Wacław Sąsiadek

Wacław Sąsiadek

Personal information
Date of birth	(1931-03-04)4 March 1931
Place of birth	Lwów, Poland
Date of death	2 October 2017(2017-10-02) (aged 86)
Place of death	Bytom, Poland
Height	1.63 m (5 ft 4 in)
Position(s)	Forward
Youth career
	Pogoń Katowice
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1946–1949	Pogoń Katowice
1949–1953	Legia Warsaw	86	(34)
1954–1959	Polonia Bytom	102	(27)
1960–1961	Silesia Miechowice
International career
1948–1950	Poland U18	3	(0)
1948–1954	Poland	3	(0)
Managerial career
1968–1969	Urania Ruda Śląska
1969–1973	CKS Czeladź
1973–1976	Urania Ruda Śląska
1977	GKS Tychy
1978	Toronto Falcons
1978	Wisłoka Dębica
1979–1980	Wisłoka Dębica
1980–1981	Polonia Bytom
1981–1985	Urania Ruda Śląska
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Wacław Sąsiadek (4 March 1931 – 2 October 2017) was a Polish footballer who played as a forward. He also played for the Poland national team, and was a manager.

Club career

Sąsiadek began playing at the youth level with Pogoń Katowice, and ultimately joined the senior team in 1946. In 1949, he played in Liga Polska with Legia Warsaw where he played for five seasons. In 1954, he signed with Polonia Bytom where in his debut season he assisted in securing the Polish championship. He concluded his career in the 1960-61 season with Silesia Miechowice after sustaining a knee injury.

International career

He made his debut for the Poland national football team on October 17, 1948, in a friendly match against Finland. In the match he made history as he became the youngest player to represent Poland at the age of 17 until broken by Włodzimierz Lubański. He later made two additional appearances for the senior national team against Albania, and East Germany. He also played for the Poland national under-18 football team.

Managerial career

Sąsiadek became the football manager for Urania Ruda Śląska originally in 1968, he would return for another two stints with the club in 1973–76, and in 1981–85. He also managed CKS Czeladź, GKS Tychy, Wisłoka Dębica, and former club Polonia Bytom. In 1978, he managed abroad in the National Soccer League with the Toronto Falcons where he secured the NSL Cup against Hamilton Italo-Canadians.

Personal life

He died on 2 October 2017.

Honours

Player

Polonia Bytom

• Ekstraklasa: 1954

Manager

Toronto Falcons

• NSL Cup: 1978