Marcin Kaczmarek (born 2 January 1974) is a Polish professional football manager and former player, most recently in charge of Ekstraklasa club Lechia Gdaà Âsk. He occasionally works as a pundit and commentator for Polsat Sport. During his career, Kaczmarek played in Ekstraklasa for Pogoà  Szczecin and GKS Beà Âchatów, making a total of 97 appearances in Poland's top division.
Kaczmarek had been part of the Lechia Gdaà Âsk academy, before being promoted to the first team at the beginning of the 1990 season. His Lechia debut came in a 1âÂÂ0 win over Szombierki Bytom on 3 June 1990, in which he played 44 minutes. During his first two seasons with Lechia, Kaczmerek struggled to break into the first team, relying on few substitute appearances to get game time. Kaczmarek's first professional league start came in his third season when he started in a home game against Miedà º Legnica. As he developed as a player, he also saw more game time with the club, making over 20 league appearances in each of his last two seasons. Despite becoming a more important player, Kaczmarek played with Lechia during a difficult period in their history in which they found themselves mostly uncompetitive and finishing towards the lower ends of the II liga. Despite Lechia's struggles, Kaczmarek made a total 77 appearances and scored 22 goals in all competitions during his first spell with the club, with his most successful season with Lechia being during the 1993âÂÂ94 campaign, where he played 32 games and scored 9 goals.
His good form for Lechia earned Kaczmarek a move to Poland's top division when he joined I liga team Pogoà  Szczecin in 1994 aged 21. He instantly found himself to be an important player with Pogoà Â, going on to make 26 appearances in his first I liga season, also scoring a goal against Widzew à Âódà º in a 1âÂÂ0 win, the goal would turn out to be Kaczmareks only goal in Polands highest division. He made another 26 appearances the following season, however it was a season where the team as a whole struggled, winning only 2 of their 30 league games, and scoring only 9 points all season. After facing relegation with Pogoà  to the II liga, they bounced back to the top flight at the first time of asking in 1997, finishing runners-up behind Dyskobolia Grodzisk. He made a further 33 appearances in the I liga with Pogoà  over the next 18 months, before being transferred to fellow Ekstraklasa team GKS Beà Âchatów in January 1999. Kaczmarek made 11 appearances with Beà Âchatów that season, with the team struggling in the league, and Kaczmarek being relegated from the I liga for a second time. He continued to play with Beà Âchatów in the second division for a further two years before injuries started to affect his playing time and abilities and he was released midway through his fourth season with the club. In 2002 Kaczmarek dropped down into the lower leagues with Unia Tczew, spending 6 months with Unia, and making only 5 appearances with the club, due to his time in Tczew being plagued by injury, before joining Stomil Olsztyn for the next six months. After his time at Stomil, Kaczmarek returned to Lechia Gdaà Âsk for a season working as both the assistant manager while also being a player. He went on to make 22 appearances and scoring 3 goals for the club as they won promotion from the fourth tier. In 2004, at the age of 30, and seeing a decline in performance and a drop down the leagues due to consistent injuries for the last 3 years of his playing career, Kaczmarek decided to retire from playing football and to focus on coaching in football.
After the game on 22 May 2004, Jerzy JastrzÃÂbowski left as the manager of Lechia. Kaczmarek retired from playing and instantly found first managerial position with Lechia Gdaà Âsk, leading the club in the final six games of the season. Under his guidance, Lechia achieved promotion from the fourth tier to the second tier of Polish football.
After achieving safety for Lechia in I liga, Kaczmarek returned to another club he had previously played for, joining Pogoà  Szczecin in 2007. After managing the team for the first half of the season, Kaczmarek was told he would not be manager for the second half.
After his short spell with Pogoà Â, Kaczmarek took charge of Olimpia Grudziàdz in 2008. His 4 seasons with Olimpia were successful, and while under his command he saw Olimpia winning the III liga in 2009, and the II liga in 2011.
In 2012, he joined Wisà Âa Pà Âock, who had just been relegated from I liga. In his first season Wisà Âa won the third tier, ensuring promotion back to I liga. After a further three more seasons with Wisà Âa, Kaczmarek saw his side finish runners-up in I Liga, and promoted to Ekstraklasa. His first season in top division saw Wisà Âa finish comfortably in 10th.
In 2018, Kaczmarek joined recently relegated Bruk-Bet Termalica Nieciecza in I liga, leading the club until the end of the season.
Ahead of the 2019âÂÂ20 season, Kaczmarek was appointed manager of Widzew à Âódà º, leaving after his contract finished the following summer.
On 19 September 2022, Kaczmarek returned to Ekstraklasa and Lechia, agreeing to a two-year deal to manage his former club who at the time were placed bottom of the league table. On 21 March 2023, after leading Lechia to six wins and two draws in 16 league games, with the team placed 17th and three points away from safety, Kaczmarek was dismissed.
He is the son of former footballer and manager Bogusà Âaw Kaczmarek. His wife, Magdalena Skorupka-Kaczmarek, is a journalist.
Pogoà  Szczecin
Lechia Gdaà Âsk
Lechia Gdaà Âsk
Olimpia GrudziÃÂ dz
Wisà Âa Pà Âock