Veterans to gather at Górnik

By Maciej Iwanski

Marek Kozminski's decision to buy the club he is playing for, Górnik Zabrze, has sent a shimmer of excitement through Polish football. A veteran of the Polish side who finished runners-up to Spain at the 1992 Olympic Games, the 32-year-old is aiming to return the Ekstraklasa team to glory with the help of a few old friends.

Hungry nation
It is hard for those outside Poland to imagine how important that young team of 1992 was to a country hungry for footballing success. They defeated Italy 3-0 in the group section and only a last-minute goal saw them beaten 3-2 by hosts Spain in the final.

Important break
Participation in the tournament proved to be an important break for Kozminski who was spotted by scouts and moved to Italy to play for Udinese Calcio, becoming the only Pole in Serie A at that time. In three seasons at Udinese, Kozminski make 84 Serie A appearances before a serious injury and the arrival of other players in his position left him surplus to requirements.

On to Brescia
He then joined another Italian side, Brescia Calcio, with whom he appeared in both Serie A and Serie B while also playing for the Polish national team. All seemed to be going well as Poland warmed up for the 2002 FIFA World Cup finals, by when - with his Brescia contract expiring - Kozminski had moved to Serie B side Ancona Calcio to get valuable match practice.

World Cup woe
However, when Jerzy Engel's side flopped at the finals, a full ten years after Kozminski's first national success with the Olympic team, it proved to be a dramatic crossroads in the player's career. Leaving Italy after almost a decade, he briefly signed for Greek club FC PAOK Thessaloniki before departing in a dispute over unpaid wages. After that, the best option was a return to Poland and Górnik.

Family ties
His connections with the club were extremely strong. His father, Zbigniew, is the Górnik president, and as the two were reunited, an ambitious plan to resurrect the club's fortunes was hatched. Having earned enough in Italy to cover the club's €1.5m annual running costs, Marek Kozminski decided to take a 52 per cent share in Górnik after playing for them for six months and is now building for the future.

Swierczewski switch
He has been joined there by another member of Poland's ill-fated World Cup squad, Piotr Swierczewski, who recently quit French side Olympique de Marseille and immediately signed up with Górnik. "I have a deal with Marek," he said. "We, the players who won the World Cup place for Poland, all have. Next season we will go back to Poland and fight together at Górnik for the championship."

Dramatic promise
Whether this dramatic promise will be fulfilled remains to be seen, but with the remnants of Engel's old national squad still smarting from their disappointment in Korea/Japan, the old wolves of Poland are hungry for more. And with the Ekstraklasa badly in need of some good news after a summer of financial hardship for many of Poland's most famous clubs, Kozminski's ambitious move may yet reignite the passion of the Olympic heroes of 1992.