Przemysław Płacheta ( ; born 23 March 1998) is a Polish 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 le ...

who plays as a

left winger A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

left back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

for

EFL Championship The English Football League Championship (often referred to as the Championship for short or the Sky Bet Championship for sponsorship purposes) is the highest division of the English Football League (EFL) and second-highest overall in the E ...

club

Oxford United Oxford United Football Club is a professional football club in the city of Oxford, England. The team plays in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The chairman is Grant Ferguson, the manager is Karl Robinson and th ...

and the Poland national team. Płacheta graduated from

RB Leipzig RasenBallsport Leipzig e.V. (), commonly known as RB Leipzig, and colloquially referred to as Red Bull Leipzig, is a German professional football club based in Leipzig, Saxony. The club was founded in 2009 by the initiative of the company Red Bu ...

youth academy In sporting terminology, a youth system (or youth academy) is a youth investment program within a particular team or league, which develops and nurtures young talent in farm teams, with the vision of using them in the first team in the future if t ...

and began his senior career in Germany with Sonnenhof Großaspach before returning to Poland where he played for

Pogoń Siedlce The coat of arms of Lithuania consists of a mounted armoured knight holding a sword and shield, known as (). Since the early 15th century, it has been Lithuania's official coat of arms and is one of the oldest European coats of arms. It is als ...

, Podbeskidzie and

Śląsk Wrocław Wrocławski Klub Sportowy Śląsk Wrocław Spółka Akcyjna, commonly known as WKS Śląsk Wrocław, Śląsk Wrocław () or simply Śląsk, is a Polish football club based in Wrocław that plays in Ekstraklasa, the highest level of the Polish fo ...

. In 2020, he joined English club

Norwich City Norwich City Football Club (also known as The Canaries or The Yellows) is an English professional football club based in Norwich, Norfolk. The club competes in the EFL Championship following their relegation from the Premier League in the 20 ...

, and spent time

on loan In sports, a loan involves a particular player being able to temporarily play for a club other than the one to which they are currently contracted. Loan deals may last from a few weeks to a full season, sometimes persisting for multiple seasons ...

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. Since 2011, the first te ...

in 2022. In international football, Płacheta represented Poland at under-age levels before making his debut for the senior national side in 2020.

Club career

Płacheta started his youth career for Polish side

Pelikan Łowicz Pelikan Łowicz () is a Polish football club based in Łowicz, Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of ...

. He joined

ŁKS Łódź ŁKS Łódź (''Łódzki Klub Sportowy Łódź''; ) is a Polish sports club based in Łódź. They are best known for their football club but are represented in many sports such as basketball, volleyball, tennis, athletics and in the past ice ...

after his father saw an advert in a newspaper for young footballers. Later, he played for

Academy in Germany, during which time he played for the senior side in a number of friendly matches. In 2017, Płacheta made his professional debut for German

3. Liga The 3. Liga is a professional association football league and the third division in Germany. In the German football league system, it is positioned between the 2. Bundesliga and the fourth-tier Regionalliga. The modern 3. Liga was formed for t ...

team Sonnenhof Großaspach. He later returned to Poland as his mother was ill. He then played for

. Prior to the

2018–19 I liga The 2018–19 I liga (currently named Fortuna I liga due to sponsorship reasons) was the 11th season of the Polish I liga under its current title, and the 71st season of the second highest division in the Polish football league system since its es ...

, Płacheta signed for

Podbeskidzie Bielsko-Biała TS Podbeskidzie Bielsko-Biała () is a football club based in Bielsko-Biała, Poland. They currently compete in the I liga, the second tier of Polish football. History The club was essentially founded on 11 July 1997, although it can trace i ...

, and made 25 appearances for the club that season. In 2019, Płacheta signed for

for around 300,000

Polish złoty The złoty (; abbreviation: zł; code: PLN) is the official currency and legal tender of Poland. It is subdivided into 100 grosz (''gr'').Singular: ''grosz'', alternative plural forms: ''groszy'', ''grosze''. The widely recognised English form ...

. He signed a three-year contract with the club. During a pre-season tour, Płacheta reached a speed of , the highest recorded speed for any Polish league player that pre-season. In the

2019–20 I liga The 2019–20 I liga (currently named Fortuna I liga due to sponsorship reasons) was the 72nd season of the second tier domestic division in the Polish football league system since its establishment in 1949 and the 12th season of the Polish I lig ...

, he scored eight goals in 35 appearances, and provided five assists. In July 2020, Płacheta signed for English club

, on a four-year deal. The deal was estimated to be around €3 million (around 12 million złoty), a club record sale for Śląsk Wrocław. Płacheta was Norwich's first ever Polish player. He scored his first goal for Norwich in a 2–2 draw against

Preston North End Preston North End Football Club, commonly referred to as Preston, North End or PNE, is a professional football club in Preston, Lancashire, England, who currently play in the EFL Championship, the second tier of the English football league syste ...

on 19 September 2020. Płacheta joined

club

in July 2022

for the season. He scored his first goal on his second appearance, at home to

Huddersfield Town Huddersfield Town Association Football Club is a professional football club based in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . The team have played home games at the Kirklees Stadium since moving from Leeds Road in 1994. The ...

on 5 August, when he drove the rebound from Jordan James's blocked shot past the goalkeeper to give his side a 2–0 half-time lead; the match ended 2–1. After starting the first five matches of the season, used in an unfamiliar left wing-back position, he suffered a

stress fracture A stress fracture is a fatigue-induced bone fracture caused by repeated stress over time. Instead of resulting from a single severe impact, stress fractures are the result of accumulated injury from repeated submaximal loading, such as running or ...

to his left

tibia The tibia (; ), also known as the shinbone or shankbone, is the larger, stronger, and anterior (frontal) of the two bones in the leg below the knee in vertebrates (the other being the fibula, behind and to the outside of the tibia); it connects ...

and did not play again. His loan was terminated on 3 January 2023 and he returned to Norwich to continue his recovery. Placheta joined Championship club

Swansea City Swansea City Association Football Club (; cy, Clwb Pêl-droed Cymdeithas Dinas Abertawe) is a professional football club based in Swansea, Wales that plays in the Championship, the second tier of English football. Swansea have played their ho ...

on 1 February 2024 on a free transfer. He signed until the end of the 2023–24 season. He made appearances in ten consecutive games since joining Swansea, before picking up a hamstring injury in late March that kept him out of play for the rest of the season. On 17 May, it was announced he would leave the club upon the expiration of his contract. On 15 July 2024, Płacheta signed for newly promoted Championship club

on a free transfer.

International career

Płacheta played for Poland under-21s in a

2019 UEFA European Under-21 Championship The 2019 UEFA European Under-21 Championship (also known as UEFA Under-21 Euro 2019) was the 22nd edition of the UEFA European Under-21 Championship (25th edition if the Under-23 era is also included), the biennial international youth football ch ...

match against Spain under-21s in Italy. He was the youngest player in

Czesław Michniewicz Czesław Michniewicz (; born 12 February 1970) is a Polish football manager and former player who managed the Poland national team in 2022. Managerial career Early years In September 2003, Michniewicz was appointed as the manager of Lech Pozna ...

's Poland under-21 squad. In November 2020, Płacheta made his first appearance for the Poland senior team in a friendly match against

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

Personal life

Płacheta was born on 23 March 1998 in

Łowicz Łowicz is a town in central Poland with 27,896 inhabitants (2020). It is situated in the Łódź Voivodeship (since 1999); previously, it was in Skierniewice Voivodeship (1975–1998). Together with a nearby station of Bednary, Łowicz is a ma ...

, Poland. When he was young, he was a

bobsledder Bobsleigh or bobsled is a team winter sport that involves making timed runs down narrow, twisting, banked, iced tracks in a gravity-powered sleigh. International bobsleigh competitions are governed by the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Feder ...

, before choosing to become a footballer. Płacheta has said that he is a fan of

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

footballer

Raheem Sterling Raheem Shaquille Sterling (born 8 December 1994) is a professional footballer who plays as a winger and attacking midfielder for club Chelsea. Born in Jamaica, he represents the England national team. Born in Jamaica to Jamaican parents, St ...

, and has compared his playing style to Sterling. His older brother Marcin is a former runner and bobsledder who competed at the

2006 Winter Olympics The 2006 Winter Olympics, officially the XX Olympic Winter Games ( it, XX Giochi olimpici invernali) and also known as Torino 2006, were a winter multi-sport event held from 10 to 26 February 2006 in Turin, Italy. This marked the second t ...

. His other older brother Sylwester has played football for .

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Norwich City *

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

Individual *

Ekstraklasa Poland Ekstraklasa (), meaning "Extra Class" in Polish, named PKO Ekstraklasa since the 2019–20 season due to its sponsorship by PKO Bank Polski, is the top Polish professional league for men's association football teams. Contested by 18 cl ...

Young Player of the Month: August 2019

References

External links

* *
Przemysław Placheta
at Norwich City {{DEFAULTSORT:Placheta, Przemyslaw 1998 births Living people Footballers from Łódź Voivodeship People from Łowicz Polish men's footballers Poland men's youth international footballers Poland men's under-21 international footballers Poland men's international footballers Men's association football wingers SG Sonnenhof Großaspach players MKP Pogoń Siedlce players Podbeskidzie Bielsko-Biała players Śląsk Wrocław players Norwich City F.C. players Birmingham City F.C. players Swansea City A.F.C. players Oxford United F.C. players I liga players Ekstraklasa players Premier League players English Football League players UEFA Euro 2020 players Polish expatriate men's footballers Polish expatriate sportspeople in Germany Polish expatriate sportspeople in England Polish expatriate sportspeople in Wales Expatriate men's footballers in Germany Expatriate men's footballers in England Expatriate men's footballers in Wales