Józef Ignacy Kałuża (11 February 1896 – 11 October 1944) 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 ...

and later coach, regarded as one of the best Polish footballers of the 1920s.

Club career

Kałuża was one of the most experienced forward players of 1920s Poland. His whole career was connected with Cracovia - he won his first Polish championship in with the team. By 1921, Kałuża had scored 297 goals in 200 games. Altogether, he played 408 games in Cracovia’s jersey, scoring 465 goals. From 1921 to 1928, Kałuża 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 ...

in various international games, scoring 7 goals.

Career statistics

Later life

In 1932, after retirement from playing, he became the head coach of the Poland national team. Directed by him, Poland slowly began to achieve successes on an international scale. In 1936, during

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, the white-red placed fourth. Two years later, during the

1938 FIFA World Cup The 1938 FIFA World Cup was the 3rd edition of the FIFA World Cup, World Cup, the quadrennial international Association football, football championship for senior men's national teams. It was held in France from 4 to 19 June 1938. Italy national ...

, Poland, after a fierce battle, lost 5–6 against

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. This legendary game is to this day not only regarded as one of the best in the history of Polish football, but also as one of the best in all of World Cup history. Kałuża's last game as coach took place on Sunday 27 August 1939 in

Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

. Poland, after a very good game, beat the then vice-champions of the world,

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

4–2. It was the last game of interwar Poland - on 1 September 1939,

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invaded Poland and

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

started. During the war, Kałuża, as one of the few officials of the Polish Football Federation (PZPN), remained in his homeland, where he died in 1944. In 1946, to commemorate him, PZPN begun organizing Józef Kałuża's Cup, but after a few years this idea was given up. Józef Piłsudski's Cracovia Stadium is located on Kałuża's street.

Honours

Cracovia * Polish Football Championship:

1921 Events January * January 2 ** The Association football club Cruzeiro Esporte Clube, from Belo Horizonte, is founded as the multi-sports club Palestra Italia by Italian expatriates in First Brazilian Republic, Brazil. ** The Spanish lin ...

Individual * Polish Football Championship top scorer:

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kaluza, Jozef 1896 births 1944 deaths Footballers from Przemyśl Polish Austro-Hungarians Sportspeople from the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria Men's association football forwards Polish men's footballers Poland men's international footballers Olympic footballers for Poland Footballers at the 1924 Summer Olympics KS Cracovia players Ekstraklasa players Polish football managers Poland national football team managers 1938 FIFA World Cup managers KS Cracovia managers Legia Warsaw managers Ekstraklasa managers 20th-century Polish sportsmen

Club career

Career statistics

Later life

Honours

See also

References