Janusz Kupcewicz

Despite being from Gdańsk, he started his career at the two Olsztyn clubs: Warmia and Stomil,[9][1][5] having gone through the youth teams at the former.[3]

He then returned to his native Gdańsk and spent 8 seasons at Arka Gdynia having arrived there in 1974.[5] The following season, 1975–76, he was the Second Division's top scorer.[5] With Arka he achieved a historic club first Polish Cup[6] in 1979.[5] This success, along with his national team exploits, earned him a transfer to Lech Poznań,[5] where he also won a historic national title[6] in 1983.[5][11]

He then moved abroad to France to play for AS Saint-Etienne,[9][1][4] with the transfer fee raised privately to the sum of €380 000.[12] He stayed there for 2 seasons (1983–1985), however they were relegated from the Premier Division in 1984.[5] He spent the 1985–86 season[5] at Greek club Larissa.[9][1][4] However his time abroad was plagued by injuries.[12]

He returned to his hometown and joined Lechia[9][1][4] where he stayed for the next two seasons.[5] This caused controversies given his links and allegiance to bitter derby rivals Arka.[12] He suffered relegation with Lechia in 1989.[5]

He finished his playing career at Turkish club Adanaspor.[9]

In his career he earned overall 20 caps for the Poland national team, scoring 5 goals.[1][13] He made his national debut in 1976.[10] He was at the 1978 tournament as a reserve player, but by the 1982 World Cup he was a key member of the squad, with Poland finishing in third place.[7] The third place was won thanks to his famous winning goal against France to make it 3–2.[3][6]

After retiring from playing, he became the manager of the Poland national futsal team in the early 90s.[8][11] He then went on to coach the then sixth division Pomeranian club Radunia Stężyca[10][9] between 1996 and 1999,[14] the Polish U-21 team as assistant manager 1999–2001,[11] briefly Lechia Gdańsk in 1995,[11] and between 2004 and 2005 lower league Cartusia Kartuzy.[15] He was also a consultant at Arka Gdynia between 2001 and 2003.[9] He returned to Arka as a consultant once more in 2012, alongside Tomasz Korynt.[16]

He taught PE at primary school number 10 in the Chylonia district of Gdynia.[10][12][11]

He was a Gdynia City Council candidate on the Civic Platform electoral list in 2006 and a Sejm candidate in 2007.[17][18] Then, having switched to the Polish People's Party, he ran as a candidate for the Pomeranian Voivodeship Assembly in 2010 and to the lower house of parliament in 2011.[17][18] In 2014, he became a regional councillor, his only electoral success.[17][18] In 2015 and 2019, he unsuccessfully ran for the Sejm again.[17][18] In 2018 he did not renew his councillor seat mandate.[18]