 Gmoch in 2007 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Jacek Wojciech Gmoch | ||
| Date of birth | (1939-01-13)13 January 1939 (age 86) | ||
| Place of birth | Pruszków,Poland | ||
| Height | 1.79 m (5 ft 10 in) | ||
| Position | Defender | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1953–1960 | Znicz Pruszków | ||
| 1960–1968 | Legia Warsaw | 330[1] | (10) |
| International career | |||
| 1962–1968 | Poland | 29 | (0) |
| Managerial career | |||
| 1969–1971 | Legia Warsaw (assistant) | ||
| 1971–1974 | Poland (assistant) | ||
| 1976–1978 | Poland | ||
| 1979 | Skeid Fotball | ||
| 1979–1981 | PAS Giannina | ||
| 1981–1982 | Apollon Athens | ||
| 1982–1983 | AEL | ||
| 1983–1985 | Panathinaikos | ||
| 1985–1986 | AEK Athens | ||
| 1986–1988 | AEL | ||
| 1988–1989 | Olympiacos | ||
| 1990–1991 | Aris | ||
| 1991–1993 | APOEL | ||
| 1993 | AEL | ||
| 1994–1995 | Athinaikos | ||
| 1995–1996 | Ethnikos | ||
| 1996–1997 | APOEL | ||
| 1997–1998 | Ionikos | ||
| 1998–1999 | Kalamata | ||
| 1999–2000 | Panionios | ||
| 2002–2003 | Ionikos | ||
| 2010 | Panathinaikos (caretaker) | ||
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Jacek Wojciech Gmoch (born 13 January 1939 inPruszków) is a Polish former professionalfootballer,manager, andcommentator. As a player he spent the majority of his career playing forLegia Warsaw as adefender, and represented Poland 29 times internationally.[2] After a career-ending injury he became a successful trainer, winning multiple titles in Poland, Greece, and Cyprus, while also managing thePoland National Team.
While having a successful football career at Legia, he simultaneously graduated in communication from theWarsaw University of Technology. Gmoch began his career playing for his local childhood clubZnicz Pruszków in 1953. After an impressive spell he earned a move to Legia Warsaw, where he went on to have a successful career playing over 300 games. With Legia, he won the Polish Cup twice (in1964 and1966) and contributed to the beginning of the successful Championship winning1968–69 season. He also became a regular player for the National Team of Poland during this period (29 caps).[3]
Following a major injury in a friendly match, Gmoch began his coaching career, starting as assistant manager forLegia Warsaw between 1969 and 1971, achieving another Polish Championship in1969-70, and reaching the semi-final of theEuropean Champion Clubs’ Cup in the same season. While, in 1970-71 Legia finished runner’s up of Poland, and reached the quarter-finals of the European Champions Clubs’ Cup losing toAtlético Madrid. Shortly thereafter he was offered thePoland National Team assistant's job byKazimierz Górski, lasting from 1971 to 1974. Together they achieved an Olympic Gold medal inMunich 1972, as well as third place in the1974 World Cup, which to this day are considered to be Poland’s greatest football achievements. After the World Cup in 1974 he left the National team and moved to the U.S. to pursue his scientific career at theUniversity of Pennsylvania (1975–1976). However, he quickly returned to international football in 1976 being offered the coach’s job of the National Team of Poland after Górski left. He qualified for the1978 Mundial inArgentina by finishing first in his qualifying group againstPortugal,Denmark, andCyprus. During the World Cup, he reached the second round where ultimately Poland finished fifth in the final rankings,[4] only losing toBrazil, and eventual winners and hostsArgentina. After the 1978 World Cup he stepped down from the Poland job, moving toNorway,Cyprus, andGreece where he became one of the most successful and recognised coaches.
In Norway, he became the manager ofSkeid Fotball in 1979, where he saved the team from relegation in his one and only season as head coach. Next, he went to Greece and first worked as a manager ofPAS Giannina between 1979 and 1981,[5][6] earning sixth place in his first season. He joinedApollon Athens in 1981-82 andAEL in 1982-83,[7] where he finished runner up in the Greek league, the first time a provincial team managed this feat. Subsequently, in 1983 he made his big step as a manager and became trainer ofPanathinaikos. In his first season as Panathinaikos manager in1983-84, his team wonthe Double and the following season in1984-85, his team finished runner up in the league, and for the second time in their history, reached thesemi-finals of theEuropean Champion Clubs’ Cup, where they were eliminated byLiverpool. Despite this success, the Panathinaikos management fired him at the end of the season. According to newspapers of the time, one of the reasons he was fired was because he did not tolerate interference in the team by the management.[8]
For the1985–86 season, he became coach of another great Greek club,AEK Athens finishing third, and the following season he again became coach of Larisa. In1987-88, his team historically won their onlyGreek Championship, until today the only team outside of Athens and Thessaloniki to do so. After Larisa, he worked as the manager ofOlympiacos in1988-89, again finishing as runner up in the league, andAris Thessaloniki between 1990 and 1991. In 1991 he went toCyprus to becomeAPOEL trainer, where his team won theChampionship,Cup, andSuper Cup. He remained there until the middle of the 1992-93 season. Later, he worked forAthinaikos (1994–95),Ethnikos Piraeus (1995–96), APOEL (1996-97) winning another Super Cup and qualifying for the UEFA Cup,Ionikos (1997–98) finishing a club record fifth place in the league,Kalamata (1998–99) securing promotion to the top flight,Panionios (1999), and again for Ionikos in2002–03.
After retiring from management he acted as a member of thePolish Olympic representation team in the Athens2004 Summer Olympics. Later he also became a minor shareholder and President of Legia Warsaw, as well as following up a career in television commentating for several networks. He notably commentated Champions League matches for the Greek TelevisionERT, as well as International Tournaments in Poland for channelsPolsat andTVP.
On 15 November 2010, Gmoch took over as the caretaker manager of Panathinaikos, followingNikos Nioplias, who resigned after a string of mediocre results in the first part of the 2010–11 season. As caretaker manager he won against Iraklis in his only final match before being succeeded by the new manager of the team,Jesualdo Ferreira. The game ended 4–2, despite Iraklis taking a 0-2 lead in the first half, and when the game ended the stadium crowd applauded him to thank him for everything he had done for the club.
Managerial record by team and tenure
| Team | Nation | From | To | Record | ||||
| G | W | D | L | Win% | ||||
| Poland |  | 16 October 1976 | 6 September 1978 | 27 | 17 | 3 | 7 | 62.96 |
| PAS Giannina |  | 4 December 1979 | 30 June 1981 | 63 | 25 | 15 | 23 | 39.68 |
| AEL | | 1 July 1982 | 30 June 1983 | 35 | 18 | 9 | 8 | 51.43 |
| Panathinaikos | | 1 July 1983 | 19 June 1985 | 88 | 56 | 22 | 10 | 63.64 |
| AEK | | 1 July 1985 | 23 May 1986 | 41 | 19 | 12 | 10 | 46.34 |
| AEL | | 1 July 1986 | 2 May 1988 | 76 | 37 | 14 | 25 | 48.68 |
| Olympiacos | | 1 June 1988 | 8 March 1989 | 26 | 15 | 6 | 5 | 57.69 |
| Aris | | 29 January 1990 | 16 April 1991 | 57 | 20 | 18 | 19 | 35.09 |
| APOEL |  | 1 July 1991 | 30 April 1993 | 67 | 40 | 16 | 11 | 59.70 |
| AEL | | 1 July 1993 | 1 November 1993 | 15 | 7 | 3 | 5 | 46.67 |
| APOEL | | 1 July 1996 | 28 February 1997 | 27 | 18 | 3 | 6 | 66.67 |
| Ionikos | | 4 March 1997 | 30 June 1998 | 49 | 23 | 12 | 14 | 46.94 |
| Panathinaikos | | 15 November 2010 | 21 November 2010 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 100.00 |
| Total | 572 | 296 | 133 | 143 | 51.75 | |||
Legia Warsaw
Legia Warsaw
Poland
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AEL
Panathinaikos
Olympiacos
APOEL
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