Henryk Kasperczak

Henryk Wojciech Kasperczak (born 10 July 1946) is a Polish former professional football manager and player.

As a player, Kasperczak took part in two FIFA World Cups with Poland, achieving third place in 1974, as well as a silver medal at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. In 1976 and 1977, he was the winner of the Polish Footballer of the Year Award conferred by the Piłka Nożna football weekly.

As a manager, Kasperczak enjoyed most success in the African Cup of Nations, securing second place with Tunisia in 1996, third with Ivory Coast (1994) and fourth with Mali (2002).

Club career Kasperczak was born in Zabrze. With Stal Mielec, Kasperczak won two Ekstraklasa title in his native Poland. He had also played for the reserve team of Legia Warsaw, before ending his career in FC Metz.

International career He played for Poland at the 1974 FIFA World Cup, securing third place; at the 1976 Summer Olympics, where the team won the silver medal, and at the 1978 FIFA World Cup.

Coaching career

Kasperczak spent the first fifteen years (1978–1993) of his coaching career in France, managing FC Metz, AS Saint-Étienne, Racing Strasbourg, Racing Club de Paris, Montpellier HSC and Lille OSC. His biggest success was winning Coupe de France with FC Metz in 1984.

Next, Kaspeczak managed two African national teams: first, Ivory Coast (1993–1994), achieving third place in the 1994 African Cup of Nations, and later Tunisia (1994–1998), which finished second in the 1996 Cup. Kasperczak also coached Tunisia at the 1996 Summer Olympics and the 1998 FIFA World Cup in France.

During the tournament, Kasperczak was fired and replaced by Ali Selmi, after Tunisia lost the chance to pass the group stage, losing to England (0–2) and Colombia (0–1).

Later, Kasperczak managed SC Bastia (1998), Al Wasl FC (1999–2000), Morocco national team (2000), Shenyang Haishi (2000–2001) and Mali national team (2001–2002). Mali won the fourth place at the 2002 African Cup of Nations under his coaching.

In 2002, Kasperczak came back to his native Poland, and spend the next three years as head coach of Wisła Kraków. Wisła won three league titles under his coaching.

In 2006, Kaspeczak began managing Senegal (2006–2008), however he quit his post during the 2008 African Cup of Nations following a poor run of results which saw them with 1-point in 2 games in a group they had been expected to win.

On 16 September 2008, he took over as manager of Górnik Zabrze. He left Górnik Zabrze on 3 April 2009, when the club was officially relegated from Ekstraklasa to I liga, the second division.

On 15 March 2010, Wisła Kraków reached an agreement with Kasperczak to appoint him as the new manager.

Career statistics International

Scores and results list Poland's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Kasperczak goal.

Honours Player Stal Mielec Ekstraklasa: 1972–73, 1975–76 UEFA Intertoto Cup: 1971

Poland Olympic silver medal: 1976 FIFA World Cup third place: 1974 Polish Football Association National Team of the Century: 1919–2019

Manager

FC Metz Coupe de France: 1983–84

RC Strasbourg Ligue 2: 1987–88

RC Paris Coupe de France runner-up: 1989–90

Ivory Coast African Cup of Nations third place: 1994

Tunisia African Cup of Nations runner-up : 1996

Mali African Cup of Nations fourth place: 2002

Wisła Kraków Ekstraklasa: 2002–03, 2003–04, 2004–05 Polish Cup: 2001–02, 2002–03

Individual Polish Coach of the Year: 2002