Michał Pazdan (, born 21 September 1987) is a Polish 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 le ...

who plays as a

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

for Ekstraklasa club Jagiellonia Białystok.

Club career

Pazdan began his football career at

Hutnik Kraków Hutnik Kraków (Polish pronunciation: ) is a Polish football club based in Kraków, Poland. History The club was founded in 1950. Hutnik have played seven seasons in the Polish Ekstraklasa (Polish first division). The team's greatest success is ...

. He gradually made his way up the ranks and became part of the main team in the 2003–04 season. In 2007, he joined Górnik Zabrze. He debuted in the Ekstraklasa on 14 September 2007 with Jagiellonia Białystok against Polonia Bytom. During that season he appeared 19 times for the club, 17 of those as a starter, and helped his team finish in 8th place that season. On 24 June 2015, Pazdan joined

Legia Warsaw Legia Warszawa (), commonly referred to as Legia Warsaw or simply Legia, is a professional football club based in Warsaw, Poland. Legia is the most successful Polish football club in history, winning record 15 Ekstraklasa champions titles, a ...

. On 29 January 2019, Pazdan signed two-year deal with Ankaragücü.

International career

Pazdan has earned 35 caps for the Poland national team. He made his debut on 15 December 2007 in a 1–0

friendly Friendly may refer to: Places * Friendly, West Yorkshire, a settlement in Calderdale, West Yorkshire, England * Friendly, Maryland, an unincorporated community in the United States * Friendly, Eugene, Oregon, a neighborhood in the United States * ...

win against

Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh, / , ), abbreviated BiH () or B&H, sometimes called Bosnia–Herzegovina and often known informally as Bosnia, is a country at the crossroads of south and southeast Europe, located in the Balkans. Bosnia and H ...

. Poland manager,

Leo Beenhakker Leo Beenhakker CM (; born 2 August 1942) is a Dutch international football coach. He has had an extensive and successful career both at club and international level. He led both Ajax and Feyenoord to Dutch championships and also had domestic s ...

, called him up to participate in the 23-man squad at Euro 2008, however, along with Łukasz Garguła, he was the only player not to have played a single minute. As of late, Pazdan has only been called up as a reserve for any players that may get injured, he was, however, called up on 21 November 2008 for friendly matches in

Antalya Antalya () is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, fifth-most populous city in Turkey as well as the capital of Antalya Province. Located on Anatolia's southwest coast bordered by the Taurus Mountains, Antalya is the largest Turkish cit ...

, Turkey. During

Euro 2016 The 2016 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2016 (stylised as UEFA EURO 2016) or simply Euro 2016, was the 15th UEFA European Championship, the quadrennial international men's football championship of Europe ...

, Pazdan became a national hero after the game against World Champions, Germany, where he was pronounced as

Man of the match In team sport, a player of the match or man of the match or woman of the match award is often given to the most outstanding player in a particular match. This can be a player from either team, although the player is generally chosen from the winn ...

and led the team to a draw, which helped Poland to qualify for the knockout stages of the tournament for the first time in history. His performances also led to reported interest from

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

clubs. Poland then beat

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

on penalties to qualify for the quarter-finals; however, Pazdan and the Polish defence conceded their first goal of the tournament to

Xherdan Shaqiri Xherdan Shaqiri (; born 10 October 1991) is a Swiss professional footballer who plays as a winger for Major League Soccer club Chicago Fire and the Switzerland national team. Shaqiri began his career at FC Basel, winning honours including t ...

. In May 2018 he was named in Poland's preliminary 35-man squad for the

2018 FIFA World Cup The 2018 FIFA World Cup was the 21st FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's national Association football, football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Russia from 14 June to 15 July 2018, after the country was awa ...

in Russia.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Legia Warsaw * Ekstraklasa: 2015–16, 2016–17, 2017–18 * Polish Cup: 2015–16, 2017–18 Individual *FIFA San Miguel Cup Team of the Tournament: 2009 *Polski Związek Piłki Nożnej Sony Cup runner-up *Olejandro Oleguer Cup: 2010 *Defender of the Year in Ekstraklasa: 2014–15 *Eleventh of Ekstraklasa in the plebiscite of the Polish Footballers' Union: 2016 *Discovery of the 2016 European Championships according to UEFA and France Football *Player of the year in the Football (Piłka Nożna) Plebiscite: 2016

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Pazdan, Michal 1987 births Living people Footballers from Kraków Polish footballers Poland men's international footballers Men's association football defenders Hutnik Kraków players Górnik Zabrze players Jagiellonia Białystok players Legia Warsaw players MKE Ankaragücü footballers Ekstraklasa players UEFA Euro 2008 players UEFA Euro 2016 players 2018 FIFA World Cup players Polish expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Turkey Polish expatriate sportspeople in Turkey