Czesław Nowicki (16 September 1932 – 5 September 2002) was a Polish

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 lea ...

who spent his entire professional career with

Lechia Gdańsk Lechia Gdańsk () is a Polish football (soccer), football club based in Gdańsk. As of the 2025–26 Ekstraklasa, 2025–26 season, they compete in the Ekstraklasa. The club was founded in 1945 by people Polish population transfers (1944–1946 ...

. He was a key player in Lechia's early decades and still features highly in many appearance and goal statistics for the club.

Lechia Gdańsk

Nowicki started his career in 1951, making his debut against

Gwardia Warsaw WKS Gwardia Warszawa () was a Polish sports club based in Warsaw. The club was founded in 1948. The club was dissolved in 2018. Football It participated in the Polish 1st League from 1953 to 1960 (8 seasons), 1962–1966 (5 seasons), 1967–19 ...

in the promotion playoffs to reach the

I liga I liga (, ), currently named Betclic I liga due to its sponsorship by Betclic, is the men's second professional association football division of the Polish football league system, below the Ekstraklasa and above the II liga via promotion/rel ...

. Playing as a midfielder, Nowicki was instrumental in Lechia's early years in the top division. Despite relegation back to the second division in 1953, Lechia bounced back straight away finishing runners up in the

II liga II liga (Druga liga, ), currently named Betclic II liga due to its sponsorship by Betclic, is a Polish football league that sits at the third tier of the Polish football league system. Until the end of the 2007–08 season, ''II Liga'' referre ...

for the 1954 season. After promotion Lechia stayed in the top flight for 9 seasons, a record of continuous seasons in the top division that was only broken by Lechia in the 2017-18 season when Lechia played their 10th season of top flight football in a row. Nowicki helped Lechia reach the

Polish Cup The Polish Cup in Association football, football ( ) is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout football competition for Polish football club (association football), football clubs, held continuously since 1950, and is the second most i ...

final in 1955, before they lost to

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 a record 15 champions titles, a record 2 ...

5–0. In 1956 Lechia finished 3rd in the Ekstraklasa, with Nowicki playing 21 of the 22 games that season. The third placed is still Lechia's highest finish in the

Ekstraklasa (; meaning "Extra Class" in Polish), officially known as PKO Bank Polski Ekstraklasa due to its Sponsor (commercial), sponsorship by PKO Bank Polski, is a professional association football league in Poland and the highest level of the Polish foo ...

, a record that was only equaled in the 2018-19 season. As the teams started to slide down the division, Nowicki was still impressing for Lechia, scoring 13 goals in the 1960 season, and finishing as one of the league's highest scorers. In 1963 Nowicki dropped down to the second tier after relegation with Lechia. After 3 seasons of failing to get out of the division, Nowicki retired football. Nowicki is still one of the most successful footballers for Lechia, making the fourth most appearances for Lechia in all competitions, as well as having Lechia's second highest appearances in the

(top division). In total for Lechia he played 290 times, scoring 40 goals, of which 189 appearances were in the Ekstraklasa, as were 30 of the goals. After his playing career he spent many seasons working as a coach in the youth teams.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nowicki, Czesław 1932 births 2002 deaths People from Mława County Footballers from Masovian Voivodeship Polish men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Lechia Gdańsk players Ekstraklasa players I liga players 20th-century Polish sportsmen