Grzegorz Rasiak

Personal information
Full name	Grzegorz Rasiak
Date of birth	12 January 1979 (1979-01-12) (age 30)
Place of birth	Szczecin, Poland
Height	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)
Playing position	Striker
Club information
Current club	Reading
Number	23
Youth career
	Olimpia Poznań
	SKS 13 Poznań
	MSP Szamotuły
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
1996–1998	Warta Poznań	20	(3)
1998–2000	GKS Bełchatów	7	(2)
2000–2001	Odra Wodzisław	28	(9)
2001–2004	Dyskobolia Grodzisk	66	(34)
2004–2005	Derby County	41	(18)
2005–2006	Tottenham Hotspur	8	(0)
2006	→ Southampton (loan)	13	(4)
2006–2009	Southampton	65	(24)
2008	→ Bolton Wanderers (loan)	7	(0)
2008–2009	→ Watford (loan)	21	(8)
2009–	Reading	11	(4)
National team‡
2002–	Poland	37	(8)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 11:06, 22 November 2009 (UTC). † Appearances (Goals). ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 23:58, 21 November 2007 (UTC)

Grzegorz Rasiak (Polish pronunciation: [ˈɡʐɛɡɔʐ ˈraɕak]) born 12 January 1979 in Szczecin, is a Polish international footballer who currently plays for Reading. Since 2002, he has played for the Poland national team.

After starting his career in his native Poland, Rasiak moved to Britain with Derby County in 2004. He subsequently had a spell with Tottenham Hotspur before joining Southampton, as well as periods on loan to Bolton Wanderers and Watford, before joining Reading in August 2009.

[edit] Club career

[edit] Poland

In the 1996–97 season Rasiak joined second division side Warta Poznań where he spent two seasons. In 1998 he moved to First Division side GKS Bełchatów, before moving to Odra Wodzisław for the 2000–01 season. The next season he moved to the club where he first achieved a level of success, Dyskobolia Grodzisk Wielkopolski. In three seasons at Dyskobolia he played in 66 league matches, scoring 34 goals, forming a partnership in 2003–04 with Andrzej Niedzielan.

In 2004 he was recruited by Italian club AC Siena. It then emerged that he was unable to play for the club, as they had exceeded their limit of foreign players.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Derby County

Rasiak joined English Championship side Derby County on 24 September 2004 for a free transfer. In his first season with the club he scored 16 goals in 35 matches, as Derby finished in fourth place, but failed to get through the play-offs.

After failing to gain promotion, the club were under financial pressure and were forced by their bankers to raise cash,^[1] which led to Rasiak being sold to Premier League side Tottenham Hotspur for a fee said to be up to £3m.^[2][3][4]

[edit] Tottenham Hotspur

Rasiak signed on 31 August 2005, the final day of the transfer window. On his arrival, manager Martin Jol described Rasiak as "a tall target man, a hard-working, honest player with a good goal scoring record."^[5]

[edit] Southampton

In February 2006, Rasiak was loaned from Spurs to Championship side Southampton, where his former Derby manager George Burley was now in charge. The deal was structured initially as a three-month loan, before becoming permanent in early May 2006,^[6] with Rasiak joining Southampton for a fee of £2m.

In the 2006–07 season he had a strong start, scoring 17 league goals by mid-January, with a further two goals in the FA cup. including scoring a brace 4 times in the league and once in the FA Cup, all in away matches. After mid-January he lost his place in the starting eleven to fellow countryman Marek Saganowski, finishing the season as the club's top goalscorer with 21 goals.

[edit] Bolton Wanderers

On 31 January 2008, Rasiak secured a loan move to Bolton Wanderers until the end of the season.^[7] He made his debut nine days later in a defeat to Portsmouth at the Reebok Stadium.

His second appearance came during the second half of Bolton's local derby against Blackburn Rovers at Ewood Park where he scored within a couple of minutes of his introduction from the substitutes bench, only for the linesman to rule the goal out for offside.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Watford

On 15 August 2008 Rasiak signed on loan with fellow Championship side Watford until the end of the 2008–09 season, with the option of a permanent transfer. He made his debut on 16 August 2008 against Charlton Athletic, coming on as a substitute for Tamas Priskin on 65 minutes. He scored his first goal for the club in a 3-2 defeat at home to Wolverhampton Wanderers on 25 October 2008.

In January 2009, Rasiak scored in FA Cup matches against Scunthorpe United and Crystal Palace to help set up an unexpected fifth round tie against Chelsea.

He was ruled out for a month after picking up an injury against Nottingham Forest in March^[8] which was a blow to Watford as he appeared to be forging a decent partnership with Tamas Priskin. Both strikers got on the scoresheet in both of Watford's wins against Charlton Athletic and Nottingham Forest^[9] (the same match in which Rasiak got injured) that took place within three days of each other in March 2009.

In May 2009, Watford opened negotiations with Southampton to sign Rasiak permanently, but the clubs were unable to agree on a fee.^[10]

[edit] Reading

After making four appearances for the "Saints" in August 2009, he joined Reading on 27 August for an undisclosed fee, signing a two-year contract.^[11] He scored his first goal for Reading in a 1-1 draw with his former club Watford on 26 September 2009.^[12] He scored his second goals in a 3-1 win over Coventry City, scoring in 31 seconds and then scoring his second of the game in the second half.

[edit] International career

Rasiak made his international debut for Poland on 10 February 2002 in a friendly match with Faroe Islands under manager Jerzy Engel. He then had to wait a year before his next international appearance under Paweł Janas, before becoming a regular in the Polish team.

Rasiak has made 37 appearances for his country, scoring on 8 occasions, and was part of the team that successfully qualified for the 2006 World Cup. He was selected for the 23-man national squad that competed at the World Cup Finals in Germany. Two years later he was not selected for the 2008 European Championships.

[edit] Poland Goals

Goal	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1.	14 February 2003	Split, Croatia	Macedonia	0-3	Win	Friendly
2.	16 November 2003	Płock, Poland	Serbia	4-3	Win	Friendly
3.	14 December 2003	Ta' Qali, Malta	Lithuania	3-1	Win	Friendly
4.	15 August 2005	Kiev, Ukraine	Serbia	3-2	Win	Valeri Lobanovsky Memorial Tournament
5.	17 August 2005	Kiev, Ukraine	Israel	3-2	Win	Valeri Lobanovsky Memorial Tournament
6.	17 August 2005	Kiev, Ukraine	Israel	3-2	Win	Valeri Lobanovsky Memorial Tournament
7.	14 May 2006	Wronki, Poland	Faroe Islands	4-0	Win	Friendly
8.	14 May 2006	Wronki, Poland	Faroe Islands	4-0	Win	Friendly

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Grzegorz Rasiak career stats at Soccerbase
• Grzegorz Rasiak player profile at saintsfc.co.uk
• Player profile on 90minut.pl (Polish)
• National team stats on pzpn.pl (Polish)

v • d • e Poland squad – 2006 FIFA World Cup 1 Boruc • 2 Jop • 3 Gancarczyk • 4 Baszczyński • 5 Kosowski • 6 Bąk • 7 Sobolewski • 8 Krzynówek • 9 Żurawski • 10 Szymkowiak • 11 Rasiak • 12 Kuszczak • 13 Mila • 14 Żewłakow • 15 Smolarek • 16 Radomski • 17 Dudka • 18 Lewandowski • 19 Bosacki • 20 Giza • 21 Jeleń • 22 Fabiański • 23 Brożek • Coach: Janas