Mirosław Szymkowiak (; born 12 November 1976) is a Polish former professional

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 played as an

attacking midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

. Szymkowiak is also a former member of the Poland national team.

Career

Born in

Poznań Poznań () is a city on the River Warta in west-central Poland, within the Greater Poland region. The city is an important cultural and business centre, and one of Poland's most populous regions with many regional customs such as Saint Joh ...

, Poland, Szymkowiak first started playing at

Olimpia Poznań Olimpia Poznań is a Polish multi-sport club from Poznań. It has athletics, archery, basketball, boxing, kendo, judo, swimming, tennis, and triathlon sections. The sections are formally independent of each other, sharing the history and name o ...

, where he played from 1992 until 1994, when he joined

Widzew Łódź RTS Widzew Łódź () is a Polish football club based in Łódź. The club was founded in 1910. Its official colours are red and white, hence their nicknames ''Czerwona Armia'' (Red Army) and ''Czerwono-biało-czerwoni'' (Red-white-reds). Histor ...

. He remained there for five and a half years, when he left to join

Wisła Kraków Towarzystwo Sportowe Wisła Kraków Spółka Akcyjna, commonly referred to as Wisła Kraków (), is a Polish professional football club based in Kraków. It currently competes in the I liga, the second level of Polish football league system. ...

in the middle of the 2000–01 season. He helped them to win the championship in his first season, and to two further championships in 2003 and 2004. In January 2005, he joined the Turkish club

Trabzonspor Trabzonspor Kulübü is a Turkish sports club located in the city of Trabzon. Formed in 1967 through a merger of several local clubs, the men's football team has won seven Süper Lig championships. Trabzonspor also have a women's football team, ...

. In his first six months at Trabzonspor he scored nine goals in fifteen starts. As well as playing for Trabzonspor, Szymkowiak appeared 31 times and scored three goals for

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 ...

. He was selected to the 23-men squad that competed at the

2006 FIFA World Cup The 2006 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Germany 2006, was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to host th ...

finals in Germany.

Retirement

In December 2007, he announced his retirement from football. Szymkowiak finished his career due to health reasons. In an interview for a Polish website he said: "I'm just turning 31, and already I've gone through eight surgeries! I've got four screws in both my

knees In humans and other primates, the knee joins the thigh with the leg and consists of two joints: one between the femur and tibia (tibiofemoral joint), and one between the femur and patella (patellofemoral joint). It is the largest joint in the hu ...

, one in my

ankle The ankle, or the talocrural region, or the jumping bone (informal) is the area where the foot and the leg meet. The ankle includes three joints: the ankle joint proper or talocrural joint, the subtalar joint, and the inferior tibiofibular joi ...

. They octors, red.removed one I had in the

shoulder The human shoulder is made up of three bones: the clavicle (collarbone), the scapula (shoulder blade), and the humerus (upper arm bone) as well as associated muscles, ligaments and tendons. The articulations between the bones of the shoulder mak ...

, but I also have two

titanium Titanium is a chemical element with the Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ti and atomic number 22. Found in nature only as an oxide, it can be reduced to produce a lustrous transition metal with a silver color, low density, and high strength, resista ...

nets in my groins. I feel older than my dad, and in a couple of years time I'd like to walk like a normal person." Later, in an interview for Polish newspaper '' Super Express'', he stated that his retirement was mainly attributed to his drug use: he used

rofecoxib Rofecoxib is a COX-2 selective nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID). It was marketed by Merck & Co. to treat osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, acute pain conditions, migraine, and dysmenorrhea. Rofecoxib ...

for his pain problems, which was related to his injuries, but it was found to cause serious blood and bone marrow problems, resulting in lowering his performance and stamina.

Post-playing career

Szymkowiak works as a pitch reporter for

Canal+ Poland Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or engineered channels built for drainage management (e.g. flood control and irrigation) or for conveyancing water transport vehicles (e.g. water taxi). They carry free, calm surface flow und ...

. His debut as a reporter was an

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 ...

game between

GKS Bełchatów GKS Bełchatów is a Polish professional Association football, football club based in Bełchatów that currently plays in the IV liga. History GKS Bełchatów entered Poland's Klasa A in 1977 under the name of Węgiel Brunatny Bełchatów, a ...

and

Zagłębie Lubin Zagłębie Lubin S.A. () is a Polish professional football club based in Lubin. Founded in 1945 as ''OMTUR Lubin'', the club competes in the Ekstraklasa. History The football team was founded in 1945 as OMTUR Lubin by local members of the ' ...

on 5 April 2007. He also owns two beauty salons 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 ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Szymkowiak, Miroslaw Living people 1976 births Footballers from Poznań Polish footballers Association football midfielders Poland international footballers 2006 FIFA World Cup players Olimpia Poznań players Widzew Łódź players Wisła Kraków players Trabzonspor footballers Ekstraklasa players Süper Lig players Polish expatriate footballers Polish expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Expatriate footballers in Turkey