Józef Klotz, a Polish Jewish soccer player who scored the national team's first ever goal in an international match but was later murdered by the Nazis, was honoured by Poland's football association on Monday.
The commemoration took place hours before Poland's Euro 2020 qualifier match against Israel in Warsaw, during a ceremony organised by the From the Depths Holocaust commemoration group.
During the ceremony the Director of the Polish Football Association Janusz Basałaj presented Klotz's nephew with a jersey bearing Klotz's name and number, signed by all the current members of the Polish national team, and a photo book showing the history of the national team from 1921 to 2018.
Basałaj said that he hoped Klotz's legacy would help remind people that Poland was a country of many cultures, religion and tolerance.
Klotz's nephew Yoav Dekel, who attended the ceremony with his son, said that soccer should help bring people together.
Klotz scored a penalty kick in the 27th minute of the team's third international match against Sweden in May 1922, helping Poland to win the game 2-1.
He was murdered in the Warsaw Ghetto in 1941.
Autor: gf / Źródło: TVN24 News in English, Reuters