Mirosław Szymkowiak

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Personal information
Mirosław Szymkowiak

Full name	Mirosław Szymkowiak
Date of birth	December 11, 1976 (1976-12-11) (age 31)
Place of birth	Poznań, Poland
Height	1.79 m (5 ft 10+¹⁄₂ in)
Playing position	Playmaker
Club information
Current club	retired
Senior clubs¹
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1992-1995 1995-2000 2000-2004 2005-2007	Olimpia Poznań Widzew Łódź Wisła Kraków Trabzonspor	19 (3) 132 (11) 91 (13) 41 (14)
National team²
1997-2007	Poland	31 (3)
¹ Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of June 20, 2006. ² National team caps and goals correct as of June 20, 2006. * Appearances (Goals)

Mirosław Szymkowiak (born 12 November 1976 in Poznań, Poland) was a Polish footballer playing last for Turkish club Trabzonspor. Szymkowiak was also a member of the Poland national football team.

He first started playing at Olimpia Poznań, where he played from 1992 until 1994, when he joined Widzew Łódź. He remained there for five and a half years, when he left to join Wisła Kraków in the middle of the 2000/01 season. He helped them to win the championship in his first season, and to two further championships in 2003 and 2004. In January 2005, he joined the Turkish club Trabzonspor.

He has been extremely impressive in his time for Trabzonspor, displaying a level of passion that is not expected from new arrivals in a foreign country. In his first six months at Trabzonspor he scored nine goals in fifteen starts, and integrated himself into the team so well that by the end of the season he was already regarded as a successful signing.

His qualities lie in his wide ranging abilities that enable him to not only operate in a defensive capacity, but to run the play through midfield and to join in the attacking too. He displays an extremely capable passing game but has recently developed into an extremely efficient finisher too.

Szymkowiak finished his career due to health reasons. In an interview for a polish portal he said: "I'm just turning 31, and already I've gone through 8 surgeries! I've got 4 screws in both my knees, one in my ankle. They (doctors) removed one I had in the shoulder, but I also have two titanium nets in my groins. I feel older than my dad, and in a couple of years time I'd like to walk like a normal person."[1]

As well as playing for Trabzonspor, Szymkowiak has appeared 31 times and scored three goals for Poland. He was selected to the 23-men squad that competed at the 2006 FIFA World Cup finals in Germany.

He has recently announced that he retired from football.[2]

Szymkowiak is working now as a pitch reporter for Canal+ Poland. His debut as a reporter was an Orange Ekstraklasa game between GKS Bełchatów and Zagłębie Lubin on April 5th 2007.[3]. He also owns two beauty salons in Kraków.

In late 2007 he was linked with his old club Widzew Lodz and has been seen training with them, no contract has been signed yet though.

v • d • e Poland squad - 2006 FIFA World Cup

1 Boruc • 2 Jop • 3 Gancarczyk • 4 Baszczyński • 5 Kosowski • 6 Bąk • 7 Sobolewski • 8 Krzynówek • 9 Żurawski • 10 Szymkowiak • 11 Rasiak • 12 Kuszczak • 13 Mila • 14 Żewłakow • 15 Smolarek • 16 Radomski • 17 Dudka • 18 Lewandowski • 19 Bosacki • 20 Giza • 21 Jeleń • 22 Fabiański • 23 Brożek • Coach: Janas