Artur Boruc

Pogoń Siedlce

Born in Siedlce, Boruc began his career in 1998 at Pogoń Siedlce, in his hometown.

Legia Warsaw

The next season Boruc joined Legia Warsaw, initially playing for the reserve team, as well as being loaned out in 2000 for half a season to Dolcan Ząbki. On 8 March 2002, Boruc played his first league match for Legia when he came on as a substitute during a 2–2 draw against Pogoń Szczecin. This unexpected debut was due to an injury sustained by Bulgarian goalkeeper, Radostin Stanev, during the game. Boruc played in Legia's next four league matches and kept clean sheets against Wisła Kraków and Odra Wodzisław, although Stanev regained his place in the side upon his return from injury for the remaining league and cup fixtures. Legia went on to win the Ekstraklasa title that season for the first time in seven years. In the second half of the following season, 2002–03, Boruc established himself as the club's first choice goalkeeper where he played in 11 of the club's last 15 league fixtures. Legia lost only 1 of these 11 matches and Boruc kept 5 clean sheets, although Legia only managed to finish fourth. By the 2003–04 season, Boruc was very much a first-pick for Legia and played in all 26 of their league fixtures. In June 2004, Boruc scored his only goal for the club, converting a penalty kick in a home game against Widzew Łódź (final score: 6–0) and then celebrated by waving the corner flag. Legia finished second in the league and qualified for the…

2000s

On 28 April 2004, Boruc debuted for the Polish senior squad in a goalless friendly draw against the Republic of Ireland, coming on as second-half substitute for Jerzy Dudek. The same year on 12 July, Boruc made his first starting appearance for Poland in another friendly draw against the United States, saving a penalty in the 11th minute from American striker Brian McBride. On 17 August 2005, Boruc received a red card in the final match Valeri Lobanovsky Memorial Tournament 2005, but this did not prevent his team from winning, and he won the first trophy with the national team. He soon established himself as a regular in the Polish squad and was selected to the 23-men national squad for the 2006 FIFA World Cup finals held in Germany. Boruc had been fighting with Tomasz Kuszczak and Łukasz Fabiański for the starting slot, but was first choice goalkeeper during the World Cup and played in all three of their games. Boruc was particularly outstanding in the game against Germany, despite being unable to prevent his country losing 1–0. Boruc remained first choice goalkeeper and was named in Poland's UEFA Euro 2008 squad. He played their first game against Germany and held his place through to the important second game against co-hosts Austria in which the Poles conceded a penalty in the 92nd minute to level the game. In the same match, he saved all three shots by the Austrians, leading to a final score of 1–1. He was nicknamed "Spaceman" by the Austrian and German…

Club

International

On 21 April 2007, he helped a 27-year-old pregnant Polish woman, her sister and brother-in-law, when they were attacked in Glasgow. Boruc's father died in April 2010; his mother Jadwiga died when he was only 20. He has a brother and three sisters. On 11 June 2008, Boruc's then-wife Katarzyna gave birth to their son, Aleksander ("Aleks"), in Warsaw. Boruc and his wife separated in 2008, amid reports of his relationship with former Polish Idol contestant Sara Mannei. Mannei gave birth to daughter Amelia on 9 August 2010 in Poland and the couple married in 2014. In September 2009, The Scottish Sun published an apology, for claiming Boruc had had an affair with a young woman, shown in a photograph, who was actually his sister. In June 2011, the News of the World admitted it had published a false report on Boruc, and paid him £70,000, believed to be a record for Scottish libel cases, plus legal expenses. His cousin Max Boruc is also a professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper, and in 2023 joined Hibernian F.C. of the Scottish Premier League.