Józef Wandzik (born 13 August 1963) 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 ...

who played as a

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

Born in

Tarnowskie Góry Tarnowskie Góry (German: ''Tarnowitz''; szl, Tarnowske Gōry) is a town in Silesia, southern Poland, located in the Silesian Highlands near Katowice. On the south it borders the Upper Silesian Metropolitan Union, a megalopolis, the greater Si ...

, Wandzik began his career at Rodlo Gorniki, before moving to Ruch Chorzów. After a couple of years playing there, he was transferred to rival club

Górnik Zabrze Górnik Zabrze Spółka Akcyjna, commonly referred to as Górnik Zabrze S.A. or simply Górnik Zabrze (), is a Polish football club from Zabrze. Górnik is one of the most successful Polish football clubs in history, winning the second-most Po ...

. With Górnik Zabrze, he went on to win the Polish League in 1985-1988 and came third in 1989. His reliability earned him a transfer to Greek club Panathinaikos in the summer of 1990. With Panathinaikos, he achieved much success, reaching the semi-final of the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competi ...

in 1995, losing only to

Ajax Ajax may refer to: Greek mythology and tragedy * Ajax the Great, a Greek mythological hero, son of King Telamon and Periboea * Ajax the Lesser, a Greek mythological hero, son of Oileus, the king of Locris * ''Ajax'' (play), by the ancient Gree ...

in the second game. He also went ahead and won the Greek League in 1991, 1995 and 1996, the Greek Cup in 1991, 1993, 1994 and 1995, the Greek League and the Greek Supercup in 1993 and 1995. At the same time, Wandzik was unbeaten for 906 and 988 minutes, setting the third and fourth records in Greece. His performances have been memorable to the fans and he has earned the nickname of "Vouno" (translation "mountain"), a nickname he has earned throughout the years for his tremendous presence in the goal. After almost a decade at Panathinaikos, he had season-long stints at Apollon Smyrnis and Athinaikos, before ending his career in 2001. He was awarded by the Greek Football Federation a Lifetime Achievement Award for his dedication and service to Greek Football. He has been considered by many as the greatest foreign goalkeeper of all times in Greece.

International career

Wandzik started his international career in the Polish under-18 team with which he reached the finals of the 1981 World Cup. He then went to achieve third place at the Under-20 World Cup with Poland. He moved to the first national team in December 1985 and was the number one pick for the next decade. He won 52 caps for the Poland national team, the first coming on 9 December 1985 against

Tunisia ) , image_map = Tunisia location (orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = Location of Tunisia in northern Africa , image_map2 = , capital = Tunis , largest_city = capital , ...

, and the last on 25 April 1995 against

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

. He has set the record for the Polish national team for no lost goals in 25 games, beating the record set by the legendary

Jan Tomaszewski Jan Tomaszewski (Polish pronunciation: ; born 9 January 1948) is a Polish former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper in the 1970s. He kept goal for the Poland national teams that came third at the 1974 World Cup, where he was na ...

. Despite his prowess, he only represented Poland at one major tournament, the 1986 FIFA World Cup where he was third-choice behind

Józef Młynarczyk Józef Młynarczyk (born 20 September 1953) is a Polish former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. After representing three clubs in his homeland he played out the remainder of his career in France and Portugal, winning seven ma ...

and

Jacek Kazimierski Jacek Kazimierski (born 17 August 1959 in Warsaw) is a Polish former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He began his career in Agrykola Warsaw and later played for Legia Warsaw, Olympiacos and K.A.A. Gent. He won the Polish ...

, and was unable to lead Poland to another tournament since.

International

Managerial career

After his retirement in 2001, Wandzik worked as a goalkeeping coach for Kallithea F.C. but has moved to being a coach for younger talents in different academies.

Honours

Panathinaikos *

Greek Championship The Super League Greece 1 ( el, Ελληνική Σούπερ Λιγκ 1), or Super League 1, is the highest professional association football league in Greece. The league was formed on 16 July 2006 and replaced ''Alpha Ethniki'' at the top of ...

1990–91 Year 199 ( CXCIX) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was sometimes known as year 952 '' Ab urbe condita''. The denomination 199 for this year has been used since t ...

, 1994–95, 1995–96 *

Greek Cup The Greek Football Cup ( el, Κύπελλο Ελλάδος Ποδοσφαίρου), commonly known as the Greek Cup or Kypello Elladas is a Greek football competition, run by the Hellenic Football Federation. The Greek Cup is the second most ...

1992–93 Year 199 ( CXCIX) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was sometimes known as year 952 '' Ab urbe condita''. The denomination 199 for this year has been used since t ...

, 1993–94, 1994–95, *

Greek Super Cup The Greek Super Cup ( el, Σούπερ Καπ Ελλάδος), officially known as the Cup of Friendship and Solidarity ( el, Κύπελλο Φιλίας και Αλληλεγγύης) was a Greek association football one-match competition which w ...

: 1988, 1993

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wandzik, Jozef 1963 births Living people People from Tarnowskie Góry Sportspeople from Silesian Voivodeship Polish footballers Association football goalkeepers Poland international footballers Poland youth international footballers 1986 FIFA World Cup players Panathinaikos F.C. players Naturalized citizens of Greece Ruch Chorzów players Apollon Smyrnis F.C. players Kallithea F.C. players Athinaikos F.C. players Górnik Zabrze players Ekstraklasa players Super League Greece players Polish expatriate footballers Polish expatriate sportspeople in Greece Expatriate footballers in Greece