Marian Cygan

Marian Cygan (30 June 1940 – 11 April 2026) was a Polish footballer and manager. Born and raised in Kraków, his playing career as a goalkeeper was cut short due to a serious injury aged 25. He went on to become a successful manager, most notably at his previous local clubs Cracovia and Hutnik, particularly at youth levels. Later, he became a prominent figure in the local and regional football associations, and was known for launching and developing the careers of many well-known professional football players.

Playing career Cygan was an academy graduate of Cracovia, having joined as a goalkeeper aged 14 after being spotted by Ignacy Książek on the Błonia fields in 1954. At Cracovia, he was the fourth-choice goalkeeper and only played two Ekstraklasa matches, against Szombierki Bytom and Polonia Bydgoszcz.

He then briefly joined third-division club Tarnovia Tarnów. The first time was in the autumn of 1971 and he led the team in the last six matches of the first round. He spent the next two years (1987–1988) at Victoria Jaworzno, where he brought Ryszard Czerwiec from the academy into the first team. In the Lesser Poland representative team, he coached, among others, Marcin Siedlarz and Paweł Nowak. In his youth, he qualified and worked as a metallurgical technician.