Biography

Childhood

Artur Boruc was born on 20th February 1980 in Siedlce. He lived in Wyszyński Street and there, since he was a boy, he chased the ball on closely situated playgrounds and school pitch. ‘Parents had totally different approaches towards my passion’ - says Artur - ‘my dad (Władysław), who used to be a hockey player in Pogoń Siedlce, supported me from the very beginning. My mum (Jadwiga) wasn’t that supportive as she didn’t seem to believe that my hobby would be any of good for me.’ Also his grand mother Helenka was sceptical about it, as she often was telling Artur: ‘Remember, football will not feed you!’. Fortunately for Artur, it turned out that she was wrong ;)
Little Artur was the top of the class until the day when his elder brother Robert took him for a practice of Pogoń Siedlce. ‘It was in 1989’ - says ‘Archie’ - ‘at the beginning, as every kid I dreamed to play in the front and score goals. But they wanted me to be a goalkeeper, so I was. And I keep doing it.’ - he adds with a smile. Artur was very lucky - his talent was very soon recognised by the trainer Józef Topczewski and young Boruc became the first goalkeeper in Pogoń junior team.
In 1993 together with Pogoń Siedlce Junior Team he played in his first serious football tournament - it was the Dana Cup. ‘We finished in the 2nd place. It’s only a shame that I couldn’t play in the final match against Hammerby.’ - says Artur - ‘I sprained my ankle during one of the training sessions and had to finish my participation in the semi-final. Still, we finished in the 2nd place in the general classification so I will have good memories from Denmark anyway.

Pogoń First Team

Another achievement of young Artur was his debut in the first team of Pogoń Siedlce. His adventure with an ‘adult football’ began with his appearance in the match against Orlęta Łuków in the season of 1995/1996. Since then he was a first choice goalkeeper in Pogoń, becoming more and more successful. In the season of 1997/1998 he contributed in Pogoń winning Province Polish Cup and began his career in Poland’s National Team, playing in U-17, U-18 and U-19.


Dreams Come True - How Artur became a Legia player…

In 1998 U-19 team played a friendly game against Legia at Stadium Wojska Polskiego. Artur Played in Łazienkowska Street so well, he was invited by Legia authorities for a training camp, organised in Sicily. As it turned out, this camp was a turning point in Artur’s career. Legia appreciated his goalkeeping skills and sent a trade offer to Siedlce. ‘I didn’t hesitate for a second. An offer like that is a dream come true for a young boy.’ - says Artur - ‘My mum, on the contrary, had some objections - she was afraid that I would get lost in big city. Eventually, I convinced her that moving to Warsaw was the best that could happen to me.’

Debut in Polish First League

When in 1999 Artur came to Warsaw, it wasn’t easy to get to Legia first team. The number one goalkeeper in the club was Grzegorz Szamotulski. Artur together with Wojciech Kowalewski played in the second team, without any chances for promotion to the first one. 'The only chance for me was to be loaned. In the Autumn 2001 I was on a loan to the second division team Dolcan Ząbki, where I played until the end of the Autumn round. In the spring of 2001 I began to practice with Legia first team.’ In that time, the first choice goalkeeper in Legia was Zbigniew Robakiewicz. When he left Legia, his place was taken by Wojciech Kowalewski, who just came back from the loan to Grodzisk Wielkopolski. When he also decided to leave Legia and moved to Donetsk, it seemed that Boruc time had come.
His joy was premature. ‘The club bought Radostin Stanew. I must admit that I was disappointed, but we were getting on well right from the start.’ Sentenced to sit on the bench, Boruc unexpectedly made his debut in Legia first team only a few months later. During the match in Szczecin, Stanew was injured and had to leave the pitch, so Artur replaced him. It was 8th of March 2002. It was a good season not only for Boruc, but for the whole team - after 7 miserable years Legia came back to the top of Polish League. Debut in Legia, the Championship of Poland and the Cup of League -Boruc start in Legia was really impressive! The young goalkeeper avoided major mistakes and slowly, thanks both to his sportsmanlike behaviour and performance on the pitch became a favourite player in Legia fans opinion. When a year later Stanew left Legia, it was clear that it would be Boruc who would take his place. And that’s what happened.

And finally the National Team

Since then Artur was a first goalkeeper in Legia. He also made his debut in Poland’s National Team on 28th of April 2004 against the Republic of Ireland in Bydgoszcz. On many occasions proved that his ties with Legia were very strong. He was a true favourite among Legia fans and the one of few players he got on well with them.

Scottish Celtic

Now Artur faces another challenge. Since July 2005 Artur is a player of Celtic Glasgow. He acclimatized to Scottish condtitions in a very short time. Polish goalkeeper became a favourite player for a Celtic fans and the best goalie in a Scottish Premier League. He won the championship three times in a row but first of all Artur was a Celtic superstar in a Champions League. Keeping goal for the Scottish club and Polish national team was definitely a great promotion. Nowadays, the greatest clubs in Europe are intrested about Boruc transfer.

Artur’s debuts

- Legia Warsaw - on 8.02.2002 against Pogoń Szczecin (2-2)

- Poland’s National Team - on 28.04.2004 against Republic of Ireland (0-0)

- European Cups - on 12.08.2004 in UEFA Cup against FC Tbilisi (0-1)

- Celtic Glasgow - on 2.08.2005 UEFA Champions League, Second Qualifying Round, second leg against Artmedia Petrzalka (4-0)