Jan Tomaszewski

Quality 0.50 · 2 views · Updated 2 months ago

Polish footballer (born 1948)

title: "Jan Tomaszewski" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1948-births", "living-people", "footballers-from-wrocław", "poland-men's-international-footballers", "men's-association-football-goalkeepers", "footballers-at-the-1976-summer-olympics", "olympic-footballers-for-poland", "medalists-at-the-1976-summer-olympics", "olympic-medalists-in-football", "olympic-silver-medalists-for-poland", "śląsk-wrocław-players", "legia-warsaw-players", "łks-łódź-players", "k.-beerschot-v.a.c.-players", "1974-fifa-world-cup-players", "1978-fifa-world-cup-players", "la-liga-players", "hércules-cf-players", "belgian-pro-league-players", "ekstraklasa-players", "members-of-the-polish-sejm-2011–2015", "law-and-justice-politicians", "polish-sportsperson-politicians", "polish-football-managers", "widzew-łódź-managers", "polish-expatriate-men's-footballers", "polish-expatriate-sportspeople-in-belgium", "expatriate-men's-footballers-in-belgium", "polish-expatriate-sportspeople-in-spain", "expatriate-men's-footballers-in-spain", "20th-century-polish-sportsmen"] description: "Polish footballer (born 1948)" topic_path: "law" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jan_Tomaszewski" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Polish footballer (born 1948) ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox football biography"]

Field	Value
name	Jan Tomaszewski
image	Aankomst Pools elftal op Schiphol 15 Tomaszewski, kop, 16 Deyna, kop, Bestanddeelnr 928-2029.jpg
caption	Tomaszewski in 1975
birth_date
birth_place	Wrocław, Poland
height	1.93 m
position	Goalkeeper
youthyears1	1960–1962
youthclubs1	Śląsk Wrocław
years1	1963–1967
clubs1	Gwardia Wrocław
goals1	0
years2	1967–1970
clubs2	Śląsk Wrocław
caps2	25
goals2	0
years3	1970–1972
clubs3	Legia Warsaw
caps3	19
goals3	0
years4	1972–1978
clubs4	ŁKS Łódź
caps4	155
goals4	1
years5	1978–1981
clubs5	Beerschot
caps5	85
goals5	0
years6	1981–1982
clubs6	Hércules
caps6	12
goals6	0
years7	1982–1984
clubs7	ŁKS Łódź
caps7	4
goals7	0
totalcaps	290
totalgoals	1
nationalyears1	1971–1981
nationalteam1	Poland
nationalcaps1	63
nationalgoals1	0
manageryears1	1989
managerclubs1	Widzew Łódź
medaltemplates
::

Jan Tomaszewski (Polish pronunciation: ; born 9 January 1948) is a Polish former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper in the 1970s. He kept goal for the Poland national teams that came third at the 1974 World Cup, where he was named Best Goalkeeper, that won the silver medal at the 1976 Summer Olympics, and that competed at the 1978 World Cup. He is regarded as one of the best goalkeepers in the history of Polish football. He was later a football commentator and politician.

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/11/Bundesarchiv_Bild_183-N0716-0310,_Fußball-WM,VR_Polen-_Brasilien_1-0.jpg" caption="Jan Tomaszewski (left) and [[Henryk Kasperczak]] after third place match Poland-Brazil, [[1974 FIFA World Cup"] ::

Club career

Tomaszewski grew up in Wrocław where his parents were expelled from Vilnius after World War II.

Tomaszewski's club career was mainly at ŁKS Łódź, having been forbidden by Poland's communist government to play abroad before the age of 30, even after coming to international attention.

After the 1978 World Cup, he moved abroad, first to Belgian club Beerschot, and then Hércules in Spain, before retiring in 1984 after two more years with Łódź. In all he won 63 caps for Poland, making him at the time his country's most-capped goalkeeper, although that record was later broken by Artur Boruc in 2016.

International career

Tomaszewski is best remembered by some for his performance for the Poland national team against England, in a qualifying match for the 1974 World Cup, which England needed to win. Tomaszewski had been labelled "a clown" by Brian Clough before the match (the two men however became quite friendly in later years), but had the last laugh as he turned in a man-of-the-match performance repeatedly denying England's attackers; the only goal he conceded being an equalizing penalty from Allan Clarke. Earlier, Jan Domarski had scored for the Poles. Poland drew the game 1–1 and qualified for the finals in West Germany at the expense of England.

Brian Glanville wrote: "In retrospect, to be eliminated by so fine a side as Poland seems no disgrace, but this is a posteriori reasoning. I doubt if England could have made so dazzling a contribution as Poland to the tournament, yet it should be remembered that the Poland which beat England and the Poland which took their place were two very different propositions".

Other achievements

Poland went on to claim third place during a World Cup in which Tomaszewski saved two penalties in two different matches (from Staffan Tapper and Uli Hoeneß), the first goalkeeper in FIFA World Cup history to do so. Tomaszewski went on to win a silver medal with Poland at the 1976 Summer Olympics, and also played in the 1978 World Cup, where Poland disappointed in only managing to get as far as the second group phase. Between 1989–1990, he served as the goalkeepers' coach of the Poland national football team led by Andrzej Strejlau.

Later life

After his playing career he worked as a commentator and sports journalist writing articles in magazines including Przegląd Sportowy. In 1986, he graduated from the University of Physical Education in Warsaw. In 1991, he published a book titled Kulisy reprezentacyjnej piłki (Promise Publishing Institute, Łódź). Known for making many controversial statements, he criticised the Polish Football Association (PZPN) on a number of occasions when the organization was run by Marian Dziurowicz and Michał Listkiewicz. He was elected to the Sejm at the 2011 election, representing Łódź for Law and Justice.

Personal life

He was married three times. He married his third wife, Katarzyna (née Calińska), in 1988. She was a Polish Champion in table tennis. Tomaszewski has two daughters with her: Paulina and Małgorzata.

Career statistics

::data[format=table title="Appearances, conceded goals and clean sheets by national team"]

National team	Year	Apps	Conceded	Clean
Poland	1971	1	3	0
1972	0	0	0
1973	13	9	6
1974	12	13	4
1975	9	7	3
1976	7	9	2
1977	12	15	1
1978	7	3	5
1979	0	0	0
1980	0	0	0
1981	2	1	1
::

Honours

K. Beerschot V.A.C.

Belgian Cup: 1979 Poland
Olympic silver medal: 1976
FIFA World Cup third place: 1974

References

Kamil Janczarek. (23 April 2015). "Legendy Piłki Nożnej: Jan Tomaszewski".
[http://wyborcza.pl/1,75480,5264747.html Człowiek, który nie zatrzymał Niemiec] at ''[[Gazeta Wyborcza]]''
"Piłka nożna, Euro 2012, Reprezentacja Polski, Ligi Europejskie". Kadra.pl.
Dobek, Dariusz. (14 November 2015). "Artur Boruc pobił rekord w liczbie występów w reprezentacji Polski wśród bramkarzy". onet.sport (Eurosport).
(13 October 2013). "England v Poland: 'clown' Jan Tomaszewski has the last laugh 40 years on". The Daily Telegraph.
(13 October 2013). "Jan Tomaszewski: A man haunted for ever after being called a clown". Guardian UK.
Alex Webber. "Here we go! As Poland heads to Qatar, fans will be hoping they recapture the spirit of 1974".
Bevan, Chris. "England v Poland 1973: When Clough's 'clown' stopped England". BBC Sport.
Glanville, Brian ''"The Story of the World Cup"'', p. 191, 2005 edition
"Skoro jest cyrk to musi być klaun".
(31 May 2010). "Wnuk wybierze togę czy korki?".
"Jan Tomaszewski".

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::