Michał Franciszek Mieczysław Matyas (28 September 1910 – 22 October 1975) 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 ...

, who represented such teams as

Pogoń Lwów LKS Pogoń Lwów is a former Polish professional sports club which was located in Lwów, Lwów Voivodeship (now Lviv in Ukraine), and existed from 1904 until the outbreak of World War II in 1939. It was the second oldest Polish football club beh ...

and

Polonia Bytom Polonia Bytom () is a Polish football club based in Bytom, founded in 1920, two times Polish Champions. The team currently plays in the III liga (as of 2022–23). History Beginnings Polonia was founded on 4 January 1920 in the Upper Silesia ...

, as well as

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

. Among fans in Poland he was known as Myszka and in the Soviet Union he played under name of Mikhail. His real occupation was a petroleum technician.

Career

Matyas was born in

Brzozów Brzozów ( uk, Березів, ''Bereziv''; yi, ברעזשוב ''Brezhov''; lat. ''Brozovia'', or ''Prozzow'') is a town in south-eastern Poland, with 7,336 inhabitants as of December 2021. It is situated in Subcarpathian Voivodeship (since 19 ...

. After moving to Lwów in 1924 he started playing in junior team of Lechia and in 1926 moved to Pogoń, for which Matyas played for 14 seasons. His debut in the national team took place on 10 July 1932 in

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...

in a 2–0 win against Sweden 2–0). All together he played in 18 international games (including the 1936 Summer Olympics in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...

), scoring 7 goals. In Pogoń, in 1935 he was the top-scorer of the Polish Football League, with 22 goals. During the

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

in 1939–40 Matyas played in Soviet competitions for Naftovyk Boryslav and for short while for

FC Dynamo Kiev Football Club Dynamo Kyiv (, ) is a Ukrainian professional football club based in Kyiv. Founded in 1927 as a Kyivan football team of republican branch of the bigger Soviet Dynamo Sports Society, the club as a separate business entity was offic ...

in 1941. Soon after the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union, he returned to Lwow where he played for some local city teams in 1942–44. Following the war, Lwów was secured after the Soviet Union (as part of

Soviet Ukraine The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic ( uk, Украї́нська Радя́нська Соціалісти́чна Респу́бліка, ; russian: Украи́нская Сове́тская Социалисти́ческая Респ ...

), together with a group of Pogon's players and activists, he settled in Bytom, where he played for

in 1945–48. After finishing his career, he became a coach, in 1950-1952 he was in charge of the national team of Poland. Later, he coached such teams as

Stal Mielec Stal Mielec () is a Polish football (soccer), football club based in Mielec, Poland. The club was established on April 10, 1939. Historically, the club has enjoyed great successes within Poland's Ekstraklasa, winning the title twice (in 1973 and 1 ...

and

Cracovia Cracovia is the Latin name for the Polish city of Kraków Kraków (), or Cracow, is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city dates back to the seventh cen ...

. He died on 22 October 1975 in

Kraków Kraków (), or Cracow, is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city dates back to the seventh century. Kraków was the official capital of Poland until 1596 ...

Honours

Pogoń Lwów *

Ekstraklasa Poland Ekstraklasa (), meaning "Extra Class" in Polish, named PKO Ekstraklasa since the 2019–20 season due to its sponsorship by PKO Bank Polski, is the top Polish professional league for men's association football teams. Contested by 18 ...

runner-up: 1935 Lwów city team * President of Poland Bowl: 1938

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Matyas, Michal 1910 births 1975 deaths People from Brzozów County People from the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria Sportspeople from Podkarpackie Voivodeship Polish Austro-Hungarians Polish footballers Association football forwards Polonia Bytom players Pogoń Lwów players FC Dynamo Kyiv players Ekstraklasa players Olympic footballers of Poland Poland international footballers Footballers at the 1936 Summer Olympics Polish expatriate footballers Polish expatriate sportspeople in the Soviet Union Expatriate footballers in the Soviet Union Polish football managers Warta Poznań managers Stal Mielec managers MKS Cracovia managers Polonia Bytom managers Poland national football team managers Wisła Kraków managers Górnik Zabrze managers Pogoń Szczecin managers Soviet Top League players