Władysław Szczepaniak (19 May 1910 – 6 May 1979) was a Polish

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 ...

player. A defender for his entire career, he played for Polonia Warsaw, where he was the captain. Szczepaniak was one of Polonia's symbols, also he played for the

Poland national football team The Poland national football team ( pl, Reprezentacja Polski w piłce nożnej) has represented Poland in men's international tournaments football competitions since their first match in 1921. The team is controlled by the Polish Football Associ ...

Football career

Szczepaniak debuted in the Polish Soccer League debut in 1928 and he played as a forward player. After a few years he moved to defense, becoming one of the pillars of Polonia's team as well as its captain. His debut for the Poland national football team occurred in 1930, during a game versus

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

. His career lasted for almost 20 years. His last game, in 1947, was also against Sweden. Szczepaniak had a toal of 34 caps for the national team, and in most matches was the captain. He participated in the

1936 Summer Olympics The 1936 Summer Olympics (German: ''Olympische Sommerspiele 1936''), officially known as the Games of the XI Olympiad (German: ''Spiele der XI. Olympiade'') and commonly known as Berlin 1936 or the Nazi Olympics, were an international multi-sp ...

, where Poland finished fourth. Also, he was captain in the

1938 FIFA World Cup The 1938 FIFA World Cup was the third edition of the World Cup, the quadrennial international football championship for senior men's national teams and was held in France from 4 June until 19 June 1938. Italy defended its title in the final, beat ...

game of Poland versus

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. The game was played on 5 June 1938 in

Strasbourg Strasbourg (, , ; german: Straßburg ; gsw, label=Bas Rhin Alsatian, Strossburi , gsw, label=Haut Rhin Alsatian, Strossburig ) is the prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est region of eastern France and the official seat of the Eu ...

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which Poland lost 5–6. During the Second World War, he took part in unofficial football championships, despite the fact that the German occupying forces had forbidden the Poles to organise football matches. Under his leadership, the Polonia underground team became the champion of the Warsaw district in 1942 and 1943.

Thomas Urban Thomas Urban (born 20 July 1954) is a German journalist and author of historical books. Education Urban was born Leipzig. His parents were German expellees from Breslau, the capital of the Prussian province of Silesia, which came under Polish ...

, "Football 'Only for Germans', in the Underground and in Auschwitz: Championships in Occupied Poland“, in ''European Football During the Second World War''. Ed. M. Herzog/F. Brändle. Oxford 2018, p. 373.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Szczepaniak, Wladyslaw 1910 births 1979 deaths Polish footballers Polonia Warsaw players Footballers at the 1936 Summer Olympics Poland international footballers Olympic footballers of Poland 1938 FIFA World Cup players Footballers from Warsaw People from Warsaw Governorate Polonia Warsaw managers Association football midfielders Association football defenders Polish football managers