Marian Cygan

Cygan was an academy graduate of Cracovia, having joined as a goalkeeper aged 14 after being spotted by Ignacy Książek on the Błonia fields in 1954. At Cracovia, he was the fourth-choice goalkeeper and only played two Ekstraklasa matches, against Szombierki Bytom and Polonia Bydgoszcz. He then briefly joined third-division club Tarnovia Tarnów. He fulfilled his mandatory military service at second-division army club Wawel Kraków, joining the paratroopers to avoid playing for Lublin-based army club Lublinianka; he made 4 parachute jumps. He then returned to Tarnovia. He joined Hutnik Kraków of Nowa Huta in 1964, a club he would be linked to for the majority of his working career. His playing career was cut short due to an injury, at 25 years of age. In February 1965, he was with the Hutnik team at a training camp in Cieplice. On the last day of the camp, in a match against Wisła Kraków, he lunged at Fryderyk Monica's feet and fell in a manner that caused him to lose a kidney, an injury that caused the end of his playing career. ==Managerial career==

Due to his playing career being cut short abruptly and not wanting to quit football, Cygan focused all his energy on coaching. The first time was in the autumn of 1971 and he led the team in the last six matches of the first round. He spent the next two years (1987–1988) at Victoria Jaworzno, where he brought Ryszard Czerwiec from the academy into the first team. ==Executive career==

After ending his managerial career, he became a training coordinator for the Kraków Regional Football Association (KOZPN) and later for the Lesser Poland Regional Football Association (MOZPN). In the Lesser Poland representative team, he coached, among others, Marcin Siedlarz and Paweł Nowak. He remained a member of the Lesser Poland Football Association’s Training Department, and served on the committee that grants coaching licenses. ==Personal life and death==

Cygan was born in Kraków on 30 July 1940. In his youth, he qualified and worked as a metallurgical technician. ==References==