Jerzy Adolf Wostal (6 December 1914– 1991) was a Polish

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

player, one of the best forwards of interwar Poland. He was born in 1914 in Königshütte (later

Chorzów Chorzów ( ; ; german: link=no, Königshütte ; szl, Chorzōw) is a city in the Silesia region of southern Poland, near Katowice. Chorzów is one of the central cities of the Upper Silesian Metropolitan Union – a metropolis with a population ...

). In the late 1930s Wostal played for

AKS Chorzów AKS Chorzów is a sports club based in Chorzów, Poland. It is one of the earliest sports organizations in Upper Silesia and is still well-known nationally for its football and handball teams. The club also made its mark on the international stage: ...

. The best year in his career was 1937. His team then became vice-champions of Poland (after

Cracovia Cracovia is the Latin name for the Polish city of Kraków Kraków (), or Cracow, is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city dates back to the seventh cen ...

), and he was the top scorer of the

Polish Football League The Polish Football League ( pl, Polska Futbol Liga, shortly PFL) is an American football league in Poland. Founded in 2021 after merge of the Topliga and the LFA which have been split in 2017. The league is played under the newly formed Po ...

, with 12 goals. On the Polish National Team he played in 10 games, scoring 4 goals. Wostal’s debut took place on 6 September 1936, in

Riga Riga (; lv, Rīga , liv, Rīgõ) is the capital and largest city of Latvia and is home to 605,802 inhabitants which is a third of Latvia's population. The city lies on the Gulf of Riga at the mouth of the Daugava river where it meets the Ba ...

(

Latvia Latvia ( or ; lv, Latvija ; ltg, Latveja; liv, Leţmō), officially the Republic of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Republika, links=no, ltg, Latvejas Republika, links=no, liv, Leţmō Vabāmō, links=no), is a country in the Baltic region of ...

– Poland 3–3). He was also part of Poland's squad at 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 ...

, but he did not play in any matches. One of the best matches in his career occurred on 10 October 1937 in

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...

. In a

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 ...

qualifier Poland beat

Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...

4–0 and Wostal scored one of the goals. Unfortunately, due to injury, he was unable to take part in Poland’s legendary 1938’s World Cup match vs.

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

(5–6). Instead of him, coach/manager

Józef Kałuża Józef Ignacy Kałuża (11 February 1896 – 11 October 1944) was a Polish footballer and later coach, was one of the legends of Polish sports. Club career Kałuża was one of the most experienced forward players of 1920s Poland. His whole ca ...

fielded

Fryderyk Scherfke Friedrich Egon (Fritz) Scherfke, (; 7 September 1909 – 15 September 1983) was an ethnic German who became an interwar football midfield player for the Poland national football team. He is still one of the all time leading goalscorers of all t ...

. Wostal’s last game in the white-red jersey took place on 27 May 1939 in

Łódź Łódź, also rendered in English as Lodz, is a city in central Poland and a former industrial centre. It is the capital of Łódź Voivodeship, and is located approximately south-west of Warsaw. The city's coat of arms is an example of canti ...

(Poland –

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

3–3). Little is known about Wostal's whereabouts during and after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. He signed the German Nationality List (

Volksliste The Deutsche Volksliste (German People's List), a Nazi Party institution, aimed to classify inhabitants of Nazi-occupied territories (1939-1945) into categories of desirability according to criteria systematised by ''Reichsführer-SS'' Heinrich H ...

) and changed the name to Georg Wostal. Some time between 1940–1944 played in the team of

Vorwärts-Rasensport Gleiwitz Vorwärts-Rasensport Gleiwitz was a German association football club from the city of Gleiwitz, Upper Silesia, today Gliwice, Poland. __TOC__ History The team had its origins within the gymnastics club ''Turnverein Vorwärts Gleiwitz'' estab ...

(

Gliwice Gliwice (; german: Gleiwitz) is a city in Upper Silesia, in southern Poland. The city is located in the Silesian Highlands, on the Kłodnica river (a tributary of the Oder). It lies approximately 25 km west from Katowice, the regional cap ...

), which was one of the best sides of Upper Silesia in those years, winning the Silesian championship for several times. Then, after 1945, his fate is unknown other than he died in 1991.

References

1914 births 1991 deaths Polish footballers Poland international footballers Sportspeople from Chorzów People from the Province of Silesia Sportspeople from Silesian Voivodeship Association football forwards Volksdeutsche {{Poland-footy-forward-stub

See also

References