Michał Matyas

Michał Matyas
Personal information
Full name	Michał Franciszek Mieczysław Matyas
Date of birth	28 September 1910
Place of birth	Brzozów, Austria-Hungary
Date of death	22 October 1975 (aged 65)
Place of death	Kraków, Poland
Height	1.76 m (5 ft 9 in)
Position(s)	Striker
Youth career
1924–1926	Lechia Lwów
Senior career*
Years	Team
1926–1939	Pogoń Lwów
1939–1940	Naftovyk Boryslav
1941	Dynamo Kyiv
1942–1944	Lwów local teams
1945–1948	Polonia Bytom
International career
1932–1939	Poland
Managerial career
1950–1954	Gwardia Kraków
1955–1956	Warta Poznań
1957–1958	Stal Mielec
1959–1961	Cracovia
1962–1963	Stal Mielec
1963–1965	Polonia Bytom
1966–1967	Poland
1968–1969	Cracovia
1969–1970	Górnik Zabrze
1970–1971	Wisła Kraków
1972–1973	Cracovia
	*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Michał Franciszek Mieczysław Matyas (28 September 1910 – 22 October 1975) was a Polish footballer, who represented such teams as Pogoń Lwów and Polonia Bytom,^[2] as well as the Poland national team.^[3] Among fans in Poland he was known as Myszka and in the Soviet Union he played under name of Mikhail.^[1] His real occupation was a petroleum technician.^[1]

Career

Matyas was born in Brzozów. After moving to Lwów in 1924 he started playing in junior team of Lechia and in 1926 moved to Pogoń, for which Matyas played for 14 seasons.^[1] His debut in the national team took place on 10 July 1932 in Warsaw in a 2–0 win against Sweden 2–0). All together he played in 18 international games (including the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin), scoring 7 goals.^[4] In Pogoń, in 1935 he was the top-scorer of the Polish Football League, with 22 goals.

During the World War II in 1939–40, Matyas played in Soviet competitions for Naftovyk Boryslav and, for a short while, for FC Dynamo Kiev in 1941.^[1] Soon after the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union, he returned to Lwów where he played for some local city teams in 1942–44.^[1] Following the war, Lwów was secured after the Soviet Union (as part of Soviet Ukraine), together with a group of Pogoń's players and activists, he settled in Bytom, where he played for Polonia Bytom in 1945–48.^[1] After finishing his career, he became a coach, in 1950-1952 he was in charge of the national team of Poland. Later, he coached such teams as Stal Mielec and Cracovia.^[5] He died on 22 October 1975 in Kraków.