Cezary Kulesza, who has been in charge of the Polish Football Association for over three years, is not like his predecessors. Zbigniew Boniek was an outstanding footballer, one of the best in our history. Just like his predecessor Grzegorz Lato, the top scorer in the 1974 World Cup. Michał Listkiewicz, as a referee, also went to the largest events and is recognized all over the world. And Kulesza? Until recently, he was recognized mainly in Podlasie. Some say this is his kingdom.
“Gary” from Lineker
Before Kulesza started making money from his businesses, he dreamed of becoming a footballer. The son of a teacher and school principal started late, becoming a professional player only at the age of 18. It was 1980, soon after Kulesza joined the senior team of Gwardia Białystok. In the next season, he played 13 matches in the third league Olimpia Zambrów. Then there was also Mławianka Mława, and from 1988 – Jagiellonia.
– I don't know if anyone in Jagiellonia was faster than him then – recalls Jarosław Michalewicz, who played in the team with Kulesza. – Czarek was really fast, lightning fast. Additionally, he is tough and has character. Heart to the ball for two. He may not have been that good technically, but his dribbling was pretty good. Once he passed one rival, he usually passed another one.
It was on the sports fields in Podlasie that Kulesza began to be called “Gary”. From the English striker Gary Lineker, the star of the 1980s and the executioner of the Polish national team, who scored a hat-trick against us at the 1986 World Cup in a match that England won 3-0.
Kulesza was not a striker, he played in the second line. Mostly as an attacking midfielder, although there are opinions that he was effective as a winger. He was so talented that he played 14 games in the top league. In 1989, he played in the Polish Cup final, which Jagiellonia lost 2-5 to Legia Warszawa.
The cup didn't break for a while. A terrifying sight
– Many people now remember this final, but I remember well the earlier meeting with Górnik – says Michalewicz. – I had an injury then, Czarek went to Zabrze and we drew 2-2. It was a really big success back then.
– When the guys returned to Białystok, they told me: “Don't worry about your place in the squad, because you have a new rival.” Because Czarek was both a friend and a tough rival for a place in the squad. In Zabrze he didn't burst, he played a very good match.
Eventually, however, something broke. – It was still in Jagiellonia, I remember perfectly: training in Wasilków, and actually it was the very end of the training, a small game. Jarek Gierejkiewicz – I'm not sure, although I think it was him – caught Czarek's leg and tramp: broken tibia. A terrifying sight, because it was an open fracture, the bone pierced the skin – says Antoni Cylwik, Jagiellonia's defender at that time, vividly.
Kulesza broke his leg, but he didn't break down, he tried to get back to the ball. In 1991, he went to the Belgian third league team RFC Aubel. After the injury, however, he was no longer the same player as before, he returned to Poland. He joined MZKS Wasilków, then in Supraślanka. He ended his career in 1996.
Owner of discos, bands and songs
He wasn't looking for an idea for his life, he was already implementing it. In 1994, Kulesza founded the Green Star record company, which turned out to be a money-making machine. Thanks to her, disco polo stars were promoted – including: the Boys band or Zenek Martyniuk.
Kulesza's beginnings in the disco polo industry were described a few years ago by Marcin Kącki, author of the book “Białystok: white power, black memory”. Everyone who writes about the new president of the Polish Football Association refers to fragments and quotes from it:
“If he had bands and discos, why was there a need to send the recorded material to a company near Warsaw and earn a zloty per cassette? Green Star started recording on its own, controlling the entire production and disco line. If a club did not belong to Kulesza, it was dependent on him , because Kulesza was the owner of all the bands known in Podlasie. He bought the rights to the songs, including the band's name. No one could go on stage without his knowledge. He decided where they played and for how much for whom. If he wanted to punish a club that did not belong to him, the teams did not go there. If the club wanted to reach an agreement, it paid Kulesza a fee for renting the team,” Kącki wrote.
Kulesza reluctantly returns to the beginnings of his business. He probably didn't even like Kącki's book very much. -Disco polo? Green Star? The less publicity, the less gossip. There was someone here who wrote a book about Białystok, he wrote nonsense, he did not authorize it. Sue? You can, but it's a shame to advertise it because maybe that's what he expects? – he said in an interview with Judyta Sierakowska, who in 2019 published her book “Nobody is listening. Reports about disco polo”.
“There was an order for you”
However, we have to come back to Kącki's book, there are many interesting things in it. – Please don't make me out to be a gangster – said Kulesza in a conversation with the author, who described witnessing an awkward situation for Kulesza:
“A man in his sixties approaches the table. It's 'Kolba', a former boxer, a gold trader from Białystok. Tall, well-built, with a face that has taken all the blows in the world. He sees Kulesza, smiles. – Czaruś, listen, come for a moment…
Kulesza gets up, they walk two meters away, 'Kolba' puts a friendly hand on his shoulder and speaks into his ear in a scratchy voice. – Czaruś, do you know that when you started with these discos, it was a commission for you? Listen, I was supposed to tell you a long time ago that they wanted to fuck you up, you know, team was, she was supposed to transport you in the trunk, to the forest and to your head, even the police were involved in it. When I found out, I thought: they will go, they will break Czarek, and the police will only help them. Well, I stood up and didn't agree. So, you know, you wouldn't be here today, hang in there, man…
Kulesza returns to the table, confused. – You owe a debt to a friend – I say. – No, come on, it was twenty years ago.
That is, in the mid-1990s. Crazy times with groups of criminals fighting for influence, with burning discos, but also with Andrzej Lepper looking everywhere where he could gain electorate. Kącki wrote that the leader of Self-Defense was driven around his discos by Kulesza himself.
Kulesza – king of Podlasie
In Białystok they laugh that Kulesza would be able to sell even sand in the desert. Only now he doesn't have to sell anything. He invested the money from the disco-pol business wisely. Mainly in real estate.
Tenement houses in the city center, apartments, commercial pavilions, which are leased for trade and services. He also owns two hotels, people say he is building a third one. The only one of those already built is the Royal hotel in Białystok. In recent years, when Sporting's youth team came to the Jaga Cup tournament, the delegation from Portugal – seeing the luxury they found in Kulesza's hotel – rubbed their eyes with amazement. Royal is luxury and splendor, a hotel worthy of the capital. The first five-star hotel in Podlasie.
The entire Podlasie region is Kulesza's kingdom. The new president of the Polish Football Association was born in Wysokie Mazowieckie, but – as Kącki wrote – he spent his childhood in Wnory-Wiechach, a village forty kilometers west of Białystok. – He didn't have an easy time after that, because he was alone in Białystok for a long time. But he got over it. His dream was to first play for Jagiellonia, then advance to the first team league. These were the years of a breakthrough in Poland, everyone started looking for a different path, including Czarek. And although he could have achieved more on the pitch, he more than made up for it in business, where he had a huge career, notes Cylwik.
He knows when to buy, when to let go, when to sell
Apart from music, Kulesza has always loved football. He had a nose for this business as well. He started working for Jagiellonia in 2008, when he became a co-owner of the club. Two years later he was its president.
With Kulesza at the helm, Jagiellonia began its best period in history, and even now it is said in Białystok that it still has a lot to say. The current president of the Polish Football Association has repeatedly shown that he has a good feel for football and club management. When Jagiellonia lost 0-3 in the spring against Podbeskidzie in the 2015/16 season, everyone in the management board except Kulesza wanted to fire coach Michał Probierz. At the meeting with the activists, the president said that he was the only one who played football, that he was in the locker room and saw that there was still chemistry between the players and the coach.
– And if we get relegated, what then? – asked one of the activists. Kulesza publicly and in front of everyone then declared that he would bear the costs of this inheritance. On one condition: let Touchstone stay. And Touchstone stayed, and Jagiellonia, together with him, became the Polish runner-up a season later. Now he has made the same decision, i.e. after relegation to Division B of the Nations League and a weak Euro 2024, he also left Touchstone as coach. Will it work this time too? We'll see, next year and the World Cup qualifiers will be crucial.
– He simply knows football – says Cylwik. – The last two years of his presidency at Jagiellonia may not have been that spectacular, but the earlier ones were definitely. Because Czarek always knew when to buy, when to let go and when to sell. Transfer Makuszewski for one million euros to Terek Grozny and Tuszyński also for one million to Rizespor. He pulled Świderski out of nowhere and sold him to Greece for real money. Or Klimala for four million euros to Celtic, who played for half a year league. It was a masterpiece! – points out the former Jagiellonia defender.
He doesn't have to receive a salary
When we ask about Kulesza in Białystok, we hear straight away. – Mysterious, but very mysterious. This is not the kind of person who will approach you and talk to you. More silent.
– He rarely visited the club, he operated from the back seat. He came in, dealt with the matter and left. He was always specific and decisive. Which is understandable, because above all he is a business man who doesn't like to waste time in life – says one of Jagiellonia's former employees.
– Czarek only starts to open up when he makes friends with someone. But if this friendship does not exist, he listens and observes rather than talks. When he draws conclusions, they are usually very accurate. In fact, every Jagiellonia fan will probably admit it, says Cylwik.
During the 11 years he was president of Jagiellonia, Kulesza did not receive a penny from it. When he became the president of the PZPN in August 2021, Rafał Patyra from TVP Sport asked him: – You don't have to earn money in the PZPN to live?
– No, I don't have to – Kulesza just smiled.