Janusz "John" Kowalik (born 26 March 1944) is a Polish former football manager and player who played as a striker. A prolific scorer in the European leagues and the North American Soccer League, he was the 1968 NASL MVP.
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| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||
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| Full name | Janusz Antoni Kowalik | ||||||||||||||||
| Date of birth | 26 March 1944 | ||||||||||||||||
| Place of birth | Nowy Sącz, Poland | ||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.70 m (5 ft 7 in) | ||||||||||||||||
| Position(s) | Striker | ||||||||||||||||
| Senior career* | |||||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) | ||||||||||||||
| 1960–1967 | Cracovia | ||||||||||||||||
| 1968 | Chicago Mustangs | 28 | (30) | ||||||||||||||
| 1968 | California Clippers | 0 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
| 1969–1974 | Sparta Rotterdam | 123 | (67) | ||||||||||||||
| 1974–1976 | NEC | 31 | (6) | ||||||||||||||
| 1976 | Chicago Sting | 14 | (9) | ||||||||||||||
| 1976–1977 | MVV | 9 | (2) | ||||||||||||||
| 1977 | Chicago Sting | 6 | (1) | ||||||||||||||
| 1977–1979 | MVV | 55 | (24) | ||||||||||||||
| 1979–1980 | Patro Eisden | ||||||||||||||||
| International career | |||||||||||||||||
| Poland U18 | |||||||||||||||||
| 1965–1966 | Poland | 6 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
| Managerial career | |||||||||||||||||
| 1979–1980 | Patro Eisden | ||||||||||||||||
| 1981–1982 | Eendracht Rotem | ||||||||||||||||
| 1982–1984 | Genk | ||||||||||||||||
| 1985–1986 | Vitesse | ||||||||||||||||
| 1987–1989 | Nigeria U23 | ||||||||||||||||
| 1987–1989 | Enugu Rangers | ||||||||||||||||
| 1989–1991 | Ionikos | ||||||||||||||||
| 1992 | Górnik Zabrze | ||||||||||||||||
| 1995–1996 | KFC Eeklo | ||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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| *Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||||||||||||||||
Player
editClub career
editKowalik was born in Nowy Sącz. In 1968, the owners of the Chicago Mustangs of the North American Soccer League (NASL) signed Kowalik. That season, he led the league in scoring with thirty goals in twenty-eight games. This led to his selection as the league MVP and a first team All Star.[1] At the end of the season, he moved to the California Clippers. However, the NASL lost most of its teams with all west coast teams, but the Clippers, folding. The Clippers decided to leave the NASL, join a local league and exist on playing exhibition games against foreign teams. In January 1969, the team ownership decided to cease operations.
In 1969, Kowalik returned to Europe where he signed with Sparta Rotterdam of the Dutch Eredivisie. In 1974, he moved to NEC for one season.
Kowalik returned to the NASL with the Chicago Sting in 1975, where he played fourteen games, scoring nine goals in 1976.
He then returned to the Netherlands to play with MVV Maastricht.
In 1977, he returned to the Sting where he scored only one goal in an unknown number of games.[2]
In the 1978–79 season he returned to MVV.
International career
editHe was capped 6 times for the Poland national team.
Coaching career
editKowalik later coached Vitesse Arnhem, Górnik Zabrze and Rangers International of Enugu.
Honours
editPoland U18
- UEFA European Under-18 Championship runner-up: 1961[3]
References
edit- ^ "The Year in American Soccer - 1968". Archived from the original on 26 July 2015. Retrieved 14 June 2010.
- ^ Chicago Sting All Time Scoring Records Archived 25 February 2005 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Janusz Kowalik". 90minut.pl (in Polish). Retrieved 3 August 2024.
External links
edit- NASL stats
- Janusz Kowalik at 90minut.pl (in Polish)
- Janusz Kowalik at Voetbal International (in Dutch)
- Janusz Kowalik at National-Football-Teams.com