Wojciech Kowalewski (; born 11 May 1977), is a retired

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken *Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin screenwr ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

Club career

Kowalewski made his top-flight debut with

Wigry Suwałki Wigry Suwałki is a Polish football club based in Suwałki, Podlaskie Voivodeship. In the 2022–23 season, they will compete in IV liga, having withdrawn from II liga II liga (Druga Liga, ), currently named eWinner II liga due to sponsorsh ...

during the 1996–97 season, but it was not until 2001–02, after a loan spell with second division side Dyskobolia Grodzisk, that he finally established himself with Legia. Midway through the season he moved to

FC Shakhtar Donetsk Football Club Shakhtar Donetsk ( uk, Футбольний клуб «Шахтар» Донецьк , short nickname "miners") is a Ukrainian professional football club from the city of Donetsk. In 2014, due to the War in Donbass, the club was ...

and only conceded once in nine league games as Shakhtar stormed to the Ukrainian title for the first time. After initially moving to

Spartak Moscow Spartak Moscow may refer to the following teams based or formerly based in Moscow, Russia: * FC Spartak Moscow, an association football club * HC Spartak Moscow, a professional ice hockey team * Spartak GM Moscow, a semi-professional rugby club * WB ...

on loan in June 2003, Kowalewski signed a five-year contract with Spartak on 7 November 2003. In late 2007, having lost his place to Stipe Pletikosa, he requested to leave the club. In December 2007 Spartak agreed to terminate his contract. He had not played for Spartak in over a year. On 17 January 2008 it was announced that Kowalewski had started a trial period with

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

club

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of Letter (alphabet), letters, symbols, etc., especially by Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process invo ...

. On 3 February 2008, Kowalewski signed a three-year deal with Polish club

Korona Kielce Korona Kielce, , (Korona – ''Crown'' – symbol of club and city, Kielce – name of city where club is based) is a Polish football club, which will compete in Ekstraklasa in the 2022–23 Ekstraklasa, 2022–23 season. In the year ...

. Kowalewski has a reputation of being an excellent penalty-saver, once breaking FC Torpedo Moskva's

Vladimir Leonchenko Vladimir Valeryevich Leonchenko (russian: Владимир Валерьевич Леонченко; born 11 April 1972) is a Russian professional football executive and a former player. He works as the general director (CEO) of FC Lokomotiv Mosco ...

's streak of 13 successful spot-kicks. On 17 January 2010

Iraklis Thessaloniki F.C. Gymnastic Club Iraklis Thessaloniki Football Club ( el, Γυμναστικός Σύλλογος Ηρακλής Θεσσαλονίκης) is a Greek professional football club based in the city of Thessaloniki, Macedonia, Greece. As of 2022, t ...

released experienced Polish goalkeeper. The player was tracked by

Legia Warsaw Legia Warszawa (), commonly referred to as Legia Warsaw or simply Legia, is a professional football club based in Warsaw, Poland. Legia is the most successful Polish football club in history, winning record 15 Ekstraklasa champions titles, a ...

, but joined the

Russian Premier League The Russian Premier League (RPL; russian: Российская премьер-лига; РПЛ), also written as Russian Premier Liga, is the top division professional association football league in Russia. It was established at the end of 2001 ...

newcomers Sibir Novosibirsk instead.

International career

Kowalewski made his Poland debut in February 2002, but made only a handful of appearances before being recalled to the side at the start of

Euro 2008 The 2008 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2008 or simply Euro 2008, was the 13th UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial football tournament contested by the member nations of UEFA (the Union of European ...

qualifying. He was replaced by

Artur Boruc Artur Boruc (; born 20 February 1980) is a Polish former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He began his career in the Polish third division with hometown club Pogoń Siedlce. He joined Ekstraklasa team Legia Warsaw in 1999 a ...

after picking up a second yellow against Portugal on 11 October 2006. Poland won that game 2–1. Kowalewski replaced

Tomasz Kuszczak Tomasz Mirosław Kuszczak (; born 20 March 1982) is a Polish former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Born in Krosno Odrzańskie, Kuszczak previously played for Śląsk Wrocław in Poland, as well as for the German clubs KFC U ...

in Poland's Euro 2008 squad following the Manchester United goalkeeper's back injury. In September 2009 he was recalled to the squad for the

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

Qualifiers against the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

and

Slovakia Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the s ...

by coach Stefan Majewski. He was the starter against the Czechs as Poland slipped to a 2–0 defeat on 10 October 2009 which killed off any lingering hopes of qualifying for the tournament finals.

International

Trivia

During

, Kowalewski had to re-use the UEFA ID card of his team-mate

Mariusz Lewandowski Mariusz Lewandowski (; born 18 May 1979) is a Polish football manager and a former player. He currently manages Polish Ekstraklasa side Radomiak Radom. He was mostly a central defender and could also play as a defensive midfielder. He spent th ...

to enter the

stadium A stadium ( : stadiums or stadia) is a place or venue for (mostly) outdoor sports, concerts, or other events and consists of a field or stage either partly or completely surrounded by a tiered structure designed to allow spectators to stand o ...

Klagenfurt Klagenfurt am WörtherseeLandesgesetzblatt 2008 vom 16. Jänner 2008, Stück 1, Nr. 1: ''Gesetz vom 25. Oktober 2007, mit dem die Kärntner Landesverfassung und das Klagenfurter Stadtrecht 1998 geändert werden.'/ref> (; ; sl, Celovec), usually ...

for the match against

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

as he did not obtain an accreditation pass due to an oversight by the Polish delegation.

References

External links

*
National team stats
on the website of the

Polish Football Association The Polish Football Association ( pl, Polski Związek Piłki Nożnej; PZPN) is the governing body of association football in Poland. It organizes the Polish football leagues (without the Ekstraklasa), the Polish Cup and the Polish national footb ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kowalewski, Wojciech 1977 births Living people Polish footballers Sportspeople from Białystok Legia Warsaw players Dyskobolia Grodzisk Wielkopolski players FC Shakhtar Donetsk players FC Spartak Moscow players Iraklis Thessaloniki F.C. players FC Sibir Novosibirsk players Arka Gdynia players Anorthosis Famagusta F.C. players Wigry Suwałki players Poland international footballers Association football goalkeepers UEFA Euro 2008 players Polish expatriate footballers Russian Premier League players Ekstraklasa players Super League Greece players Ukrainian Premier League players Cypriot First Division players Expatriate footballers in Ukraine Expatriate footballers in Cyprus Expatriate footballers in Russia Expatriate footballers in Greece Polish expatriate sportspeople in Ukraine Polish expatriate sportspeople in Cyprus Polish expatriate sportspeople in Russia Polish expatriate sportspeople in Greece