Jan Tomaszewski

Tomaszewski grew up in Wrocław where his parents were expelled from Vilnius after World War II. Tomaszewski's club career was mainly at ŁKS 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 1984 after two more years with Łódź. In all he won 63 caps for Poland, making him at the time his country's most-capped goalkeeper, although that record was later broken by Artur Boruc in 2016.

Tomaszewski is best remembered by some for his performance for the Poland national team against England, in a qualifying match for the 1974 World Cup, which England needed to win. 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, Jan 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. 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".

After his playing career he worked as a commentator and sports journalist writing articles in magazines including Przegląd Sportowy. In 1986, he graduated from the University of Physical Education in Warsaw. In 1991, he published a book titled Kulisy reprezentacyjnej piłki (Promise Publishing Institute, Łódź). Known for making many controversial statements, he criticised the Polish Football Association (PZPN) on a number of occasions when the organization was run by Marian Dziurowicz and Michał Listkiewicz. He was elected to the Sejm at the 2011 election, representing Łódź for Law and Justice.

He was married three times. He married his third wife, Katarzyna (née Calińska), in 1988. She was a Polish Champion in table tennis. Tomaszewski has two daughters with her: Paulina and Małgorzata.