Dawid Banaczek (born 3 June 1979) 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 lea ...

who played as an

attacking midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People *Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Smal ...

Early life

Dawid was born in Gdynia and grew up in Gdańsk (both being parts of Tricity urban area in Poland). Dawid's father, Ryszard, was a rugby Polish national team player and then a rugby coach in Lechia Gdańsk, while his mother Barbara was a volleyball player. Dawid is the eldest of two boys.

Early career

Banaczek made his first appearance for Lechia Gdańsk where he began his trainings in 1987. As a teenager, Banaczek represented

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

U16 to U21. In 1995, he participated in the U16 European Championships, held in Belgium.

Playing career

He had played in the Lechia senior team for three seasons. In 1999, Banaczek signed a 2-year contract with

Bayern Munich II FC Bayern Munich II (''FC Bayern Munich Amateure'' until 2005) are the German reserve football teams, reserve team of Football in Germany, German association football club FC Bayern Munich, Bayern Munich, currently playing in the Regionalliga B ...

. In the new club, Dawid played for two seasons for the reserves team. In 2001, he had signed a contract with the Swedish club

IFK Norrköping Idrottsföreningen Kamraterna Norrköping, more commonly known as IFK Norrköping or simply Norrköping, is a Swedish professional association football, football club based in Norrköping. The club is affiliated to Östergötlands Fotbollför ...

in which he debuted in

Allsvenskan Allsvenskan (; ), also known as Fotbollsallsvenskan (, ) is a professional association football league in Sweden and the highest level of the Swedish football league system. Founded in 1924, it operates on a system of promotion and relegatio ...

. Between 2001 and 2003, Banaczek (with a short, three-month interval in RKS Radomsko), played continuously for the IFK. In 2005, he moved to

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 ...

side

Amica Wronki Amica Wronki was a Polish football club based in Wronki, Poland. The club was invariably linked to Amica, a manufacturer of white goods, predominantly stoves, which gave the club its nickname. The company's increasing profits gave the new te ...

. Under supervision of coach

Maciej Skorża Maciej Skorża (; born 10 January 1972) is a Polish professional football manager and former player who is the manager of J1 League club Urawa Red Diamonds. Club career He was playing as a defender for Radomiak Radom and AZS-AWF Warsaw. Manage ...

, he spent one round as a substitute. He enjoyed his greatest successes as a player in

Zagłębie Lubin Zagłębie Lubin S.A. () is a Polish professional association football, football club based in Lubin. Founded in 1945 as ''OMTUR Lubin'', the club competes in the Ekstraklasa. History The football team was founded in 1945 as OMTUR Lubin by lo ...

, with whom, in the 2006–07 season, he won the championship of Poland. A year prior, Zagłębie finished the season in 3rd. Beside Zagłębie and Amica Wronki, Banaczek played in two more teams of the Ekstraklasa:

RKS Radomsko RKS Radomsko is an association football club based in the city of Radomsko, in the south of Poland. Their home stadium is Stadion RKS. Currently, they compete in the IV liga Łódź. History Established in 1979, the club has played most of it h ...

and

Widzew Łódź RTS Widzew Łódź () is a Polish football (soccer), football club based in Łódź. The club was founded in 1910. Its official colours are red and white, hence their nicknames ''Czerwona Armia'' (Red Army) and ''Czerwono-biało-czerwoni'' (Red-wh ...

. The last high-level stop in his football career was the Czech team

Sigma Olomouc SK Sigma Olomouc is a Czech professional football club based in the city of Olomouc. The club currently competes in the Czech First League, the first tier of Czech football. The club played in the first tier league for 30 years between 1984 and 2 ...

, whom he joined in 2007.

National team

He was repeatedly a member of Polish youth national teams, from U15 to U21. In 1995, under coach Andrzej Zamilski, he participated in the European U16 Championship in Belgium.

Managerial career

Lechia Gdańsk

In 2012, Dawid Banaczek started cooperation 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 ...

, where he led the team of the Lechia Gdańsk Football Academy U9.

Kaszubia Koscierzyna

On 1 July 2013, Banaczek assumed the position of the head coach of the

Kaszubia Kościerzyna Kaszubia Kościerzyna is a football club based in Kościerzyna (Poland). They play in IV liga (5th level). "Kaszubia" refers to the Kashubian regional and ethnic identity. History The beginning of football in Kościerzyna can be traced back to ...

, on a one-year deal.

Lechia Gdańsk

From July to August 2015 he was the head coach of Lechia Gdańsk's U17 team. After 8 weeks of working with U17s, he became the assistant for

Thomas von Heesen Thomas von Heesen (born 1 October 1961) is a former German football attacking midfielder, and a current coach. Most of his professional career was spent, as a player, with Hamburger SV, with which he won several accolades, both domestic and con ...

in the senior team. Following von Heesen's dismissal, he became the caretaker manager on 3 December 2015. From 1 July 2016, he was an assistant coach of Drutex Bytovia Bytów.

Personal life

Dawid is married to Anna Iga. Together they have a daughter Laura, who is an artistic gymnast in SGA Gdynia. In 2011, Dawid Banaczek has established the Football Pro Academy. The principal goal of the academy, to be achieved within several years, is to search for talents and children with passion and enthusiasm to practice this sport, and subsequently, beginning of trainings on a more advanced level. Banaczek speaks

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

and

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

Honours

Vaduz *

Liechtenstein Cup The Liechtenstein Football Cup is Liechtenstein's premier football competition, and has been organised annually by the Liechtenstein Football Association (LFV) since 1946. The winner qualifies to take part in the UEFA Conference League. As the ...

: 2003–04 Zagłębie Lubin *

: 2006–07

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Banaczek, Dawid 1979 births Living people Footballers from Gdynia Men's association football midfielders Men's association football forwards Polish men's footballers Poland men's youth international footballers Poland men's under-21 international footballers Ekstraklasa players III liga players Regionalliga players Swiss Challenge League players Allsvenskan players Football League (Greece) players Lechia Gdańsk players Lechia Gdańsk II players FC Bayern Munich II players IFK Norrköping players Widzew Łódź players FC Vaduz players Amica Wronki players Zagłębie Lubin players SK Sigma Olomouc players Ethnikos Asteras F.C. players FC Viktoria Köln players RKS Radomsko players Kaszubia Kościerzyna players Polish expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Germany Expatriate men's footballers in Liechtenstein Expatriate men's footballers in Sweden Expatriate men's footballers in Greece Polish expatriate sportspeople in Germany Polish expatriate sportspeople in Liechtenstein Polish expatriate sportspeople in Sweden Polish expatriate sportspeople in Greece Polish football managers Lechia Gdańsk managers Ekstraklasa managers