highlight was helping the Olympic squad win silver at the

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

. He did not score at all in the group stage, but eventually ranked third in the charts at four, three behind compatriot

Andrzej Juskowiak Andrzej Mieczysław Juskowiak (born 3 November 1970) is a former Polish football striker who played for the Polish national team. International career Nicknamed "Jusko", he was a participant at the 1992 Summer Olympics, where Poland won the sil ...

International goals

::''Scores and results table. Poland's goal tally first:''

Later career

Following his retirement, Kowalczyk became a football expert. He worked for the

Polsat Sport Polsat Sport () is a Polish sports channel owned by Polsat. It launched on 11 August 2000 and is available via satellite on Cyfrowy Polsat. Polsat Sport HD Polsat Sport HD is a sports channel owned by Polsat, which broadcasts in High Definit ...

TV station. Since 2018, he has been publishing columns for the Weszło internet portal. He is also a participant of the Weszło TV's "Liga Minus" program, dealing with the topics of

matches. He works for Kanał Sportowy. Together with the sports journalist Krzysztof Stanowski, he wrote the book "Kowal. Prawdziwa historia" (''Kowal. True story''). It had its re-edition in 2021.

Personal life

His brother, Artur Kowalczyk, was also the player until he finished his career with Grom Lipowo in the 2013–14 season.

Honours

Club

;Legia *

: 1993–94, 1994–95, 2001–02 *

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. ...

: 1993–94 *

Polish SuperCup The Polish Super Cup (, ) is an annually held match between the champions of the Ekstraklasa and the Polish Cup winners or, if the Ekstraklasa champions also win the Polish Cup, the Cup's runners-up. As of 2021, the Polish Super Cup has been ...

: 1994 ;Anorthosis *

Cypriot Cup The Cypriot Cup () is the main cup competition in Cypriot football, run by the Cyprus Football Association (CFA). It began in 1934, the same season with the Cypriot Championship. It is the second most important competition for Cypriot club team ...

: 2001–02 ;APOEL *

Cypriot First Division The Cypriot First Division ( el, Πρωτάθλημα Α΄ Κατηγορίας) is the top tier football league competition in Cyprus, run by the Cyprus Football Association. Since February 2016, it is sponsored by Cyta and is thus officially ...

: 2003–04

Country

* Summer Olympic Games: Silver medal 1992

Individual

: Top Scorer 2001–02

References

External links

* * *
Betisweb stats and bio

Poland stats at Eu-Football
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kowalczyk, Wojciech 1972 births Living people Footballers from Warsaw Polish footballers Association football forwards Ekstraklasa players Legia Warsaw players La Liga players Segunda División players Real Betis players UD Las Palmas players KTS Weszło Warsaw players Cypriot First Division players Anorthosis Famagusta F.C. players APOEL FC players Poland international footballers Olympic footballers of Poland Footballers at the 1992 Summer Olympics Olympic medalists in football Medalists at the 1992 Summer Olympics Olympic silver medalists for Poland Polish expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Spain Expatriate footballers in Cyprus Polish expatriate sportspeople in Spain