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| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date of birth | (1929-09-28)28 September 1929[1] | ||
| Place of birth | Warsaw, Poland | ||
| Date of death | 19 May 2008(2008-05-19) (aged 78) | ||
| Place of death | Warsaw, Poland | ||
| Position(s) | Striker | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 1945–1949 | Okęcie Warsaw | ||
| 1949–1950 | Polonia Warsaw | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1950–1954 | Polonia Warsaw | ||
| 1955 | Gwardia Warsaw | ||
| 1956–1957 | Polonia Warsaw | ||
| 1958–1959 | Polonia Bydgoszcz | ||
| 1960–1961 | Polonia Warsaw | ||
| Managerial career | |||
| Ruch Piaseczno | |||
| 1963–1965 | Mazowsze Grójec | ||
| 1966–1972 | Znicz Pruszków | ||
| 1972–1974 | Lechia Gdańsk | ||
| 1974–1975 | Poland U21 | ||
| 1975–1978 | Poland U23 | ||
| 1978–1980 | Poland | ||
| 1981–1983 | Tunisia | ||
| 1984–1986 | MC Oujda | ||
| 1986–1987 | CS Sfaxien | ||
| 1987–1988 | CA Bizertin[2] | ||
| *Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Ryszard Kulesza (28 September 1931 – 19 May 2008) was a Polishfootball player,manager and executive, one of managers of thePoland national team. His father was killed during theWarsaw Uprising, and Kulesza himself, who was 13, was lucky to survive, as a German soldier threw him under a passing tank. After the uprising, he was forcibly taken to Germany asOst-Arbeiter, but escaped and returned to Poland on foot.
After the war, Kulesza played in such teams asPolonia Warsaw,Gwardia Warsaw andPolonia Bydgoszcz.[3] He ended his career as a player in 1961, and began working as a coach. In 1972–1974, Kulesza coachedLechia Gdańsk, and since 1974, he worked with several national teams of Poland, such as U-21 (1974–1975), and U-23 (1975–1978). In 1976, Kulesza co-worked withKazimierz Górski, and later withJacek Gmoch (1976–1977 and 1978). In October 1978, after Gmoch's resignation, he took the post of general manager of Poland national team, but left this post in December 1980, as a result of theOkęcie Airport incident. He was replaced withAntoni Piechniczek.
In the 1980s, Kulesza worked inTunisia andMorocco, returning to Poland in late 1980s. He became an activist of thePolish Football Federation (PZPN), founding the school of football coaches, which was popularly calledkuleszówka. He actively fought corruption, and in 1993, he supported strippingLegia Warsaw of its championship title, after Warsaw's team routedWisła Kraków 6–0 in Kraków on theSunday of Miracles. Kulesza died in a hospital, suffering fromAlzheimer disease. He was buried on 29 May 2008 at Warsaw's Czerniaków Cemetery.
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