Paweł Cyganek

Paweł Cyganek (4 October 1913 – 11 September 1995) was a Polish footballer who played as a forward. In 1939, he made his sole appearance for the Poland national team. Cyganek was born in Wirek, a district of the Upper Silesian city of Ruda Śląska. From early childhood he loved soccer and was a very fast runner, so at age 14 he became a forward on the local team Wawel Wirek.

In the 1930s, Wawel played in Silesian A-Class, the strongest regional league in Poland (in interwar Poland, A-Class was equivalent of today’s I liga). Cyganek was widely regarded as too good for this division, drawing interest from top division teams. Among these were Śląsk Świętochłowice, Ruch Chorzów and Cracovia.

Their offers were refused, but finally, at the beginning of 1939, he decided to move to Fablok Chrzanów, another A-Class team, from the Kraków region. In 1939, his team won Kraków’s qualifiers, which allowed it to play in inter-regional games for promotion to the top flight. On the way, however, Fablok lost to Śląsk Świętochłowice. Cyganek, who was making good money with Fablok, was feeling good there, improving his play virtually every day. After a Kraków – Upper Silesia 4-1 game (mid-1939), his class was noticed by Józef Kałuża, who called him to the national team.