Zbigniew Boniek
Sunday, January 2, 2011
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Nationality: Polish
Date of birth: 3 March 1956
Association president since: 2012
• A Polish footballing great, Zbigniew Boniek started his career at Zawisza Bydgoszcz before winning two Polish titles at Widzew Łódź, scoring 50 league goals in 172 games. The forward joined Juventus ahead of the 1982 FIFA World Cup, and won a league title, the 1983/84 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup and the 1984/85 European Champion Clubs' Cup with the Turin side before ending his playing career at AS Roma in 1988.
• Boniek made his national team debut at the age of 20 and played in the 1978, 1982 and 1986 World Cup finals, shining brightest in 1982 in Spain, where he scored a hat-trick against Belgium as Poland went on to finish third. He scored 24 goals in 80 games for his country.
• Having coached US Lecce and AS Bari among others in Italy, Boniek served as vice-president of the Polish Football Association (PZPN) from 1999 to 2002, when he briefly coached the national team. He was elected president of the PZPN in October 2012 and said: "We have many things to do. One of the most important is to rebuild our system of children's football education." Boniek won another four-year term in October 2016.
