Zygmunt Sochan (24 December 1909 – 5 February 1998) 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

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 ...

, manager, and member of the

Polish resistance movement in World War II In Poland, the Resistance during World War II, resistance movement during World War II was led by the Home Army. The Polish resistance is notable among others for disrupting German supply lines to the Eastern Front (World War II), Eastern Front ...

Early life

Sochan was born and grew up in

Tomaszów Lubelski Tomaszów Lubelski is a town in south-eastern Poland with 19,365 inhabitants (2017). Situated in the Lublin Voivodeship, near Roztocze National Park, it is the capital of Tomaszów Lubelski County. History The town was founded at the end of the ...

. In his youth he played football in the school club Burza Tomaszów Lubelski, which was soon renamed to Znicz Tomaszów Lubelski and then absorbed by the town's leading football club Tomasovia Tomaszów Lubelski. He also participated in regional athletic competitions.

Club career

In 1929, he moved to the top division team Warszawianka, based in

Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

. At first he mostly played in its

reserve team In sports, a reserve team is a team composed of players who are under contract to a club but who do not regularly play in matches for the club's primary team. Reserve teams usually include players who are part of the larger first-team squad but ...

. He made his league debut in 1932 in a lost match with

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 ...

. Since 1934 he played regularly for Warszawianka, and since 1936 he was the

team captain In team sport, captain is a title given to a member of the team. The title is frequently honorary, but in some cases the captain may have significant responsibility for strategy and teamwork while the game is in progress on the field. In eithe ...

. From 1932 to 1939, he made 94 appearances and scored 4 goals in 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 ...

(Polish top division). In 1939, his career was halted due to the outbreak of

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 ...

. After the war, he initially joined Syrena Warsaw, and in 1946-1947, he was a

player-coach 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 ...

at Orzeł Warsaw.

International career

In 1935 Sochan was called up to the Poland national team for a match with

Latvia Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east and Belarus to t ...

, however, he did not make an appearance.

World War II

In September 1939, Sochan fought in Poland's defense during the joint German-Soviet invasion that began World War II. Afterwards he was a member of the underground Polish resistance in

occupied Poland ' (Norwegian language, Norwegian: ') is a Norwegian political thriller TV series that premiered on TV 2 (Norway), TV2 on 5 October 2015. Based on an original idea by Jo Nesbø, the series is co-created with Karianne Lund and Erik Skjoldbjærg. ...

. Despite occupation, he continued playing football by participating in secret Polish games in Warsaw, representing Warszawianka and

Okęcie Warsaw Okęcie Warsaw is a Polish sports club from the Okęcie neighbourhood of Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vist ...

. He was eventually imprisoned by the Germans in the

Stutthof concentration camp Stutthof was a Nazi concentration camp established by Nazi Germany in a secluded, marshy, and wooded area near the village of Stutthof (now Sztutowo) 34 km (21 mi) east of the city of Danzig (Gdańsk) in the territory of the German-an ...

Managerial career

After retiring as a player, he continued to manage Orzeł Warsaw for many years.

Personal life

His son was Juliusz Sochan, director of the

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

section of AZS AWF Warsaw and the president of the Warsaw Regional Basketball Association. His granddaughter is Aneta Sochan, former Polish basketball player who played for

. His great-grandson is

Jeremy Sochan Jeremy Juliusz Sochan ( ; born May 20, 2003) is a Polish-American professional basketball player for the San Antonio Spurs of the National Basketball Association (NBA) and Poland national team. Born in the United States to a Polish mother and a ...

, basketball player for the Poland national team and

NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...

team

San Antonio Spurs The San Antonio Spurs are an American professional basketball team based in San Antonio. The Spurs compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southwest Division (NBA), Southwest Division of the Western Conference (NBA ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sochan, Zygmunt 1909 births 1998 deaths Men's association football midfielders Ekstraklasa players People from Tomaszów Lubelski Polish men's footballers Polish football managers Polish resistance members of World War II Stutthof concentration camp survivors Footballers from Lublin Voivodeship 20th-century Polish sportsmen