Krzysztof Popczyński (born 8 March 1969) is a Polish

football manager ''Football Manager'', also known as ''Worldwide Soccer Manager'' in North America from 2004 to 2008, is a series of football management simulation video games developed by British developer Sports Interactive and published by Sega. The game beg ...

and former

player Player may refer to: Role or adjective * Player (game), a participant in a game or sport ** Gamer, a player in video and tabletop games ** Athlete, a player in sports ** Player character, a character in a video game or role playing game who i ...

who played as a

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

Career

Playing career

Born in

Kraków , officially the Royal Capital City of Kraków, is the List of cities and towns in Poland, second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city has a population of 804,237 ...

, Popczyński played for a number of Polish as well as international clubs during his active career. He had his most successful spells in hometown club

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 top-flight. The team's greatest success is a third place in the 1 ...

between 1990 and 1995, where he made 135 appearances and scored 19 goals, and between 1998 and 2001, where he, as a

player-manager A player–coach (also playing coach, captain–coach, or player–manager) is a member of a sports team who simultaneously holds both playing and coaching duties. Player–coaches may be head coaches or assistant coaches, and they may make chang ...

for Faroese club VB Vagúr managed to score 35 goals throughout three seasons. He furthermore had short spells at Greek club

Panionios Panionios G.S.S. Football Club (Greek: ΠΑΕ Πανιώνιος Γ.Σ.Σ.), the ''Pan-Ionian Gymnastics Club of Smyrna'' (Πανιώνιος Γυμναστικός Σύλλογος Σμύρνης, ''Panionios Gymnastikos Syllogos Smyrnis''), ...

and Danish club

Esbjerg fB Esbjerg forenede Boldklubber (; commonly known as Esbjerg fB or EfB in short) is a Danish professional Association football, football club based in Esbjerg, West Jutland, Jylland, that plays in the Danish 1st Division, 1st division, the sec ...

Coaching career

Popczyński had a notable run as a player-coach in Faroe Islands, where he besides VB Vagúr also managed GÍ Gøta,

HB Tórshavn HB or Hb may refer to: Academia * H-b index, an extension of the h-index used in determining academic impact * H-B Woodlawn, a secondary education program in Arlington, Virginia, US * Hathaway Brown School, an all-girls private school in Shaker ...

and

TB Tvøroyri TB or Tb may refer to: Science and technology Computing * Terabyte (TB), a unit of information (often measuring storage capacity) * Terabit (Tb), a unit of information (often measuring data transfer) * Thunderbolt (interface) * Test bench Vehicle ...

. On 27 July 2008, Popczyński was appointed as the new head coach of Danish club

Aarhus Fremad Aarhus Fremad (, "Aarhus Forward") is an association football club located in Aarhus N, the northern part of Aarhus, Denmark. The club will compete in the Danish 1st Division, the second tier of the Danish football league system in the 2025� ...

who had recently been relegated from the Danish second tier. He coached the club for five years, before being sacked in favour of

Jesper Tollefsen Jesper Klaus Tollefsen (born 27 January 1971) is a Danish football manager most recently in charge of Aarhus Fremad. Coaching career Jesper Tollefsen started his managerial career as Ove Christensen's assistant af Aarhus GF. His first job as he ...

in July 2013 after missing promotion play-offs. In November 2014, Popczyński signed a one-year contract to replace Jesper Borup as the head coach of

FC Djursland FC Djursland was an association football club based in the town of Grenaa, Denmark. The club was a merger established in Djursland in 2009, originally between five parent clubs: Grenaa IF, Østdjurs 91, AC Norddjurs, Åstrup/Hammelev IF and Kol ...

who were at the bottom of the Danish fourth division. However, he was unable to keep the team up and the club was relegated to the

Jutland Series Jutland Series () is the highest division for men organized by the regional association DBU Jylland and one of the fifth-highest divisions overall in the Danish football league system. The Jutland Association Football Championship () was introduc ...

, the fifth tier of Danish football at the end of the season. Another horrific season followed, in which Djursland suffered relegation to the sixth tier, after a decisive 3–1 loss in the penultimate round of the season to Fuglebakken KFUM. Popczyński announced his resignation as of 31 October 2015, a few games befores the second consecutive relegation became a fact. In October 2017, Popczyński was named the new manager of Horsens Freja competing in the Danish fifth tier. He signed a two-year contract, and would be coaching the first team while completing his

Danish Football Union The Danish Football Association (; DBU) is the governing body of football in Denmark. It is the organization of Danish football clubs and runs the professional Danish football leagues, alongside the men's and women's national teams. Based ...

coaching degree. On 5 November 2018, however, he resigned from his position at Horsens Freja citing disagreements over personal ambitions regarding amount of training sessions with the first-team's lacking ambitions. A month later, on 12 December 2018, Popczyński was announced as the new head coach of Danish third tier club

Kjellerup IF Kjellerup Idrætsforening is a Danish football club based in Kjellerup, Central Jutland. It was founded in 1907, and its first team competed in the Denmark Series, the fifth tier of the Danish football league system. The club is a part of the D ...

, who were bottom of the table. He was sacked by Kjellerup in November 2021. In July 2022 he was announced as the new manager of

Thisted FC Thisted Fodbold Club () is an association football club based in the town of Thisted, North Jutland, Denmark, that competes in the Danish 2nd Division, the third tier of the Danish football league system. Founded in 1989, it is shortly known as ' ...

in the

Danish 2nd Division The 2nd Division () is a professional association football league for men and the third division in Denmark. It is organised by the Divisionsforeningen on behalf of the Danish Football Association (Danish FA; DBU) as part of the nation-wide Da ...

. He left the club on 7 November 2022.THISTED FC OG CHEFTRÆNER KRZYSZTOF POPCZYNSKI STOPPER SAMARBEJDET
thistedfc.dk, 7 November 2022

Honours

Manager

VB Vágur *

Faroe Islands Premier League The Faroe Islands Premier League (also known as ''Betri deildin'' for sponsorship reasons) is the top level of football in the Faroe Islands. It was founded in 1942 as Meistaradeildin, and it is played in current format since 2005, when Premier L ...

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

GÍ Gøta *

Faroe Islands Cup The Faroe Islands Cup (, literally the Prime Minister Cup) is the main football cup competition in the Faroe Islands. The first edition was played in 1955. History The HB–TB decade The first decade of the competition was marked by the alternanc ...

: 2005 HB Tórshavn * Faroe Islands Premier League:

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

Career statistics

Manager

References

External links

Aarhus-Fremad.dk Playing Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Popczynski, Krzysztof 1969 births Living people Footballers from Kraków Polish men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Garbarnia Kraków players Hutnik Kraków players Panionios F.C. players Esbjerg fB players FC Suðuroy players Víkingur Gøta players Havnar Bóltfelag players Tvøroyrar Bóltfelag players Ekstraklasa players Super League Greece players Faroe Islands Premier League players Polish football managers Polish expatriate football managers Aarhus Fremad managers Kjellerup IF managers Men's association football player-managers Polish expatriate sportspeople in Sweden Expatriate men's footballers in Sweden Polish expatriate sportspeople in Greece Expatriate men's footballers in Greece Polish expatriate sportspeople in Denmark Expatriate men's footballers in Denmark Polish expatriate sportspeople in the Faroe Islands Expatriate men's footballers in the Faroe Islands Expatriate football managers in the Faroe Islands Expatriate football managers in Denmark 20th-century Polish sportsmen Kiruna FF players