Rafał Ruta (born 24 October 1972) is 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 lea ...

who played as a

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

Biography

Born on 24 October 1974, in

Wieluń Wieluń () is a town in south-central Poland with 21,624 inhabitants (2021). The town is the seat of the Gmina Wieluń and Wieluń County, and is located within the Łódź Voivodeship. Wieluń is a capital of the historical Wieluń Land. W ...

, Ruta started his career playing with local IV liga side Motor Praszka. After six months into his professional career, Ruta secured himself a move to

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 ...

side

Stal Mielec FKS Stal Mielec, commonly known as Stal Mielec (), is a Polish professional football club based in Mielec. The team competes in the I liga, the second level of the Polish football league system. The club was established on 10 April 1939. Histori ...

. Despite failing to make an appearance in his first six months at the club, he soon became an important player for Stal over the next few years. He made his Stal and I liga debut on 26 August 1989, playing in a 1–0 win against

ŁKS Łódź ŁKS Łódź (''Łódzki Klub Sportowy Łódź''; ) is a Polish sports club based in Łódź. They are best known for their football club but are represented in many sports such as basketball, volleyball, boxing, and in the past ice hockey, ...

. For a total of 7 seasons, Ruta was a consistent starter for Stal, playing in 177 I liga games and scoring 8 goals during this time. In January 1996, Ruta joined fellow I liga team Olimpia-Lechia Gdańsk, making his debut against Stomil Olsztyn on 24 March 1996. Ruta made a total of 15 appearances and scored once during the six months he was a player for Olimpia-Lechia, with the team struggling during this time and eventually suffering relegation at the end of the season. After Olimpia-Lechia's relegation led to the club being dissolved, Ruta joined 10 other former Olimpia-Lechia players in joining

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 ...

for the upcoming season. In his first season with Polonia, he made 20 appearances in the I liga, before his influence on the first team decreased, making a further 15 appearances combined over the following 2 seasons. After his three seasons in the Polish capital, Ruta joined II liga side Ceramika Opoczno for the 1999–2000 season. He made 35 appearances and scored three goals for Ceramika during his one season with the club. Ruta returned to the I liga with

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 ...

for the following season, playing 27 times and scoring a single goal with Odra. Ruta then returned to

but managed to only make 2 appearances during the season, eventually finding himself playing for the Polonia II team for the second half of the season. After his disappointing return to Polonia, Ruta joined Świt Nowy Dwór Mazowiecki. He had an impressive season with Świt, playing 28 times and scoring five goals for the club. At the end of the season, Świt was involved in a promotion play-off with Szczakowianka Jaworzno. Świt won 1–0, but the result was investigated for match fixing, with the final outcome including the lifetime bans of footballing activities in Poland for six players, one of them being Ruta. Due to the lifetime ban in his home country, Ruta moved to the United States, playing for Polonia Mielec Chicago SC over the following four seasons before finally retiring from playing.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ruta, Rafał 1974 births Living people People from Wieluń Footballers from Łódź Voivodeship Polish men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Stal Mielec players Lechia Gdańsk players Polonia Warsaw players Ceramika Opoczno players Odra Wodzisław Śląski players Świt Nowy Dwór Mazowiecki players Ekstraklasa players I liga players Polish expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States Polish expatriate sportspeople in the United States