Jakub Kowalski (born 9 October 1987) 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 lea ...

who played as a

right winger In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

. He is currently the

sporting director A sporting director, or director of sport, is an executive management position in a sports club. The role is well known as a manager role for European football clubs, which are sometime also "sports clubs", offering many types of sports. The ...

II liga II liga (Druga liga, ), currently named Betclic II liga due to its sponsorship by Betclic, is a Polish football league that sits at the third tier of the Polish football league system. Until the end of the 2007–08 season, ''II Liga'' referre ...

club

Stal Stalowa Wola Stal Stalowa Wola Piłkarska Spółka Akcyjna, commonly referred to as Stal Stalowa Wola (), is a Polish professional football club based in Stalowa Wola, Subcarpathian Voivodeship. Founded in 1938, they will compete in the 2025–26 II lig ...

Club career

A graduate of Żyrardowianka Żyrardów. He began his senior career at Unia Skierniewice, subsequently playing for Concordia Piotrków Trybunalski,

UKS SMS Łódź Uczniowski Klub Sportowy Szkoła Mistrzostwa Sportowego Łódź (), commonly known as UKS SMS Łódź, is a Polish football club based in Łódź, Łódź Voivodeship, currently playing in the regional league. The club is well known for work ...

Wigry Suwałki Wigry Suwałki is a Polish football club based in Suwałki, Podlaskie Voivodeship. In the 2025–26 season, they compete in group I of the III liga. They play their home games at the . Players Current squad Ou ...

, OKS 1945 Olsztyn,

Arka Gdynia Morski Związkowy Klub Sportowy Arka Gdynia () is a professional football club based in Gdynia, Poland, that plays in the Ekstraklasa after winning the 2024–25 I liga. The club was founded as Klub Sportowy Gdynia in 1929. History The h ...

Widzew Łódź RTS Widzew Łódź () is a Polish football (soccer), 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-wh ...

, Okocimski KS Brzesko,

Ruch Chorzów Ruch Chorzów () is a Polish professional association football, football club based in Chorzów, Upper Silesia. It is one of the most successful football teams in Poland, having won fourteen List of Polish football champions, Polish Championship ...

Podbeskidzie Bielsko-Biała TS Podbeskidzie Bielsko-Biała () is a football club based in Bielsko-Biała, Poland. They currently compete in the II liga, after being relegated from the 2023–24 I liga. History The club was essentially founded on 11 July 1997, although ...

GKS Tychy GKS Tychy is a Polish professional football club, based in Tychy, that competes in the Polish I liga. The club was founded in 1971. It played in the Ekstraklasa between 1974–1977 and 1995–1997. Their biggest success was a second-place finish ...

, and

Górnik Łęczna Gornik may refer to one of the following. *Gornik, Pleven Province, a village in Cherven Bryag Municipality, Bulgaria *April Gornik, an American painter *Górnik (meaning "miner" in Polish language, Polish) is a common name of Polish sports teams: ...

. On 28 September 2012, while playing for Widzew, he made his

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 ...

debut in a 1-3 away defeat to

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 ...

; Kowalski appeared from the 37th minute. On 9 July 2019, he joined

Garbarnia Kraków Garbarnia Kraków is a Polish football and sports club from Ludwinów, a historical district of the city of Kraków. The club's name comes from the nearby tannery () of the Dłużyński brothers, which was the original club sponsor. After withdr ...

. His contract with the club expired at the end of June 2021. On 7 July 2021, he signed a one-year contract with

Podhale Nowy Targ Podhale Nowy Targ is a Polish professional ice hockey team based in Nowy Targ, Poland. They currently play in the Polska Hokej Liga The Polska Hokej Liga (''PHL'') is the premier ice hockey league in Poland. The highest professional level of ...

. In July 2022, he joined

, a club with which he won the regional Polish Cup and the

III liga III liga (Trzecia liga), currently named Betclic III liga due to its sponsorship by Betclic, is a Polish football league that sits in the fourth tier of the Polish football league system. Until the end of the 2007–08 season, III liga ref ...

, group IV championship during the 2022–2023 season. Throughout this campaign, he made the most league appearances (31), scored the highest number of goals (13), and registered the greatest number of assists (13) for Stal. In the 2023–24 season, he participated in 29 league fixtures for Stal, scoring two goals, both of which came in a 5–2 victory over

Chojniczanka Chojnice Chojniczanka Chojnice is a Polish football club located in Chojnice, Poland. As of the 2024–25 season, they compete in II liga. The team's colors are yellow, white and red Red is the color at the long wavelength end of the visible spect ...

in the fifth match of the season, along with one appearance in the

Polish Cup The Polish Cup in Association football, football ( ) is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout football competition for Polish football club (association football), football clubs, held continuously since 1950, and is the second most i ...

and two matches in the promotion playoffs to the

I liga I liga (, ), currently named Betclic I liga due to its sponsorship by Betclic, is the men's second professional association football division of the Polish football league system, below the Ekstraklasa and above the II liga via promotion/rel ...

. The season concluded with a 2–0 victory in the playoff final against

KKS 1925 Kalisz Kaliski Klub Sportowy 1925 Kalisz, often shortened to just KKS Kalisz, historically in the past named KKS Włókniarz 1925 Kalisz and Włókniarz Kalisz, is a Polish football club based in Kalisz, Poland. The men's senior team is currently playin ...

, securing Stal's promotion. On 18 December 2024, after having played ten matches in the

2024–25 I liga The 2024–25 I liga (also known as Betclic I liga for sponsorship reasons) is the 77th season of the second tier domestic division in the Polish football league system since its establishment in 1949 and the 17th season of the Polish I liga un ...

, he announced his retirement, effective at the end of the year.

Executive career

Along with Kowalski's retirement, Stal Stalowa Wola announced he would take up the role of the club's

starting from 1 January 2025.

Honours

Podhale Nowy Targ *

(Podhale regionals): 2021–22 Stal Stalowa Wola *

, group IV:

2022–23 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

* Polish Cup (Stalowa Wola regionals): 2022–23

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kowalski, Jakub 1987 births Living people People from Żyrardów Footballers from Masovian Voivodeship Polish men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Unia Skierniewice players Concordia Piotrków Trybunalski players UKS SMS Łódź players Wigry Suwałki players Stomil Olsztyn S.A. players Arka Gdynia players Widzew Łódź players Okocimski KS Brzesko players Ruch Chorzów players Podbeskidzie Bielsko-Biała players GKS Tychy players GKS Górnik Łęczna players Garbarnia Kraków players Podhale Nowy Targ (football) players Stal Stalowa Wola players Ekstraklasa players I liga players II liga players III liga players Polish sports executives and administrators Polish football executives 21st-century Polish sportsmen