Józef Klotz (2 January 1900 – 1941) was a Jewish Polish footballer who played as a forward. He scored the first-ever goal for the Poland national football team. He was killed by the Nazis in the Warsaw Ghetto in 1941.

Biography

Klotz was born in Kraków, southern Poland, and was Jewish. His father was a shoemaker. He scored the first-ever goal for the Poland national football team. He scored it against Sweden in Stockholm in May 1922, in the team's third international match. Klotz played for two clubs. He played first for Jutrzenka Kraków, which he joined as a youth team player and played for from 1912 to 1925, and then for Makabi Warsaw from 1925 to 1929 (both teams were Jewish minority teams). He retired as a player in 1930. He was imprisoned in the Warsaw Ghetto in 1940. He was murdered there by the Germans in 1941. In 2019, Klotz was honored by the Polish Football Association.

International

Poland 🇵🇱 0–3 🇭🇺 Hungary Sweden 🇸🇪 1–2 🇵🇱 Poland

Sources