Józef Kałuża

Józef Ignacy Kałuża (11 February 1896 in Przemyśl – 11 October 1944 in Kraków) was a Polish footballer and later coach, was one of the legends of Polish sports.

Józef Kałuża

Personal information
Full name	Józef Ignacy Kałuża
Date of birth	(1896-02-11)11 February 1896
Place of birth	Przemyśl, Austria-Hungary
Date of death	11 October 1944(1944-10-11) (aged 48)
Place of death	Kraków, Poland
Height	1.66 m (5 ft 5 1⁄2 in)
Position(s)	Striker
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1909–1911	Robotniczy KS Kraków
1911–1931	Cracovia
National team
1921–1928	Poland	16	(7)
Teams managed
1927–1928	Cracovia
1930	Legia Warsaw
1932–1939	Poland
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Kałuża was one of the best forward players of 1920s Poland. His whole career was connected with Cracovia[1] - with this team in 1921 he won the first, historic Championships of Poland. Altogether, he played 408 games in Cracovia’s jersey, scoring 465 goals. Also, in the years 1921-1928 Kałuża represented Poland in various international games, scoring 7 goals.[2]

In 1932, after retirement from playing, he became a trainer/manager of the Polish National Team. Directed by him, Poland slowly began to achieve successes on an international scale. In 1936, during Berlin's Olympic Games, the white-red placed 4th (some claim that had Ernest Wilimowski gone to Berlin, the Poles would have won gold). Two years later, during the FIFA World Cup 1938, Poland, after a fierce battle, lost to Brazil 5-6. This legendary game is to this day not only regarded as one of the best in the history of Polish football, but also as one of the best in all of World Cup history.

Kałuża's last game as coach took place on Sunday 27 August 1939 in Warsaw. Poland, after a very good game, beat the then vice-champions of the world, Hungary, 4-2. It was the last game of interwar Poland - on 1 September 1939, Germany invaded Poland and World War II started.

During the war, Kałuża, as one of the few officials of the Polish Football Federation (PZPN), remained in his homeland, where he died in 1944. In 1946, to commemorate him, PZPN begun organizing Józef Kałuża's Cup, but after a few years this idea was given up. Cracovia Kraków’s stadium is located on Kałuża's street.