Mauro Cantoro

Having previously gained Italian citizenship,[1] after several years spent in Poland, he gained Polish citizenship in 2008 at the age of 31.[2] His maternal grandfather, Bazyli Wolczak, born 1901, emigrated to Argentina from Galicja at the age of 14.[3]

He married Adrianna, a woman he met in 1990 on a beach in Mar de la Plata.[4] He has two sons; Mauro and Tiago, who both were born and grew up in Poland.[5]

He is fluent in Polish,[6] Spanish, Portuguese, and Italian.[7]

Cantoro started his career at Club Atlético Vélez Sársfield in the Primera Division Argentina in 1994. After three years of limited appearances in the first team he moved to Atlético Rafaela of the Argentine 2nd division for the Clausura 1997 season.

In 1998 and 1999, Cantoro played for Universitario de Deportes of Peru before having short spells with Club Blooming of Bolivia and Ascoli in Italy. He joined Wisła Kraków in 2001, where he became one of the most widely recognised players in the country, and a club icon.[8]

He then joined struggler's Odra Wodzisław in 2010 after leaving Wisła in 2009, however his stay was short lived.

He returned to South America as his career nears its end, where he played for several Argentine lower division clubs. However, he then moved to Peru, where he played for several top-flight clubs.

Cantoro played in U-17 Argentina national football team in World Cup 1993. After receiving a Polish passport in 2007, he was contender to be called up to the national squad, however he was never called up in the end, partly due to the fact he had an appearance in the Argentine U-17's.[9]

• Argentine Primera statistics (in Spanish)
• BDFA profile (in Spanish)