Włodzimierz Smolarek

Włodzimierz Wojciech Smolarek (16 July 1957 – 7 March 2012) was a Polish footballer who played as a winger or an attacking midfielder.

Włodzimierz Smolarek

Personal information
Full name	Włodzimierz Smolarek
Date of birth	(1957-07-16)16 July 1957
Place of birth	Aleksandrów Łódzki, Poland
Date of death	7 March 2012(2012-03-07) (aged 54)
Place of death	Aleksandrów Łódzki, Poland
Height	1.71 m (5 ft 7+1⁄2 in)
Position(s)	Winger, attacking midfielder
Youth career
	Włókniarz Aleksandrów Łódzki
1973–1976	Widzew Łódź
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1976–1977	Widzew Łódź	0	(0)
1978	Legia Warsaw	18	(4)
1979–1986	Widzew Łódź	181	(61)
1986–1988	Eintracht Frankfurt	63	(13)
1988–1990	Feyenoord	46	(13)
1990–1996	Utrecht	166	(32)
Total		474	(123)
International career
1980–1992	Poland	60	(13)
Managerial career
2000–2009	Feyenoord (youth)
Medal record Men's football Representing  Poland FIFA World Cup 1982 Spain
* Club domestic league appearances and goals

He played most of his 20-year professional career with Widzew Łódź and Utrecht, appearing in more than 200 official games for the former. He amassed Eredivisie totals of 212 matches and 45 goals, over the course of eight seasons.

Smolarek represented Poland in two World Cups, earning 60 caps. In 1984 and 1986, he won the Polish Footballer of the Year Award of the Piłka Nożna football weekly.^[1]

Club career

Born in Aleksandrów Łódzki, Smolarek played for Widzew Łódź and Legia Warsaw in his country. He won the Ekstraklasa championship with the former side in 1981 and 1982, as well as the 1985 Polish Cup.

In 1986, aged 29, Smolarek was allowed to leave the Iron Curtain nation, starting with Eintracht Frankfurt in the Bundesliga where he won the German Cup in his second season, playing the full 90 minutes in the 1–0 win against VfL Bochum.^[2] He retired at 39 after eight years in the Netherlands, with Feyenoord and FC Utrecht, then went on to work with the first club as youth coach for nearly one decade.

International career

Smolarek made his debut for the Poland national team on 12 October 1980, in a 1–2 friendly loss in Argentina. Over the next 12 years he appeared in a further 59 internationals, being selected for the squads at two FIFA World Cups: in 1982 he helped the country finish third in Spain, scoring the opener in a 5–1 first group stage win against Peru. Four years later, celebrating his 50th appearance, he netted the only goal in the group phase contest against Portugal (his 12th and penultimate) in an eventual round-of-16 exit.^[3]

In October 2009, Smolarek was hired by the Polish Football Association to oversee the national side's youth program.^[4]

Smolarek behind the Polish flag

Career statistics

Club

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition

Club	Season	League			Cup		Europe		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Legia Warsaw	1977–78[5]	Ekstraklasa	3	0	0	0	–		3	0
	1978–79[5]	Ekstraklasa	15	4	2	2	–		17	6
	Total		18	4	2	2	–		20	6
Widzew Łódź	1978–79[6]	Ekstraklasa	4	0	–		–		4	0
	1979–80[7]	Ekstraklasa	26	9	2	0	2[a]	0	30	9
	1980–81[8]	Ekstraklasa	25	6	2	0	6[a]	1	33	7
	1981–82[9]	Ekstraklasa	28	10	3	0	2[b]	2	33	12
	1982–83[10]	Ekstraklasa	20	10	1	0	5[b]	1	26	11
	1983–84[11]	Ekstraklasa	23	8	2	1	3[a]	0	28	9
	1984–85[12]	Ekstraklasa	29	8	6	2	4[a]	1	39	11
	1985–86[13]	Ekstraklasa	26	10	2	1	2[c]	0	30	11
	Total		181	61	18	4	24	5	223	70
Eintracht Frankfurt	1986–87[14]	Bundesliga	30	4	3	1	–		33	5
	1987–88[15]	Bundesliga	33	9	6	2	–		39	11
	Total		63	13	9	3	–		72	16
Feyenoord	1988–89[16]	Eredivisie	31	10	?	2	–		31+	12
	1989–90[16]	Eredivisie	15	3	?	0	1[a]	0	16+	3
	Total		46	13	?	2	1	0	47+	15
Utrecht	1989–90[16]	Eredivisie	15	0	–		–		15	0
	1990–91[16]	Eredivisie	32	11	?	1	–		32+	12
	1991–92[16]	Eredivisie	31	8	?	1	4[a]	3	35+	12
	1992–93[16]	Eredivisie	33	9	2	3	–		35	12
	1993–94[16]	Eredivisie	30	1	1	1	–		31	2
	1994–95[16]	Eredivisie	23	3	?	0	–		23+	3
	1995–96[16]	Eredivisie	2	0	?	0	–		2+	0
	Total		166	32	?	6	4	3	173+	41
Poland total			199	65	20	6	24	5	243	76
Netherlands total			212	45	?	8	5	3	220+	56
Career total			474	123	32+	17	29	8	535+	148

1. Appearances in UEFA Cup
2. Appearances in European Cup
3. Appearances in European Cup Winners' Cup

International

^[3]

Poland
Year	Apps	Goals
1980	3	1
1981	9	4
1982	8	2
1983	5	1
1984	11	2
1985	10	1
1986	8	1
1987	3	1
1988	2	0
1989	0	0
1990	0	0
1991	0	0
1992	1	0
Total	60	13

International goals

Poland score listed first, score column indicates score after each Smolarek goal.^[3]

#	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1.	7 December 1980	Empire Stadium, Gżira, Malta	Malta	1–0	2–0	1982 World Cup qualification
2.	10 October 1981	Zentrastadion, Leipzig, East Germany	East Germany	2–0	3–2
3.				3–1	3–2
4.	15 November 1981	Olympic Stadium, Wrocław, Poland	Malta	2–0	6–0
5.				4–0	6–0
6.	22 June 1982	Estadio Riazor, A Coruña, Spain	Peru	1–0	5–1	1982 FIFA World Cup
7.	8 September 1982	Olympic Stadium, Helsinki, Finland	Finland	1–0	3–2	Euro 1984 qualifying
8.	17 April 1983	10th-Anniversary Stadium, Warsaw, Poland	Finland	1–0	1–1
9.	17 October 1984	Municipal Stadium, Zabrze, Poland	Greece	1–1	3–1	1986 World Cup qualification
10.	31 October 1984	Municipal Stadium, Mielec, Poland	Albania	1–0	2–2
11.	19 May 1985	Olympic Stadium, Athens, Greece	Greece	1–0	4–1
12.	7 June 1986	Estadio Universitario, San Nicolás de los Garza, Mexico	Portugal	1–0	1–0	1986 FIFA World Cup
13.	17 May 1987	Népstadion, Budapest, Hungary	Hungary	2–1	3–5	Euro 1988 qualifying

Personal life

Smolarek was married to Zdzisława, fathering sons Euzebiusz and Mariusz. The former was also a footballer and a forward, who also represented Feyenoord and Poland and also had a three-year spell with Borussia Dortmund.^[17]

Smolarek died on 7 March 2012 at the age of 54, in his hometown, Aleksandrów Łódzki.^[18][19]

Honours

Widzew Łódź^[20]

• Ekstraklasa: 1980–81, 1981–82
• Polish Cup: 1984–85

Eintracht Frankfurt

• DFB-Pokal: 1987–88^[20]

Poland

• FIFA World Cup third place: 1982^[20]

Individual

• Order of Polonia Restituta Knight's Cross^[21]
• Piłka Nożna Polish Footballer of the Year: 1984, 1986^[22]