Hubert Kostka

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Hubert Jerzy Kostka (born May 27, 1940 in Raciborz) is a retired Polish soccer goalkeeper, who represented both Gornik Zabrze, and the Polish National Team. Kostka participated in the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, where Poland won gold medal. Kostka is not only a successful player, he also coached several teams and graduated as a mining engineer from the Silesian Polytechnic in Gliwice.

His career began in a small club of LZS Markowice, but soon he was purchased by Unia Raciborz, and in the fall of 1960 he moved again - this time to Gornik Zabrze, a powerhouse of Polish soccer. There he spent 14 years, playing altogether in 301 games. With Gornik, he was 8 times champion of Poland as well as a runner-up of the Cup of Winners Cup (Vienna, April 29, 1970 vs. Manchester City).

Kostka also was the starter in the Polish National Team. In the 1972 Summer Olympics he won gold medal in the soccer tournament, but soon afterwards the aging goalie was replaced by another star, Jan Tomaszewski. Altogether, between 1962 and 1972 he played in 32 international matches, in 4 of them he was the captain.

After retiring from playing, he started coaching. Firstly he worked with Gornik’s junior teams, in 1976 he took up the post of coach of Gornik’s first team. Later, he worked with Szombierki Bytom, winning in 1980 Championships of Poland. In mid-1980s Kostka returned to Zabrze, winning Championships of Poland twice (1985, 1986). Also, in the 1970s he helped Kazimierz Gorski, Jacek Gmoch and Antoni Piechniczek with World Cup preparations of the national team.