Władysław Gędłek (15 June 1920 – 28 February 1954) 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 ...

who played as a

right-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

. He represented both Cracovia and the Poland national team.

Club career

His first team was Krowodrza Kraków, where Gędłek started his career in 1935. During

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 ...

, he participated in secret games in Kraków, as the German occupiers banned Poles from playing all sports. In 1945, he moved to Cracovia, where he played until 1953, winning the championship in 1948. Gędłek was regarded as a very talented and skilled player. Tough in defence, active in offence, often initiated dangerous attacks on opponents. In late 1940s Poland, Gędłek had the status of a celebrity, and his immense talent was appreciated not only in his native country. As the first Pole ever, he was called to the

FIFA The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...

's official "World Team’’, to a friendly game in 1953.

International career

Gędłek won 20

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Java ...

for the Poland national team from 1949 to 1953, and represented Poland at the

1952 Summer Olympics The 1952 Summer Olympics (, ), officially known as the Games of the XV Olympiad (, ) and commonly known as Helsinki 1952, were an international multi-sport event held from 19 July to 3 August 1952 in Helsinki, Finland. After Japan declared in ...

, appearing in both games played by his team.

Honours

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 ...

1948 Events January * January 1 ** The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) is inaugurated. ** The current Constitutions of Constitution of Italy, Italy and of Constitution of New Jersey, New Jersey (both later subject to amendment) ...

References

1920 births 1954 deaths Footballers from Kraków Men's association football fullbacks Polish men's footballers Poland men's international footballers KS Cracovia players Ekstraklasa players Olympic footballers for Poland Footballers at the 1952 Summer Olympics 20th-century Polish sportsmen {{poland-footy-defender-1920s-stub