Janusz "John" Kowalik (born 26 March 1944) is a Polish former association football striker who scored prolifically in both the European leagues and the North American Soccer League. He was the 1968 NASL MVP.
 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Janusz Antoni Kowalik | ||
| Date of birth | (1944-03-26) 26 March 1944 (age 80) | ||
| Place of birth | Nowy Sącz, Poland | ||
| Height | 1.70 m (5 ft 7 in) | ||
| Position(s) | Striker | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1960–1967 | Cracovia | ||
| 1968 | Chicago Mustangs | 28 | (30) |
| 1968 | California Clippers | 0 | (0) |
| 1969–1974 | Sparta Rotterdam | 123 | (67) |
| 1974–1976 | NEC | 31 | (6) |
| 1976 | Chicago Sting | 14 | (9) |
| 1976–1977 | MVV | 9 | (2) |
| 1977 | Chicago Sting | 6 | (1) |
| 1977–1979 | MVV | 55 | (24) |
| 1979–1980 | Patro Eisden | ||
| International career | |||
| 1965–1966 | Poland | 6 | (0) |
| Managerial career | |||
| 1979–1980 | Patro Eisden | ||
| 1982–1984 | Genk | ||
| 1985–1986 | Vitesse Arnhem | ||
| 1992 | Górnik Zabrze | ||
| *Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Kowalik was born in Nowy Sącz. In 1968, the owners of the Chicago Mustangs of the North American Soccer League (NASL) signed Kowalik. That season, he led the league in scoring with thirty goals in twenty-eight games. This led to his selection as the league MVP and a first team All Star.[1] At the end of the season, he moved to the California Clippers. However, the NASL lost most of its teams with all west coast teams, but the Clippers, folding. The Clippers decided to leave the NASL, join a local league and exist on playing exhibition games against foreign teams. In January 1969, the team ownership decided to cease operations.
In 1969, Kowalik returned to Europe where he signed with Sparta Rotterdam of the Dutch Eredivisie. In 1974, he moved to NEC for one season.
Kowalik returned to the NASL with the Chicago Sting in 1975, where he played fourteen games, scoring nine goals in 1976.
He then returned to the Netherlands to play with MVV Maastricht.
In 1977, he returned to the Sting where he scored only one goal in an unknown number of games.[2]
In the 1978–79 season he returned to MVV.
He was capped 6 times for the Poland national team.
Kowalik later coached Vitesse Arnhem, Górnik Zabrze and Rangers International of Enugu.