Krzysztof Ratajczyk (born 9 November 1973) 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 defender.

Club career

He started his career at

Warta Poznań Warta Poznań () is a multi-sports club based in Poznań, Poland. The name means ''the Guard'' in Polish and also the name of the river Warta on which Poznań is located. As of the 2025–26 II liga, 2025–26 season, they compete in the II liga, ...

. After five years at

Legia Warsaw Legia Warszawa (), commonly referred to as Legia Warsaw or simply Legia, is a professional football club based in Warsaw, Poland. Legia is the most successful Polish football club in history, winning a record 15 champions titles, a record 2 ...

, he moved to

Rapid Wien Sportklub Rapid (), commonly known as Rapid Wien or Rapid Vienna in English, is an Austrian professional football club playing in the country's capital city of Vienna. Rapid has won the most Austrian championship titles (32), including the f ...

in 1996, where he was most successful. He was very popular , especially because of his hard style to play (for example: he knocked an opponent forward into the third seat row in a pre-season match) and became captain of the side. Although Rapid renewed his contract despite many long-term injuries, Ratajczyk moved in 2002 (as skipper of the team) to bitter rivals

Austria Wien Fußballklub Austria Wien AG (), known in English as Austria Vienna, and Austria Wien in German-speaking countries, is an Austrian professional association football club from the capital city of Vienna. It has won the most trophies of any Aust ...

. As a result of this "betrayal", feelings ran high and he was beaten down by four Rapid fans. Ratajczyk joined

SV Mattersburg SV Mattersburg was an Austrian association football club from Mattersburg, Burgenland. History The club was formed in 1922 and played its home games at the 17,100 capacity Pappelstadion. The club played in the Bundesliga The Bunde ...

in 2005, where he spent two years. In January 2008 he had no contract until the Red Zac league

SC Schwanenstadt SC Schwanenstadt was an Austrian football club from Schwanenstadt, Upper Austria Upper Austria ( ; ; ) is one of the nine States of Austria, states of Austria. Its capital is Linz. Upper Austria borders Germany and the Czech Republic, as wel ...

offered him one. After Schwanenstadt's demise, he moved to FAC Team für Wien in the ''Regionalliga''.

International career

He made his debut for

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

in an August 1994 friendly match against

Belarus Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Belarus spans an a ...

and went on to earn 16 caps, scoring 3 goals.

Honours

Legia Warsaw *

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 ...

: 1993–94, 1994–95 *

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 ...

: 1993–94, 1994–95 *

Polish Super Cup The Polish Super Cup (, ) is an annually held match between the champions of the Ekstraklasa and the Polish Cup winners or, if the Ekstraklasa champions also win the Polish Cup, the Cup's runners-up. As of 2024, the Polish Super Cup has been ...

: 1994 Austria Wien *

Austrian Bundesliga The Bundesliga ( , "Federal League"), also known as Admiral Bundesliga for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Austria and the highest level of the Austrian football league system. The competition decides the A ...

: 2002–03 *

Austrian Cup The Austrian Cup (), known as UNIQA ÖFB Cup for sponsorship purposes, is an annual football competition held by the Austrian Football Association, the ÖFB. During the 2008–09 season, Austria Wien won the tournament for a record 27th time. Wo ...

: 2002–03, 2004–05 *

Austrian Supercup The Austrian Supercup (German: ÖFB-Supercup) was a football competition held annually from 1986 until 2004 between the winners of the Austrian Football Bundesliga and the Austrian Cup. 19 editions were played during the short history of the com ...

: 2003 Poland U16 *

UEFA European Under-16 Championship The UEFA European Under-17 Championship, or simply the Euro Under-17, is an annual Association football, football competition contested by the men's under-17 national teams of the UEFA member associations. Spain national under-17 football team, ...

third place:

1990 Important events of 1990 include the Reunification of Germany and the unification of Yemen, the formal beginning of the Human Genome Project (finished in 2003), the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope, the separation of Namibia from South ...

References

External links

* *
Player profile
- Austria Archive

- Rapid Archive 1973 births Living people Footballers from Poznań Polish men's footballers Poland men's youth international footballers Poland men's international footballers Men's association football defenders Warta Poznań players Legia Warsaw players SK Rapid Wien players FK Austria Wien players SV Mattersburg players SC Schwanenstadt players Floridsdorfer AC players Ekstraklasa players Austrian Football Bundesliga players 2. Liga (Austria) players Austrian Regionalliga players Polish expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Austria Polish expatriate sportspeople in Austria {{Poland-footy-defender-1970s-stub