Szymon Piotr Żurkowski (born 25 September 1997) is a Polish 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 plays 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 ...

for Italian club

Spezia La Spezia (, or ; ; , in the local ) is the capital city of the province of La Spezia and is located at the head of the Gulf of La Spezia in the southern part of the Liguria region of Italy. La Spezia is the second-largest city in the Liguri ...

Club career

Żurkowski started his career with Gwarek Zabrze.

Italy

On 28 January 2019, Żurkowski moved to Italian club

Fiorentina ACF Fiorentina, commonly referred to as Fiorentina (), is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football clubs in Italy, club based in Florence, Tuscany. The original team was founded by a merger in August 1926, while ...

on a contract until 30 June 2023. He stayed on loan at Górnik Zabrze for the remainder of the 2018–19 season. On 30 January 2020, he joined

Empoli Empoli () is a town and ''comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Florence, Tuscany, Italy, about southwest of Florence, to the south of the Arno River, Arno in a plain formed by the river. The plain has been usable for agriculture since Ancient Ro ...

on loan. On 1 September 2020, he returned to Empoli for another loan spell, until 30 June 2021. On 12 January 2023, Żurkowski moved to

on another loan, this time with an obligation to buy. On 9 January 2024, for the third time in his career, Żurkowski moved to Empoli on loan until the end of the season. He debuted four days later, scoring once in a 2–1 loss against

Hellas Verona Hellas Verona Football Club, commonly referred to as simply Hellas Verona (), is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football clubs in Italy, club based in Verona, Veneto, that currently plays in Serie A. The team won ...

after coming on as a substitute. Żurkowski scored his first career hat-trick in a 3–0 win over

Monza Monza (, ; ; , locally ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) on the Lambro, River Lambro, a tributary of the Po (river), River Po, in the Lombardy region of Italy, about north-northeast of Milan. It is the capital of the province of Mo ...

on 21 January 2024, becoming the first Polish player to achieve this feat in

Serie A The Serie A (), officially known as Serie A Enilive in Italy and Serie A Made in Italy abroad for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Italy and the highest tier of the Italian football league system. Establish ...

. In June 2024, he underwent ankle surgery, sidelining him for several months. Despite health issues, Żurkowski was sent on yet another loan to Empoli on 31 July 2024, with an option to make the move permanent at the end of the season. He missed the first half of the 2024–25 campaign due to his injured ankle. Żurkowski made five substitute appearances at the start of 2025, before having his season cut short in February by a knee injury, which required surgery in April later that year.

International career

Under-21

During the

2019 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification The 2019 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualifying competition was a men's under-21 football competition that determined the 11 teams joining the automatically qualified hosts Italy in the 2019 UEFA European Under-21 Championship final tourn ...

, from September 2017 to March 2018, Żurkowski played five of the Polish U21's six group games, scoring one goal.

Senior team

In May 2018, Żurkowski was named in the 35-man provisional squad 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 ...

for the

2018 FIFA World Cup The 2018 FIFA World Cup was the 21st FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for national association football, football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Russia from 14 June to 15 July 2018, after the country was awarded t ...

, but was not included in the 23-man squad. On 24 March 2022, he debuted for in a friendly match against

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

. Żurkowski was included in the final 23-man Polish squad for the

2022 FIFA World Cup The 2022 FIFA World Cup was the 22nd FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for national football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Qatar from 20 November to 18 December 2022, after the country was awarded the hosting ri ...

, but did not play in any match.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Empoli *

Serie B The Serie B (), officially known as Serie BKT for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie A. It has been operating for over ninety years since the 1929–30 season. It had b ...

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 ...

Individual * Polish Newcomer of the Year: 2017 *

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 ...

Discovery of the Season: 2017–18

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Zurkowski, Szymon 1997 births Living people Footballers from Tychy Polish men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Poland men's international footballers Poland men's under-21 international footballers III liga players I liga players Ekstraklasa players Serie A players Serie B players Gwarek Zabrze players Górnik Zabrze players ACF Fiorentina players Empoli FC players Spezia Calcio players 2022 FIFA World Cup players Polish expatriate men's footballers Polish expatriate sportspeople in Italy Expatriate men's footballers in Italy 21st-century Polish sportsmen