Tomasz Frankowski

Tomasz Frankowski

Personal information
Full name	Tomasz Frankowski
Date of birth	August 16, 1974 (1974-08-16)
Place of birth	Białystok, Poland
Height	5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)
Playing position	Striker
Club information
Current club	Jagiellonia Białystok
Number	21
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
1991–1993	Jagiellonia Białystok	12	(1)
1993–1996	Strasbourg	21	(2)
1996	Nagoya Grampus Eight	7	(1)
1996–1997	Poitiers	32	(22)
1997–1998	Martigues	19	(5)
1998–2005	Wisła Kraków	173	(115)
2005–2006	Elche	14	(8)
2006–2007	Wolverhampton Wanderers	16	(0)
2006–2007	→ Tenerife (loan)	19	(3)
2008	Chicago Fire	17	(2)
2009–	Jagiellonia Białystok	88	(40)
National team‡
1999–2006	Poland	22	(10)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 14:43, 17 December 2011 (UTC). † Appearances (Goals). ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 09:58, 25 November 2011 (UTC)

Tomasz Frankowski (Polish pronunciation: [ˈtɔmaʂ fraŋˈkɔfskʲi]; born August 16, 1974 in Białystok) is a Polish footballer who plays for Jagiellonia Białystok.

Frankowski achieved his greatest success at Wisła Kraków of Poland, where he helped fire them to a collection of domestic honours. He is well-travelled, having played for clubs in France, Japan, Spain, England, and USA.

The striker has been capped 22 times by the Polish national team, scoring 10 goals, including against England in a World Cup qualifier at Old Trafford in October 2005.

Career

Club

The Białystok native began his career with his hometown team Jagiellonia Białystok in 1991 before heading to France to play for RC Strasbourg (1993–1996), followed by a brief stint at Nagoya Grampus Eight of Japan (1996). Frankowski then returned to France to play for CFP Poitiers (1996–1997) and FC Martigues (1997–1998), before returning to his home nation to play for Wisła Kraków.

His time at Wisla brought him his greatest successes, as helped the club win five Polish Championship titles (in 1999, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2005), two Polish Cups (in 2002 and 2003), and a Polish SuperCup in 2001. He was also the league's topscorer three times for Wisla; in 1999, 2001, and 2005 and for Jagiellonia in 2011.

He eventually left Wisla in September 2005 and had a short but successful spell in Spain with Elche CF of the Segunda División, scoring 8 times in just 13 appearances. This form caught the attention of Glenn Hoddle, manager of English Championship club Wolverhampton Wanderers, and Frankowski soon joined them on 25 January 2006 for £1.4 million.

However, his spell at Wolves did not go well, with Frankowski failing to score a single goal. This earned him the unenviable nickname of "the Pole with no goal" and also meant he was omitted from the 2006 World Cup squad by coach Paweł Janas. Previously, he had scored 9 goals in 11 games in the qualifying rounds for the 2006 World Cup in Germany.

In August 2006, he was loaned to another Spanish Segunda División side, CD Tenerife, for the 2006-07 season, where he scored on his home debut. However, at the end of his season at CD Tenerife, Frankowski returned to Wolves after the Spanish club decided not to purchase the player.

Upon returning to Molineux for training, he was challenged by manager Mick McCarthy to 'earn his transfer' to another club after no offers arrived for the striker with a year still remaining on his contract. However, he suffered a knee injury in pre-season training and was unable to attempt any action. By mutual consent, the club terminated his contract on 31 August 2007.

After a period of inactivity, he headed to join up with the Chicago Fire, finally signing a deal on 19 February 2008. He scored his first - and only - two goals for the club on 3 April 2008 during their home opener against the New England Revolution. However, as the season continued, his playing time greatly diminished, and he was regularly not even listed in the team's bench lineup. A possible cause of this was his critique of Fire Head Coach Denis Hamlett and his coaching style. On 26 November 2008, Frankowski was released to help free up their salary cap after being one of the highest paid players on the team in the 2008 season.

On 23 December 2008, Jagiellonia Białystok announced that Frankowski would rejoin his hometown team on a two-year contract. On March 28, 2010, Frankowski scored 2 goals in the 2-0 win over Arka Gdynia surpassing Friedrich Scherfke and becoming Ekstraklasa's 9th all-time top scorer with 132 goals, the most for any active player.

On 1 August 2010 Frankowski has won his second Polish Supercup with Jagiellonia with 1-0 win against Lech Poznań, scoring the winning goal.

In the 2010/2011 season Frankowski has won the Polish Topscorer Title, fourth in his career by scoring 14 goals for Jagiellonia Bialystok. He scored 150 goals so far in Polish League and become 7th Ekstraklasa all-time striker.

International

Frankowski has scored 10 goals in 22 appearances for the Polish national team. He made his senior international debut on 28 April 1999 in a 2-1 win over the Czech Republic and netted his first international goal the following year, against Iceland.

He was Poland's top scorer in their qualifying campaign for the 2006 World Cup in Germany, but his declining form immediately preceding the finals meant he was omitted from the tournament squad. He returned to the international fold after this, under new coach Leo Beenhakker, but won only two further caps.

International goals

Scores and results table. Poland's goal tally first:

#	Date	Venue	Opponent	Result	Competition
1	15 November 2000	Warsaw, Poland	Iceland	1-0	Friendly
2	9 October 2004	Vienna, Austria	Austria	3-1	FIFA World Cup 2006 qualifying
3	13 October 2004	Cardiff, Wales	Wales	3-2	FIFA World Cup 2006 qualifying
4	26 March 2005	Warsaw, Poland	Azerbaijan	8-0	FIFA World Cup 2006 qualifying
7	4 June 2005	Baku, Azerbaijan	Azerbaijan	3-0	FIFA World Cup 2006 qualifying
8	15 August 2005	Kiev, Ukraine	Serbia and Montenegro	3-2	Friendly
10	12 October 2005	Manchester, England	England	1-2	FIFA World Cup 2006 qualifying

Successes

1x UEFA Intertoto Cup (1995) with RC Strasbourg.

5x Polish Champion (1999, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2005) with Wisła Kraków.
3x Polish Cup Winner (2002, 2003) with Wisła Kraków, (2010) with Jagiellonia Białystok.
2x Polish SuperCup Winner (2002) with Wisła Kraków, (2010) with Jagiellonia Białystok.

4x Ekstraklasa topscorer (1999, 2001, 2005, 2011)

External links

• Tomasz Frankowski career stats at Soccerbase
• Tomasz Frankowski career stats at 90minut.pl