Ryszard Leon Piec (born Richard Leon Pietz; 17 August 1913 – 24 January 1979) was 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 le ...

. Piec spent whole life in his native town of Lipiny, which now today is a district of Świętochłowice, in Upper Silesia. He played for

Naprzód Lipiny GKS Naprzód Świętochłowice Lipiny is a sports club from Świętochłowice's district of Lipiny ( Upper Silesia, Poland), founded in 1920 by Alfons Maniura, who became Naprzód first chairman. Throughout the years, the club for many times ch ...

, a team which, in spite of several attempts, never managed to qualify to the Polish Soccer League. In 1935-39 he represented Poland in 24 matches, scoring 5 goals. His debut took place in 1935 against Yugoslavia. He participated in 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin, where Poland was placed on the 4th position, after losing 2:3 against Norway. During the Olympics, he played in three games - a qualifier versus Hungary (3:0), a quarterfinal versus Great Britain (5:4, he scored a goal) and a semifinal versus Austria (1:3). He also took part in a legendary 1938 World Cup Soccer match Poland - Brazil 5:6 (5 June 1938,

Strasbourg Strasbourg (, , ; german: Straßburg ; gsw, label=Bas Rhin Alsatian, Strossburi , gsw, label=Haut Rhin Alsatian, Strossburig ) is the prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est region of eastern France and the official seat of the Eu ...

, France). During the Second World War German occupiers allowed Upper Silesians to participate in sports tournaments. Piec's club, Naprzód Lipiny, was forced to change its name to Turn und Sport (TUS) Lipine. Ryszard (then known as Richard Pietz), together with his brother

Wilhelm Piec Wilhelm Piec (born Wilhelm Pietz; 2 November 1915 – 4 April 1954) was a Polish soccer forward player. Wilhelm was one of the best players of interwar Poland. Together with his older (and more famous) brother Ryszard Piec, they represented Napr ...

, was a key player in this team. In the 1941-42 season of Germany Cup (DFB-Pokal), TUS Lipine with Piec brothers was a sensation. In round 3 the Silesians beat

Adler Deblin Adler may refer to: Places *Adler, Alabama, an unincorporated community in Perry County *Adler Planetarium, Chicago, Illinois, USA *Adler Township, Nelson County, North Dakota, USA *Adler University, formerly Adler School of Professional Psycholo ...

4:1, then in round 4, TUS Lipine beat Blau-Weiss 90 Berlin 4:1. In the semifinals however, professionals from TSV 1860 Munich proved to be too strong, beating TUS 6:0. After the war Piec continued his career in Naprzód Lipiny, playing until 1951. Since then he was a coach.

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