Zygmunt Paweł Maszczyk (born 3 May 1945, in

Siemianowice Śląskie Siemianowice Śląskie also known as Siemianowice (; german: Siemianowitz-Laurahütte; szl, Siymianowice) is a city in Upper Silesia in southern Poland, near Katowice, in its central district in the Upper Silesian Metropolitan Union - a metropoli ...

) 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 player. He played mostly for

Ruch Chorzów Ruch Chorzów () is a Polish association football club based in Chorzów, Upper Silesia. It is one of the most successful football teams in Poland: fourteen-time national champions, and three-time winners of the Polish Cup. Currently the team play ...

. He played for the Poland national team (36 matches/0 goals) and was a participant at the

1974 FIFA World Cup The 1974 FIFA World Cup was the tenth FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial 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 first time that the ...

, where Poland won the bronze medal, at the

1972 Summer Olympics The 1972 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XX Olympiad () and commonly known as Munich 1972 (german: München 1972), was an international multi-sport event held in Munich, West Germany, from 26 August to 11 September 1972. ...

, where Poland won the gold medal and at the

1976 Summer Olympics Events January * January 3 – 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 11 – The 1976 Phi ...

, where Poland won the silver medal.

Details

Early in his career (1955–1962), Maszczyk played in local club in

. He moved to the well-renowned Ruch Chorzów in 1963 and played for Ruch till 1976 in 310 matches. He was instrumental in Ruch becoming three time national champion (1968, 1974, 1975) and winning the Polish Cup (1974). During his career, Maszczyk was perhaps the most popular player of Ruch. He was well regarded for his flawless technique, exceptional work ethic, tirelessness, and quietness and aversion to media. As an example of his style, Maszczyk was acclaimed as obviously moving the most in the field of all the players of the Poland national team that won the medal in the 1974 World Cup. Fans called him "Zyga" (a Silesian

diminutive A diminutive is a root word that has been modified to convey a slighter degree of its root meaning, either to convey the smallness of the object or quality named, or to convey a sense of intimacy or endearment. A (abbreviated ) is a word-formati ...

for Zygmunt). Later, Maszczyk moved to Germany, where he left the sports career. By 1981, he lived and work in

Lüdenscheid Lüdenscheid () is a city in the Märkischer Kreis district, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located in the Sauerland region. Geography Lüdenscheid is located on the saddle of the watershed between the Lenne and Volme rivers which b ...

References

*
Polish Olympic Committee entry
*
Ruch Chorzów profile
1945 births Living people Polish footballers Polish expatriate footballers Poland international footballers Ruch Chorzów players Valenciennes FC players Ligue 1 players Expatriate footballers in France Polish expatriate sportspeople in France 1974 FIFA World Cup players Footballers at the 1972 Summer Olympics Footballers at the 1976 Summer Olympics Olympic footballers of Poland Olympic gold medalists for Poland Olympic silver medalists for Poland People from Siemianowice Śląskie Ekstraklasa players Olympic medalists in football Sportspeople from Silesian Voivodeship Medalists at the 1976 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1972 Summer Olympics Association football midfielders {{Poland-Olympic-medalist-stub