Ryszard Polak (26 February 1959 – 9 September 2017) 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 lea ...

who played as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People *Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Smal ...

. He is most well known for his spell with

Lechia Gdańsk Lechia Gdańsk () is a Polish football (soccer), football club based in Gdańsk. As of the 2025–26 Ekstraklasa, 2025–26 season, they compete in the Ekstraklasa. The club was founded in 1945 by people Polish population transfers (1944–1946 ...

Biography

Born in

Sopot Sopot (; or ) is a seaside resort city in Pomerelia on the southern coast of the Baltic Sea in northern Poland, with a population of approximately 40,000. It is located in Pomeranian Voivodeship, Pomerania Province and has the City with powiat ri ...

, Polak started his footballing career training with the youth sides of

. He made his Lechia debut on 24 April 1976 aged 17 against Ursus Warsaw. In his first spell with Lechia, he made 52 league appearances, scoring 3 goals. He had a brief spell with

Zawisza Bydgoszcz Zawisza Bydgoszcz () is a sports club from Bydgoszcz, Poland, founded in 1946. Its name commemorates a legendary Polish 15th-century knight, Zawisza Czarny (Zawisza the Black). The club holds many sections: football, track and field athletics, b ...

in 1980 and the whole of 1981 while he did his mandatory military training, making a total of 4 appearances during his time with the club. He returned to Lechia towards the end of the 1981–82 season, being unable to save Lechia from relegation to the third tier. Despite being relegated to the third tier, it was a time which would become an historic period for the club. The 1982–83 season saw Lechia winning the III liga with Polak playing in five games of Lechias winning

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 ...

run, beating

Piast Gliwice Gliwicki Klub Sportowy Piast Gliwice () is a Polish professional football club based in Gliwice. In the 2018–19 season, Piast won its first Polish championship. As of 2025–26, it competes in the Ekstraklasa, Poland's top division. Histo ...

in the final 2–1. The following season Lechia won the

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 ...

final as Lechia won by beating the Polish champions

Lech Poznań Kolejowy Klub Sportowy Lech Poznań S.A., commonly referred to as KKS Lech Poznań or simply Lech Poznań (), is a Polish professional football club based in Poznań and currently competing in the Ekstraklasa, the nation's highest division. ...

1–0, with Polak starting the game. He also played in both games as Lechia faced European footballing giants

Juventus Juventus Football Club (; from , ), commonly known as Juventus or colloquially as Juve (), is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football clubs in Italy, club based in Turin, Piedmont, who compete in Serie A, the ...

in a European competition due to the previous season's cup win. Lechia also won promotion to the top division that season by winning 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 ...

for the 1983–84 season. Polak played 20 times and scored 2 for Lechia the following season in 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 ...

. That season would prove to be his last playing for Lechia, having made his final appearance for the club on 19 July 1985 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 ...

. In total for Lechia he made 143 appearances and scored 22 in all competitions. After his time with Lechia he spent 2 seasons with

Igloopol Dębica LKS Igloopol Dębica () is a Polish sports club from Dębica, Subcarpathian Voivodeship. Their football team currently competes in the IV liga Subcarpathia, the fifth level of the Polish football league system, national football league system. H ...

before moving to Germany. After his move to Germany he was unable to play due to injuries and failing with annual disqualification imposed on him by his native Poland. As a result, he instead played in "Oldboy" teams. He spent his later years working as a scout looking for players with Polish roots to potentially play for the national team. Polak has had a star on Lechia's "Avenue of Stars''" since September 2005. He died on 9 September 2017 aged 58.

Honours

Lechia Gdańsk *

: 1982–83 *

: 1983 * II liga West: 1983–84 * III liga, gr. II: 1982–83

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Polak, Ryszard 1959 births 2017 deaths Polish men's footballers Lechia Gdańsk players Zawisza Bydgoszcz players Igloopol Dębica players Ekstraklasa players I liga players II liga players Men's association football forwards Sportspeople from Sopot Footballers from Pomeranian Voivodeship 20th-century Polish sportsmen