Władysław Szczepaniak

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Wladyslaw Szczepaniak (May 19, 1910 in Warsaw, Poland - May 6, 1979 in Warsaw) was a Polish soccer player, a defender, for the whole career played for Polonia Warszawa, where he was a captain. Szczepaniak was one of Polonia’s symbols, also he played several games in the Poland national football team.

His Polish Soccer League debiut took place in 1928 and at first Szczepaniak was a forward player. After a few years he moved to defense, becoming one of the pillars of Polonia’s team as well as its captain. His debut for the Polish national football team occurred in 1930, during a game versus Sweden. His career lasted for almost 20 years. His last game, in 1947, was also against Sweden.

Altogether, in Polish jersey Szczepaniak played for 34 matches, and in most cases was the captain. He participated in the 1936 Summer Olympics, where Poland finished fourth. Also, he was captain in the legendary 1938 FIFA World Cup game of Poland versus Brazil. The game occurred on June 5, 1938 in Strasburg, France and Poland lost 5-6.