Władysław Antoni Żmuda (; born 6 June 1954) 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 for

Śląsk Wrocław Wrocławski Klub Sportowy Śląsk Wrocław Spółka Akcyjna, commonly known as WKS Śląsk Wrocław (), is a Polish professional Association football, football club based in Wrocław that plays in , the second level of the Polish football leagu ...

Widzew Łódź RTS Widzew Łódź () is a Polish football (soccer), football club based in Łódź. The club was founded in 1910. Its official colours are red and white, hence their nicknames ''Czerwona Armia'' (Red Army) and ''Czerwono-biało-czerwoni'' (Red-wh ...

Hellas Verona Hellas Verona Football Club, commonly referred to as simply Hellas Verona (), is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football clubs in Italy, club based in Verona, Veneto, that currently plays in Serie A. The team won ...

New York Cosmos New York Cosmos may refer to * New York Cosmos (1970–1985), a team in the North American Soccer League (then the top-tier soccer league in the United States and Canada) * New York Cosmos (2010), a team playing since 2020 in the National Indepen ...

and

US Cremonese Unione Sportiva Cremonese, commonly referred to as Cremonese, is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football clubs in Italy, club based in Cremona, Lombardy, which plays in Serie A following their promotion from Serie ...

. He earned 91 caps for the Poland national team and is a four-time

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often called the World Cup, is an international association football competition among the senior List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams of the members of the FIFA, Fédération Internatio ...

participant. At the

1974 FIFA World Cup The 1974 FIFA World Cup was the 10th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial Association football, football tournament for men's senior national teams, and was played in West Germany (and West Berlin) between 13 June and 7 July. The tournament marked the ...

, where Poland claimed third place, he received the FIFA Young Player Award.

Club career

Żmuda was born in

Lublin Lublin is List of cities and towns in Poland, the ninth-largest city in Poland and the second-largest city of historical Lesser Poland. It is the capital and the centre of Lublin Voivodeship with a population of 336,339 (December 2021). Lublin i ...

. He spent six years learning his trade with his first club

Motor Lublin Motor Lublin () is a Polish professional football club based in Lublin. The club was founded in December 1950. Their nickname ''The Yellow, White and Blues'' reflects their official colours. They compete in the Ekstraklasa, the top tier of Polish ...

before finally spreading his wings in 1973 and switching to

Gwardia Warsaw WKS Gwardia Warszawa () was a Polish sports club based in Warsaw. The club was founded in 1948. The club was dissolved in 2018. Football It participated in the Polish 1st League from 1953 to 1960 (8 seasons), 1962–1966 (5 seasons), 1967–19 ...

, one of the Polish capital's clubs. The 19-year-old Żmuda was instrumental in Gwardia's

UEFA Cup The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

campaign of 1973–74 where they narrowly lost out to eventual winners

Feyenoord Feyenoord Rotterdam () is a Netherlands, Dutch professional association football, football club based in Rotterdam, which plays in the Eredivisie, the top tier in Dutch football league system, Dutch football. Founded as Wilhelmina in 1908, the ...

. Żmuda pursued his career in Poland with

and later

before Italian club

secured permission to sign him from Poland in 1982. After two injury-plagued seasons at Verona, Żmuda spent a brief spell with

before returning to Italy with

, playing two of his three seasons with the club in Serie B. Żmuda ended his playing career in 1988.

International career

Żmuda (left) playing for Poland in a match against the Netherlands, 1979 Żmuda played for the Poland national team, for which he earned 91 caps and scored 2 goals. He was a participant at four

s, the first in

1974 Major events in 1974 include the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis and the resignation of United States President Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal. In the Middle East, the aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War determined politics; ...

, where Poland reached third place. He received the FIFA Young Player Award at the tournament. He played a total of 21 matches at the World Cup finals, the third-most ever, tied with

Uwe Seeler Uwe Seeler (; 5 November 1936 – 21 July 2022) was a German Association football, footballer and football official. As a Striker (association football), striker, he was a prolific scorer for Hamburger SV and also made 72 appearances for the Ger ...

and

Diego Maradona Diego Armando Maradona Franco (30 October 196025 November 2020) was an Argentine professional association football, football player and manager. Widely regarded as one of the greatest players in the history of the sport, he was one of the two ...

and behind only

Lothar Matthäus Lothar Herbert Matthäus (; born 21 March 1961) is a German association football, football pundit and former professional player and manager. He captained Germany national football team, West Germany to victory in the 1990 FIFA World Cup and was ...

Paolo Maldini Paolo Cesare Maldini (; born 26 June 1968) is an Italian football executive and former professional footballer who played as a left-back or as a centre-back for AC Milan and the Italy national team. He is widely regarded as one of the greates ...

Miroslav Klose Miroslav Josef Klose (, ; born Mirosław Marian Klose; 9 June 1978) is a German professional Manager (association football), football manager and former Football player, player who currently serves as head coach of 1. FC Nürnberg. A Forward (as ...

and

Lionel Messi Lionel Andrés "Leo" Messi (; born 24 June 1987) is an Argentine professional Association football, footballer who plays as a forward (association football), forward for and Captain (association football), captains both Major League Soccer ...

. His four tournaments, in 1974, 1978, 1982 and 1986, place him fourth in the all-time rankings behind Messi,

Cristiano Ronaldo Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro (; born 5 February 1985) is a Portuguese professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Forward (association football), forward for and Captain (association football), captains both Saudi Pr ...

Antonio Carbajal Antonio Félix "Tota" Carbajal Rodríguez (; 7 June 1929 – 9 May 2023) was a Mexican professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He was also called ''"El Cinco Copas"'', in reference to his record of having played five World Cups. C ...

and Matthäus and level with legends of the game, such as

Pelé Edson Arantes do Nascimento (; 23 October 1940 – 29 December 2022), better known by his nickname Pelé (), was a Brazilian professional Association football, footballer who played as a Forward (association football), forward. Widely reg ...

, Maradona and

Gianni Rivera Giovanni "Gianni" Rivera (; born 18 August 1943) is an Italian politician and former association football, footballer who played as an attacking midfielder. Dubbed Italy's "Golden Boy" by the media, he played the majority of his club career wi ...

. He was also a participant at the

1976 Summer Olympics The 1976 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXI Olympiad () and officially branded as Montreal 1976 (), were an international multi-sport event held from July 17 to August 1, 1976, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Montreal ...

, where Poland won the silver medal.

Career statistics

International

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

Honours

Śląsk Wrocław *

Ekstraklasa (; meaning "Extra Class" in Polish), officially known as PKO Bank Polski Ekstraklasa due to its Sponsor (commercial), sponsorship by PKO Bank Polski, is a professional association football league in Poland and the highest level of the Polish foo ...

: 1976-77 *

Polish Cup The Polish Cup in Association football, football ( ) is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout football competition for Polish football club (association football), football clubs, held continuously since 1950, and is the second most i ...

: 1975–76 Widzew Łódź * Ekstraklasa: 1980–81, 1981–82 Poland *

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:

1976 Events January * January 2 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 18 – Full diplomatic ...

third place:

1982 Events January * January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00). * January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street Bridge in Washington, D.C. ...

Poland U18 *

UEFA European Under-18 Championship The UEFA European Under-19 Championship, or simply the Euro Under-19, is an annual football competition, contested by the European men's under-19 national teams of the UEFA member associations. Spain is the most successful team in this competit ...

third place:

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, ...

Individual *

FIFA World Cup Best Young Player Award At the end of each FIFA World Cup final tournament, several awards are presented to the players and teams who have distinguished themselves in various aspects of the game. Awards *There are currently five post-tournament awards from the FIFA T ...

: 1974 * Polish Newcomer of the Year: 1974 *

Polish Football Association The Polish Football Association ( PZPN) is the governing body of association football in Poland. It organizes the Polish football leagues (without the ), the national cups, and manages the men's and women's national teams. It also runs the nati ...

National Team of the Century: 1919–2019 *

Hall of Fame: 2022

Notes

References

External links

* *
NASL stats

Profile at Lega Calcio
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Zmuda, Wladyslaw 1954 births Living people Footballers from Lublin Polish men's footballers Olympic footballers for Poland Olympic silver medalists for Poland Olympic medalists in football Poland men's international footballers Poland men's youth international footballers Men's association football defenders Motor Lublin players Gwardia Warsaw players Śląsk Wrocław players Widzew Łódź players New York Cosmos (1970–1985) players Hellas Verona FC players US Cremonese players Ekstraklasa players I liga players North American Soccer League (1968–1984) players Serie A players Serie B players Polish expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Polish expatriate sportspeople in Italy Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States Polish expatriate sportspeople in the United States Medalists at the 1976 Summer Olympics Footballers at the 1976 Summer Olympics 1974 FIFA World Cup players 1978 FIFA World Cup players 1982 FIFA World Cup players 1986 FIFA World Cup players Polish football managers Altay S.K. managers Süper Lig managers Polish expatriate football managers Expatriate football managers in Italy Expatriate football managers in Turkey 20th-century Polish sportsmen