Tomasz Mariusz Rząsa (; born 11 March 1973) 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 primarily played as a

left back In the sport of association football, a defender is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categ ...

and sometimes as a left midfielder who currently serves as the

sporting director A sporting director, or director of sport, is an executive management position in a sports club. The role is well known as a manager role for European football clubs, which are sometime also "sports clubs", offering many types of sports. The ...

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 ...

club

Lech Poznań Kolejowy Klub Sportowy Lech Poznań S.A., commonly referred to as KKS Lech Poznań or simply Lech Poznań (), is a Polish professional football club based in Poznań and currently competing in the Ekstraklasa, the nation's highest division. ...

Club career

During his career, Rząsa represented Cracovia and Sokół Pniewy ( pl) (Poland), Grasshoppers (Switzerland),

Lugano Lugano ( , , ; ) is a city and municipality within the Lugano District in the canton of Ticino, Switzerland. It is the largest city in both Ticino and the Italian-speaking region of southern Switzerland. Lugano has a population () of , and an u ...

(Switzerland), Young Boys (Switzerland), De Graafschap (Netherlands),

Feyenoord Feyenoord Rotterdam () is a Netherlands, Dutch professional association football, football club based in Rotterdam, which plays in the Eredivisie, the top tier in Dutch football league system, Dutch football. Founded as Wilhelmina in 1908, the ...

(Netherlands), Partizan (Serbia),

Heerenveen Heerenveen (, ) is a town and Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of Friesland (Fryslân), in the Northern Netherlands. In 2021, the town had a population of 29,790 (1 January) while the m ...

(Netherlands),

ADO Den Haag Alles Door Oefening Den Haag (), commonly known by the abbreviated name ADO Den Haag (), is a Dutch association football club from the city of The Hague. They play in the Eerste Divisie, the second tier of Dutch football, following relegation ...

(Netherlands) and Ried (Austria). While playing with Grasshoppers, he won two Swiss National League championships, in 1994–95 and 1995–96 seasons. He played for Feyenoord between 1999 and 2003, where he failed to win any domestic title with the club, but did win the 2001–02 UEFA Cup, by beating

Borussia Dortmund Ballspielverein Borussia 09 e. V. Dortmund, often known simply as Borussia Dortmund () or by its initialism BVB (), or just Dortmund by International fans, is a German professional sports club based in Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is ...

in the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...

. Consequently, they played the 2002 UEFA Super Cup, but lost against

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional Football club (association football), football club based in Madrid. The club competes in La Liga, th ...

. Rząsa played both finals. With Partizan, he was the newcomer alongside Ljubinko Drulović,

Taribo West Taribo West (born 26 March 1974) is a Nigerian pastor and former professional footballer who played as a defender. He is best remembered for his various unusual and colourful hairstyles. After winning several major trophies with Auxerre in Fren ...

and others, where he helped the club reach the Champions League

group stage A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses: # One or more competitions held at a single venue and concentr ...

. In 2006, he came to Austria and signed with SV Ried, where he was decisive in helping them to achieve their greatest ever result – finishing as runners-up in the 2006–07 Austrian Bundesliga. He played an impressive 58 league matches in just two seasons with Ried.

International career

Rząsa 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 36 international matches between 1994 and 2006, and scored one goal. He was part of the Polish team at the

2002 FIFA World Cup The 2002 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Korea/Japan 2002, was the 17th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial Association football, football world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams organized by ...

Coaching career

Upon finishing his playing career, he was an assistant manager at

under Maciej Skorża during the 2014–15 season, and under Rafał Ulatowski in May 2018.

Career statistics

:''Scores and results list Poland's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Rząsa goal.''

Honours

Grasshoppers *

Swiss Super League The Super League (also known as the Credit Suisse Super League for sponsorship reasons) is a professional association football league in Switzerland and the highest level of the Swiss football league system. It has been played in its current fo ...

: 1995–96, 1996–97 Feyenoord * Johan Cruijff Shield:

1999 1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons. Events January * January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers. * January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...

UEFA Cup The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

: 2001–02

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Rzasa, Tomasz 1973 births Living people Footballers from Kraków Polish men's footballers Men's association football fullbacks Poland men's international footballers Poland men's youth international footballers Poland men's under-21 international footballers UEFA Europa League–winning players 2002 FIFA World Cup players KS Cracovia players Sokół Pniewy players Grasshopper Club Zurich players FC Lugano players BSC Young Boys players De Graafschap players Feyenoord players FK Partizan players SC Heerenveen players ADO Den Haag players SV Ried players II liga players I liga players Ekstraklasa players Swiss Super League players Eredivisie players First League of Serbia and Montenegro players Austrian Football Bundesliga players Polish expatriate men's footballers Polish expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland Expatriate men's footballers in Switzerland Polish expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Expatriate men's footballers in the Netherlands Expatriate men's footballers in Serbia and Montenegro Polish expatriate sportspeople in Austria Expatriate men's footballers in Austria Polish expatriate sportspeople in Serbia and Montenegro Lech Poznań non-playing staff Polish sports executives and administrators Polish football executives