Tomasz Nikodem Hajto () (born 16 October 1972) is a Polish expert commentator, sports agent, football coach and retired 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 ...

Club career

Born in

Maków Podhalański Maków Podhalański (known as ''Maków'' until 1930) is a town in southern Poland, on the Skawa Skawa (german: Schaue) is a river in southern Poland, a right tributary of the Vistula. It originates in the Western Carpathians (Beskids), is lon ...

, Hajto began his career playing for local club Halniak Maków Podhalański. He moved to Góral Żywiec before making his big break in 1991 with

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 ...

. His prowess as a youngster was noticed by many, and in 1993–94 he was transferred to

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 ...

. Hajto was soon to create interest from other countries, most particularly Germany and England, but it was to the former that he was first transferred. He first played for

MSV Duisburg Meidericher Spielverein 02 e. V. Duisburg, commonly known as simply MSV Duisburg (), is a German association football club based in Duisburg, North Rhine-Westphalia. Nicknamed ''Die Zebras'' for their traditional striped jerseys, the club was on ...

for two seasons. After the team was relegated to

2. Bundesliga The 2. Bundesliga ( ) is the second division of professional football in Germany. It was implemented 11 years after the founding of the Fußball-Bundesliga as the new second division for professional football. The 2. Bundesliga is ranked below ...

, Hajto was transferred to FC Schalke 04, where he played until 2004. He then signed a two-year contract with 1. FC Nürnberg. As he had not met the expectations, he was transferred to

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

in summer 2005. In January 2006, his contract with Southampton was cancelled, enabling him to sign for

Derby County Derby County Football Club () is a professional association football club based in Derby, Derbyshire, England. In 2022, it was announced that DCFC was acquired by Clowes Developments (UK) Ltd, a Derbyshire-based property group. Founded in 188 ...

on an eighteen-month contract, however this deal was also terminated early, after only four months at the club.

International career

Hajto participated in the

2002 FIFA World Cup The 2002 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Korea Japan 2002, was the 17th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial football world championship for men's national teams organized by FIFA. It was held from 31 May to 30 June 2002 at sites in South Korea an ...

, where he played two matches against

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korean Peninsula and sharing a land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed by the Yellow Sea, while its eas ...

and

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

. He has scored six goals in 62 caps for

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

Personal life

Hajto is married to a former Polish sprinter Renata Sosin ( pl), with whom he has two children: son, Mateusz, and daughter, Wiktoria. In January 2008, Hajto was found guilty of manslaughter after speeding in his car and killing a female pedestrian at a crossing 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 cant ...

. Pleading guilty to the charges, he was given a suspended two-year jail sentence, ordered to pay a fine of 7,000

Polish złoty The złoty (; abbreviation: zł; ISO 4217, code: PLN) is the official currency and legal tender of Poland. It is subdivided into 100 Groschen, grosz (''gr'').Singular: ''grosz'', alternative plural forms: ''groszy'', ''grosze''. The widely recog ...

s and given a one-year driving ban. He had earlier been fined in 2004 for dealing in smuggled cigarettes.

Career statistics

International goals

Honours

Schalke 04 * UEFA Intertoto Cup: 2003 *

DFB-Pokal The DFB-Pokal ( is a German knockout football cup competition held annually by the German Football Association (DFB). Sixty-four teams participate in the competition, including all clubs from the Bundesliga and the 2. Bundesliga. It is considered ...

: 2000–01, 2001–02

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hajto, Tomasz 1. FC Nürnberg players I liga players 1972 births 2002 FIFA World Cup players 21st-century Polish criminals Association football agents Men's association football central defenders Association football commentators Men's association football fullbacks Men's association football player-managers Bundesliga players Color commentators Derby County F.C. players Ekstraklasa players English Football League players Expatriate men's footballers in Germany FC Schalke 04 players GKS Tychy managers Górnik Zabrze players Hutnik Kraków players Jagiellonia Białystok managers Living people ŁKS Łódź players MSV Duisburg players People from Maków Podhalański Poland men's international footballers Polish football managers Polish men's footballers Polish people convicted of manslaughter Southampton F.C. players Footballers from Lesser Poland Voivodeship