Janusz Kowalik

Janusz "John" Kowalik (born 26 March 1944) is a Polish former association football striker who scored prolifically in both the European leagues and the North American Soccer League. He was the 1968 NASL MVP.

Janusz Kowalik
Personal information
Full name Janusz Antoni Kowalik
Date of birth (1944-03-26) 26 March 1944
Place of birth Nowy Sącz, Poland
Height 1.70 m (5 ft 7 in)
Position(s) Striker
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1960–1967 Cracovia
1968 Chicago Mustangs 28 (30)
1968 California Clippers 0 (0)
1969–1974 Sparta Rotterdam 123 (67)
1974–1976 NEC 31 (6)
1976 Chicago Sting 14 (9)
1976–1977 MVV 9 (2)
1977 Chicago Sting 6 (1)
1977–1979 MVV 55 (24)
1979–1980 Patro Eisden
International career
1965–1966 Poland 6 (0)
Managerial career
1979–1980 Patro Eisden
1982–1984 Genk
1985–1986 Vitesse Arnhem
1992 Górnik Zabrze
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Player

Club career

Kowalik was born in Nowy Sącz. In 1968, the owners of the Chicago Mustangs of the North American Soccer League (NASL) signed Kowalik. That season, he led the league in scoring with thirty goals in twenty-eight games. This led to his selection as the league MVP and a first team All Star.[1] At the end of the season, he moved to the California Clippers. However, the NASL lost most of its teams with all west coast teams, but the Clippers, folding. The Clippers decided to leave the NASL, join a local league and exist on playing exhibition games against foreign teams. In January 1969, the team ownership decided to cease operations.

In 1969, Kowalik returned to Europe where he signed with Sparta Rotterdam of the Dutch Eredivisie. In 1974, he moved to NEC for one season.

Kowalik returned to the NASL with the Chicago Sting in 1975, where he played fourteen games, scoring nine goals in 1976.

He then returned to the Netherlands to play with MVV Maastricht.

In 1977, he returned to the Sting where he scored only one goal in an unknown number of games.[2]

In the 1978–79 season he returned to MVV.

International career

He was capped 6 times for the Poland national team.

Coach

Kowalik later coached Vitesse Arnhem, Górnik Zabrze and Rangers International of Enugu.

References
  1. "The Year in American Soccer - 1968". Archived from the original on 26 July 2015. Retrieved 14 June 2010.
  2. Chicago Sting All Time Scoring Records Archived 25 February 2005 at the Wayback Machine
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