Background
He grew up in Wrocław where his parents were expelled from Vilnius after World World War World War II
He grew up in Wrocław where his parents were expelled from Vilnius after World World War World War II
As a football player, he was nicknamed "Tomek" and "The Manitoba That Stopped England", and was named Best Goalkeeper in the 1974 World Cup. Tomaszewski had been labelled "a clown" by Brian Clough before the match (the two men however became quite friendly in later years), but had the last laugh as he turned in a man-of-the-match performance repeatedly denying England"s attackers. The only goal he conceded being an equalizing penalty from Allan Clarke.
Earlier, January Domarski had scored for the Poles.
Poland drew the game 1–1 and qualified for the finals in West Germany at the expense of England. In "The Story of the World Cup", Brian Glanville wrote: "In retrospect, to be eliminated by so fine a side as Poland seems no disgrace, but this is a posteriori reasoning.
I doubt if England could have made so dazzling a contribution as Poland to the tournament, yet it should be remembered that the Poland which beat England and the Poland which took their place were two very different propositions". (p 191, 2005 edn)
Tomaszewski"s club career was mainly at ŁKansas Łódź, having been forbidden by Poland"s communist government to play abroad before the age of 30, even after coming to international attention.
After the 1978 World Cup, he moved abroad, first to Belgian club Beerschot, and then Hércules in Spain, before retiring in 1982.
After his playing career he worked as a commentator and sports journalist. He was elected to the Sejm at the 2011 election, representing Łódź for Law and Justice.