Jan Tomaszewski

Who is Jan Tomaszewski?

Jan Tomaszewski is a Polish politician, football commentator, and former international footballer that played as a goalkeeper. As a footballer, he was nicknamed "Tomek" and "The Man That Stopped England", and was named Best Goalkeeper in the 1974 World Cup.

He grew up in Wrocław where his parents were expelled from Vilnius after World War II. A goalkeeper, Tomaszewski is best remembered by some for his performance for Poland against England, in a qualifying match for the 1974 World Cup, which England needed to win. Tomaszewski had been labelled "a clown" by Brian Clough before the match, but had the last laugh as he turned in a man-of-the-match performance repeatedly denying England's attackers; the only goal he conceded being an equalizing penalty from Allan Clarke. Earlier, Jan Domarski had scored for the Poles. Poland drew the game 1–1 and qualified for the finals in West Germany at the expense of England.

In "The Story of the World Cup", Brian Glanville wrote: "In retrospect, to be eliminated by so fine a side as Poland seems no disgrace, but this is a posteriori reasoning.