Radosław Jan Cierzniak (; born 24 April 1983) 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

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...

Club career

Born in

Szamocin Szamocin () is a town in Chodzież County, Greater Poland Voivodeship, Poland. History ''Szamoczino'' in the Piast-ruled Kingdom of Poland was first mentioned in a 1364 deed, although it surely existed earlier and was probably founded in the ...

, Cierzniak started his career in the 2001–02 season. In 2002, he joined

Volyn Lutsk FC Volyn Lutsk ( ) was a Ukrainian association football, football club based in Lutsk. Since its establishment in 1960, the club became the only major (professional) football club within Volyn Oblast and uncontested leader of football in the reg ...

on a one-year contract but lack of opportunities led him to returning to Poland by joining

Stomil Olsztyn Stomil Olsztyn S.A., historically known and played under the names OKS 1945 Olsztyn and OKS Stomil Olsztyn, is a Polish football club based in Olsztyn. In the 2025–26 season, they will compete in the IV liga Warmia-Masuria after suffering thei ...

, where he made 13 appearances. He then joined Aluminium Konin, where he became first choice goalkeeper and made 29 appearances. The club would finish in second place in the league. After 29 appearances at Aluminium Konin, he signed for

Amica Wronki Amica Wronki was a Polish football club based in Wronki, Poland. The club was invariably linked to Amica, a manufacturer of white goods, predominantly stoves, which gave the club its nickname. The company's increasing profits gave the new te ...

. He made his UEFA Cup debut against French side

Auxerre Auxerre ( , , Burgundian language (Oïl), Burgundian: ''Auchoirre'') is the capital (Prefectures in France, prefecture) of the Yonne Departments of France, department and the fourth-largest city in the Burgundy historical region southeast of Par ...

, coming on as substitute for

Arkadiusz Malarz Arkadiusz Marcin Malarz (; born 19 June 1980) is a Polish former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Since June 2022, he is a goalkeeping coach for Legia Warsaw. Playing for his former club, Skoda Xanthi, he kept clean sheets i ...

after he had been injured, but only nine minutes later, Cierzniak was sent off for professional foul. On 20 April 2005, he made his league debut in a 2–2 draw against

Odra Wodzisław Odra may refer to: Rivers * Odra (Baltic Sea), better known as Oder, a river in the Czech Republic, Poland and Germany * Odra (Kupa), a river in Croatia * Odra (Pisuerga), a river in Spain Populated places * Odra, Silesian Voivodeship, a vill ...

. The following season, he became the first-choice goalkeeper for the club. In 2006 Amica Wronki merged with

Lech Poznan Lech is an English word referring to lecherous behavior or person. Lech may also refer to: People * Lech (name), a name of Polish origin * Lech, founder of Poland, the figure from the legendary Lech, Czech, and Rus * Lech (Bohemian prince) (d. 8 ...

. Cierzniak made his Lech Poznán debut in the

UEFA Intertoto Cup The UEFA Intertoto Cup (from , "between" and , " betting pool"),Most precisely, from ( football pool); cf. originally called the International Football Cup, was a summer football competition between European clubs. The competition was dis ...

in a 3–1 loss against

Tiraspol Tiraspol (, ; also /; , ; , ) is the capital and largest city of Transnistria, a breakaway state of Moldova, where it is the third-largest city. The city is located on the eastern bank of the Dniester River. Tiraspol is a regional hub of cul ...

on 8 July 2006. However, he rarely featured in the first team as

Krzysztof Kotorowski Krzysztof Kotorowski (born 12 September 1976) is a Polish former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He currently works as a goalkeeping coach for Lech Poznań's academy. Career Kotorowski was a product of Olimpia Poznań's yout ...

took the goalkeeping position. After six months at Lech Poznań, he joined

Korona Kielce Korona Kielce (, Korona – ''Crown'' – symbol of club and city, Kielce – name of city where club is based) is a Polish professional football club based in Kielce, competing in Ekstraklasa in the 2025–26 season. From 2002 to ...

. On 28 April 2007, he made his debut in a 1–0 loss against Odra Wodzisław. Three season later, Cierzniak lost his first team place to

Zbigniew Małkowski Zbigniew "Zibi" Małkowski (born 19 January 1978) is a Polish professional football coach and former player who played as a goalkeeper. He works as a goalkeeping coach for Stomil Olsztyn. Club career Hibernian 'Zibi' first appeared for Hiber ...

, which resulted in him leaving the club when his contract expired on 31 December 2010. On 12 January 2011, he signed a one-year contract with Cypriot club

Alki Larnaca Alki Larnaca (, ''ALKI Larnakas'') was a Cypriot football club based in the town of Larnaca. The club was founded in 1948 and it was dissolved on the 6th of May 2014 due to financial issues. The club's colours were blue and red. They reached th ...

. By the end of the season, he had made 21 appearances. Cierzniak agreed a two-year contract with

Scottish Premier League The Scottish Premier League (SPL) was the Scottish football league system, top-level league competition for professional Association football, football clubs in Scotland. The league was founded in 1998, when it broke away from the Scottish Foo ...

club

Dundee United Dundee United Football Club is a Scotland, Scottish professional association football, football club based in the city of Dundee. Formed in 1909, originally as Dundee Hibernian, the club changed to the present name in 1923. United are nickname ...

in February 2012, due to start in the summer. He joined

KS Cracovia Cracovia () is a Polish professional Association football, football club based in Kraków. The club is five-time Polish champion, besides being the inaugural Polish champion, winner of the Polish Cup and the Polish Super Cup in 2020. Founded in ...

in his homeland on a three-month deal in preparation for his move to Dundee United. Cierzniak made his debut for Cracovia on 23 March 2012 in a 3–1 loss against

Górnik Zabrze Górnik Zabrze Spółka Akcyjna, commonly referred to as Górnik Zabrze S.A. or simply Górnik Zabrze (), is a Polish association football, football club from Zabrze. Górnik is one of the most successful Polish football clubs in history, winning ...

. On 2 August 2012, Cierzniak made his debut for Dundee United, in the third qualifying round of the

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (UEL), usually known simply as the Europa League, is an annual association football, football club competition organised since 1971 by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European footb ...

as United drew 2–2 draw against Russian team

Dynamo Moscow MGO VFSO "Dynamo" (), commonly known as Dynamo Moscow (), is a Russian sports club based in Moscow. Founded by Felix Dzerzhinsky on 18 April 1923, Dynamo Moscow was the first institution created from the All-Union Dynamo Sports Club. Dynamo Mosco ...

However, Dynamo Moscow would thrash Dundee United 5–0 in the second leg, eliminating the club from the Europa League. On 5 August 2012, he made his league debut in a 3–0 win over

Hibernian Hibernian may refer to: * Of Hibernia, Latin name for Ireland; hence ** Irish (disambiguation) Hibernian, Hibernians or The Hibernian may refer to: Sports clubs * Hibernian F.C., a Scottish football club, founded 1875 * Hibernian W.F.C., a Sc ...

, where he got his first clean sheet. In the next league match, a

derby Derby ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area on the River Derwent, Derbyshire, River Derwent in Derbyshire, England. Derbyshire is named after Derby, which was its original co ...

against

Dundee Dundee (; ; or , ) is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, fourth-largest city in Scotland. The mid-year population estimate for the locality was . It lies within the eastern central Lowlands on the north bank of the Firt ...

, which Dundee United won 3–0, he made a double save from Nicky Riley to prevent Dundee taking an early lead. After the match, teammate

Willo Flood William Robert Flood (born 10 April 1985) is an Irish former professional association football, footballer who played as a midfielder. He earned 15 Cap (sport), caps for his country at Republic of Ireland national under-20 football team, under-2 ...

praised Cierzniak's performance. Cierzniak said he was delighted to have experienced his first ever derby. Having been established as the club's first choice goalkeeper throughout the season, on 6 March 2013, Cierzniak signed a new contract at Dundee United, keeping him at the club until May 2015. Upon signing the new contract, United Manager

Jackie McNamara Jackie McNamara (born 24 October 1973) is a Scottish professional Association football, football Sports agent, agent, and former football player, player, Manager (association football), manager and executive. He won 33 international caps playin ...

said on the club's website: ''"This extension is merited because Rado has shown that he is an excellent SPL goalkeeper."''

International career

Cierzniak debuted for the Poland national team in a friendly versus

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

in February 2009.

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 ...

: 2016–17, 2017–18, 2019–20,

2020–21 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 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 ...

: 2017–18 Individual * Ekstraklasa Save of the Season: 2015–16

References

External links

* *
National team stats
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cierzniak, Radoslaw 1983 births Living people People from Szamocin Footballers from Greater Poland Voivodeship Polish men's footballers Men's association football goalkeepers Poland men's international footballers Ukrainian First League players Ekstraklasa players I liga players III liga players Cypriot First Division players Scottish Premier League players Scottish Professional Football League players Obra Kościan players Amica Wronki players Lech Poznań players Korona Kielce players FC Volyn Lutsk players FC Karpaty Lviv players FC Karpaty-2 Lviv players Alki Larnaca FC players Dundee United F.C. players Wisła Kraków players Legia Warsaw players Legia Warsaw II players Polish expatriate men's footballers Polish expatriate sportspeople in Ukraine Expatriate men's footballers in Ukraine Polish expatriate sportspeople in Cyprus Expatriate men's footballers in Cyprus Polish expatriate sportspeople in Scotland Expatriate men's footballers in Scotland 21st-century Polish sportsmen