Maciej Wawrzyniec Szczęsny (pronounced ; born 28 June 1965) 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 a

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...

. He is the only player in history to have won the Polish championship with four different clubs;

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 ...

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 ...

Polonia Warsaw Polonia Warsaw (, ), founded on 19 November 1911, is the oldest existing sports club in Warsaw, the capital of Poland, best known for its Association football, football and basketball teams. It also has track and field, Swimming (sport), swimm ...

and

Wisła Kraków Towarzystwo Sportowe Wisła Kraków Spółka Akcyjna, commonly referred to as Wisła Kraków (), is a Polish professional football club based in Kraków. They currently compete in the I liga, the second level of Polish football league system, ...

. He participated in the

1995–96 UEFA Champions League The 1995–96 UEFA Champions League was the 41st season of UEFA's premier European club football tournament, and the fourth since its rebranding as the UEFA Champions League. The tournament was won by Juventus, who beat defending champions Ajax on ...

with

, reaching the quarter-finals, and in the 1996–97 edition with

. He is the only player to have won a Polish championship with four clubs - in 1994 and 1995 with Legia, in 1997 with Widzew, in 2000 with Polonia and in 2001 with Wisła. Szczęsny played seven times for the

Poland national football team The Poland national football team () represents Poland in men's international Association football, football competitions since their first match in 1921. It is governed by the Polish Football Association (PZPN), the governing body for football ...

, though six of those appearances came in friendlies. He is now a football

pundit A pundit is a person who offers opinion in an authoritative manner on a particular subject area (typically politics, the social sciences, technology or sport), usually through the mass media. The term pundit describes both women and men, altho ...

. His two sons play football as goalkeepers: Jan (born 1987) who retired early to become a goalkeeping coach, and

Wojciech Wojciech () is a Polish name, equivalent to Czech Vojtěch , Slovak Vojtech, and German Woitke. The name is formed from two Slavic roots: * ''wój'' (Slavic: ''voj''), a root pertaining to war. It also forms words like ''wojownik'' ("warrior" ...

(born 1990), who had an illustrious career in European club football and became the most capped goalkeeper for the Polish national team.

Honours

Legia Warsaw *

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 ...

: 1993–94, 1994–95 *

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 ...

: 1989–90, 1993–94, 1994–95 Widzew Łódź * Ekstraklasa: 1996–97 Polonia Warsaw * Ekstraklasa: 1999–2000 *

Polish Super Cup The Polish Super Cup (, ) is an annually held match between the champions of the Ekstraklasa and the Polish Cup winners or, if the Ekstraklasa champions also win the Polish Cup, the Cup's runners-up. As of 2024, the Polish Super Cup has been ...

: 2000 Wisła Kraków * Ekstraklasa: 2000–01 * Polish League Cup: 2000–01

References

1965 births Living people Footballers from Warsaw Men's association football goalkeepers Polish men's footballers Poland men's international footballers Gwardia Warsaw players Legia Warsaw players Polonia Warsaw players Widzew Łódź players Wisła Kraków players Ekstraklasa players Association football goalkeeping coaches Wisła Kraków non-playing staff 20th-century Polish sportsmen {{Poland-footy-goalkeeper-stub