Bartosz Kapustka

Bartosz Kapustka

Personal information
Full name	Bartosz Kapustka [1]
Date of birth	(1996-12-23) 23 December 1996 (age 27)
Place of birth	Tarnów, Poland
Height	1.80 m (5 ft 11 in) [2]
Position(s)	Midfielder
Team information
Current team	Legia Warsaw
Number	67
Youth career
0000–2010	Tarnovia Tarnów
2010–2011	Hutnik Kraków
2011–2012	Tarnovia Tarnów
2012–2014	Cracovia
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2012–2016	Cracovia	60	(6)
2016–2020	Leicester City	0	(0)
2017–2018	→ SC Freiburg II (loan)	2	(0)
2017–2018	→ SC Freiburg (loan)	7	(1)
2018–2019	→ OH Leuven (loan)	20	(3)
2020–	Legia Warsaw	86	(11)
2023–	Legia Warsaw II	2	(2)
International career‡
2012	Poland U17	1	(0)
2013–2014	Poland U18	5	(0)
2014–2015	Poland U19	7	(1)
2015	Poland U20	1	(0)
2017–2019	Poland U21	16	(1)
2015–	Poland	15	(3)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 21:43, 8 October 2024 (UTC) ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 21:59, 15 October 2024 (UTC)

Bartosz Kapustka (born 23 December 1996) is a Polish professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Ekstraklasa club Legia Warsaw and the Polish national team.

Club career

Cracovia

In October 2012, he started his career after being promoted to Cracovia first team squad. ^[3]

Leicester City

Kapustka was signed by Premier League club Leicester City for a reported £7.5m in August 2016, signing a five-year contract. ^[4] He cited manager Claudio Ranieri as his motivation for joining the club. ^[5] Ranieri admitted he was unsure when Kapustka "will be ready to play in the Premier League". ^[6] Having already played for the Leicester Under-23s, a loan move was not possible due to FIFA rules prohibiting a player from appearing for three clubs in one season. ^[7]

Kapustka finally made his senior debut for Leicester in a 2–1 FA Cup third-round win at Everton on 7 January 2017, coming on as an 84th-minute substitute for Marc Albrighton. ^[8] He made his full debut in a 3–1 FA Cup fourth-round replay win over Derby County on 8 February 2017, ^[9] playing in a central attacking role behind striker Ahmed Musa. ^[10] Kapustka made 47 touches and two interceptions before he was replaced by Riyad Mahrez in the 81st minute. ^[9]

SC Freiburg (loan)

On 14 July 2017, Kapustka joined Bundesliga club SC Freiburg on loan for 2017–18 season. The Breisgau-based side secured an option to sign him permanently at the end of the season for a transfer fee of €5 million. ^[11]

OH Leuven (loan)

On 31 August 2018, Kapustka joined Belgian First Division B club Oud-Heverlee Leuven on loan for 2018–19 season. ^[12]

Legia Warsaw

On 13 August 2020, Kapustka joined Polish Ekstraklasa club Legia Warsaw on a two-year contract.

International career

On 7 September 2015, Kapustka made his debut appearance for the Poland national team in a match against Gibraltar, substituting Jakub Błaszczykowski. He scored his first goal for the national team on his debut. ^[13] In the buildup to the Euro 2016, Kapustka was involved in a brawl outside a night club, in which he sustained an injury. Following the incident, he made a phone call personally to Poland national team manager Adam Nawałka, to ask for his forgiveness and ask that he not be excluded from the squad for the upcoming tournament. ^[14] Kapustka was eventually selected for Poland's Euro 2016 campaign, and produced a standout performance in the team's opening match victory over Northern Ireland. ^[14]

Career statistics

Club

As of match played 6 October 2024 ^{[15] [16]}

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition

Club	Season	League			National cup [lower-alpha 1]		Continental		Other		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Cracovia	2013–14	Ekstraklasa	2	0	0	0	—		—		2	0
	2014–15	Ekstraklasa	23	2	3	1	—		—		26	3
	2015–16	Ekstraklasa	33	4	2	1	—		—		35	5
	2016–17	Ekstraklasa	2	0	0	0	0	0	—		2	0
	Total		60	6	5	2	0	0	—		65	8
Leicester City	2016–17	Premier League	0	0	3	0	—		1 [lower-alpha 2]	0	4	0
SC Freiburg (loan)	2017–18	Bundesliga	7	1	2	0	0	0	—		9	1
SC Freiburg II (loan)	2017–18	Regionalliga Südwest	2	0	—		—		—		2	0
OH Leuven (loan)	2018–19	Belgian First Division B	21	3	—		—		—		21	3
Legia Warsaw	2020–21	Ekstraklasa	25	3	3	0	3 [lower-alpha 3]	0	1 [lower-alpha 4]	0	32	3
	2021–22	Ekstraklasa	4	0	0	0	3 [lower-alpha 5]	1	1 [lower-alpha 4]	0	8	1
	2022–23	Ekstraklasa	29	2	5	0	—		—		34	2
	2023–24	Ekstraklasa	18	2	0	0	4 [lower-alpha 6]	0	0	0	22	2
	2024–25	Ekstraklasa	6	4	0	0	6 [lower-alpha 6]	1	—		12	5
	Total		86	11	8	0	16	2	2	0	112	13
Legia Warsaw II	2023–24	III liga, group I	6	4	0	0	—		—		2	2
Career total			172	19	18	2	10	1	3	0	203	22

1. Includes Polish Cup, FA Cup, DFB-Pokal
2. Appearance in the International Champions Cup
3. One appearance in UEFA Champions League, two appearances in UEFA Europa League
4. Appearance in Polish Super Cup
5. Appearances in UEFA Champions League
6. Appearances in UEFA Conference League

International

Scores and results list Poland's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Kapustka goal.

List of international goals scored by Bartosz Kapustka

No.	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	7 September 2015	Stadion Narodowy, Warsaw, Poland	Gibraltar	8–0	8–1	Euro 2016 qualifying
2	13 November 2015	Stadion Narodowy, Warsaw, Poland	Iceland	2–1	4–2	Friendly
3	4 September 2016	Astana Arena, Astana, Kazakhstan	Kazakhstan	1–0	2–2	2018 World Cup qualifying

Honours

Legia Warsaw

• Ekstraklasa: 2020–21 ^[17]
• Polish Cup: 2022–23 ^[18]

Individual

• Polish Newcomer of the Year: 2015 ^[19]
• Ekstraklasa Young Player of the Season: 2015–16 ^[20]
• Ekstraklasa Player of the Month: February 2021, ^[21] August 2024 ^[22]

References

1. "Updated squads for 2017/18 Premier League confirmed". Premier League. 2 February 2018. Retrieved 11 February 2018.
2. "Bartosz Kapustka" (in Polish). Legia Warsaw . Retrieved 22 July 2024.
3. Bartek Kapustka włączony do kadry pierwszej drużyny! (in Polish), KS Cracovia, 9 October 2012, retrieved 13 August 2020
4. Bartosz Kapustka: Leicester City sign Poland winger, BBC Sport, 3 August 2016, retrieved 8 January 2017
5. Bartosz Kapustka explains why he wants move to Leicester, Sky Sports, 31 July 2016, retrieved 8 January 2017
6. Leicester City recruitment under fire as Claudio Ranieri admits £7.5m signing is not ready for Premier League, The Telegraph, 28 November 2016, retrieved 8 January 2017
7. "Ben Arfa 'could retire from football'". BBC Sport. Retrieved 3 March 2023.
8. Everton 1-2 Leicester City, BBC Sport, 7 January 2017, retrieved 8 January 2017
9. "Leicester City 3-1 Derby County". BBC Sport. 8 February 2017. Retrieved 9 February 2017.
10. Dan Coombs. "Leicester City fans react on Twitter to Bartosz Kapustka's performance". HITC Sport. Archived from the original on 26 December 2018. Retrieved 11 February 2017.
11. "Kapustka kommt: Freiburg findet Grifo-Ersatz". kicker Online (in German). 14 July 2017. Retrieved 14 July 2017.
12. "OHL leent Kapustka van Leicester City" [OHL loans Kapustka from Leicester City]. ohl.be (in Dutch). 31 August 2018. Archived from the original on 1 September 2018. Retrieved 1 September 2018.
13. Koźmiński, Piotr (8 September 2015). "Lewandowski's Poland in for 'fierce fight'". UEFA. Retrieved 13 June 2016.
14. Wheatley, Chris (12 June 2016). "A new star is born: Poland teenager Kapustka lights up Northern Ireland win". Goal. Retrieved 12 June 2016.
15. "Bartosz Kapustka". 90minut.pl. Retrieved 26 December 2015.
16. Bartosz Kapustka at Soccerway. Retrieved 7 October 2017.
17. "Legia Warszawa oddaje dwóch piłkarzy. Pierwsze zmiany w składzie". Sport (in Polish). 19 May 2021. Retrieved 30 May 2021.
18. "120 minut walki i nic! Zadecydowały dopiero rzuty karne". sport.interia.pl (in Polish). 2 May 2023.
19. "Poznaliśmy laureatów plebiscytu tygodnika „Piłka Nożna"" (in Polish). Polish Football Association. 6 February 2016. Retrieved 21 June 2024.
20. "Rozdano nagrody w Ekstraklasie za sezon 2015/16". 90minut.pl (in Polish). 16 May 2016. Retrieved 29 May 2023.
21. "Piłkarz Lutego 2021: Bartosz Kapustka" (in Polish). Ekstraklasa. 12 March 2021. Archived from the original on 12 March 2021. Retrieved 12 March 2021.
22. "Piłkarz Sierpnia 2024: Bartosz Kapustka (Legia Warszawa)" (in Polish). Ekstraklasa. 11 September 2024. Retrieved 13 September 2024.

External links

• Bartosz Kapustka at Soccerway
• Bartosz Kapustka at 90minut.pl (in Polish)
• Bartosz Kapustka at Soccerbase