“My favourite purpose is the one from Dimitri Payet, then Kylian Mbappe, after which Francisco Gonzalez Metilli.” Marcin Oleksy is giving his verdict on the very biggest targets amongst the nominations for the 2022 Puskas Award, FIFA’s prize for actually one of the biggest purpose scored by anyone, wherever over the course of the yr.
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however he isn’t merely offering his opinion with pals in a bar or on social media simply like the numerous followers who’ve forged their votes for the winner; Oleksy is assessing the rivals as a peer up in the direction of stars akin to Paris Saint-Germain‘s Mbappe, Tottenham Hotspur‘s Richarlison and Manchester United‘s Alessia Russo after altering into the primary-ever amputee footballer to be shortlisted for the prize. And, for him, Mbappe can have scored a hat trick in a World Cup final, however his nominated purpose is overshadowed by that for an further Frenchman.
“it is the selection he took to discover from that space of the pitch, the energy of the shot and the method,” he tells ESPN, in an interview carried out through a translator, of Payet’s sumptuously arrowed prolonged-differ strike for Marseille. “you may want to be actually technically good to discover this purpose so precisely from that space.”
these self similar phrases may be used to clarify the purpose that earned Oleksy his personal place amongst such illustrious agency. The 36-yr-outdated obtained the nod for his stunning overhead kick for Warta Poznan in November in the direction of Stal Rzeszow, which he scored by planting actually one of his crutches collectively with his again to purpose and swivelling in mid-air to join with a extreme volley that gave the goalkeeper no probability.
“after I noticed how the ball was performed in the direction of me, on the peak it was, i believed ‘this may probably very properly be one factor stunning,'” he says of the purpose, scored simply weeks after he performed 5 video games for Poland at the WAFF Amputee soccer World Cup in Turkey. “So I simply hit it. i used to be following it with my eyes, and after I noticed it inside the internet it simply felt like magic.
“all through observe, we do not actually typically try to do these varieties of pictures. however after i started taking half in amputee soccer, I on an everyday basis needed to do one factor particular.”
It wasn’t prolonged earlier than the purpose was being seen by many others who agreed on simply how particular it was. It opened of us’s eyes to amputee soccer — the seven-a-facet recreation by which rivals have a limb distinction and outfielders play using forearm crutches — as a sport ready to delivering moments of good expertise and athleticism, if certainly they had been aware of it in any respect. decrease than 24 hours after Oleksy’s proper boot had fired the ball into the underside nook, he had formally gone viral not simply in Poland, however worldwide.
“I obtained here across the subsequent day, as a consequence of the massive tv stations and sports activities retailers started to level it,” he says. “I knew then that it was going to be one factor large in Poland, however not throughout the whole world.”
– Puskas Award: Watch all of the nominated targets right here
Oleksy barely had time to recover from his short-term brush with world fame earlier than a second, greater wave of it hit him. In January, his purpose was deemed by FIFA to be actually one of many eleven biggest scored the world over in 2022, and he had some extreme-profile assist campaigning for votes on his behalf.
“It was a bizarre feeling at first,” he says. “I did not think about it in any respect, that it was me that had been nominated. however afterward i started to course of the knowledge, I turned used to it. proper now, it makes me completely happy. It brings me pleasure to suppose that it obtained here to me.
He gives: “[Poland and Barcelona striker Robert Lewandowski] shared the purpose on his social media, and in addition the particulars regarding the nomination and the voting. I hope that Lewy voted for me, too!”
Oleksy, who lives inside the small metropolis of Lugi between the cities of Poznan and Wroclaw and by no means faraway from his hometown of Nowa Sol, had beforehand been a goalkeeper earlier than struggling the damage that led to his left leg being amputated beneath the knee. He had his day job as a development worker and performed between the posts for golf equipment in Poland’s decrease leagues, having fun with his biggest years at fourth-tier Korona Kozuchow. “after i used to be taking half in at regional stage, particularly indoors, i used to be on an everyday basis actually one of the biggest,” he says. “I ought to have performed at 20 tournaments and that i used to be on an everyday basis voted actually one of the biggest goalkeeper.”
however that every one modified finally in 2010, which started as a customary Saturday at work. whereas ready for a machine to cowl a hole inside the road Oleksy heard a loud noise and, earlier than he knew it, was mendacity on the underside.
“I seemed round and noticed a automotive which had crashed, and my uncle working round,” he says. “and that i seemed down and noticed my legs and that i variety of knew what had occurred. the one factor that was in my thoughts was that I needed to maintain alive, you understand; ‘I can not die.’ i used to be considering solely about this.
“i used to be nonetheless conscious when the ambulance obtained here. I misplaced consciousness on the biggest method to the hospital. There I bear in thoughts the X-ray machine and the massive ache that I may really feel. at first I did not really feel the ache in any respect, in all probability ensuing from adrenaline. after which I awakened in surgical procedure, and after three hours I awakened as quickly as extra after the operation. I seemed up and noticed my left leg had been amputated, however i used to be completely happy that i used to be alive, that was the one factor I noticed fascinated about. I wasn’t actually aware of what had occurred, you understand?
“My household was already there, so I did not have time to course of it. I did not want my household to really feel unhappy as quickly as they noticed me. So i started to make jokes about my leg already. i tried to maintain optimistic for my household.”
collectively with his companion pregnant with their first little one, and dealing with his new life as an amputee, sport may not have been farther from Oleksy’s thoughts. It took 9 years, and the craving to kick a ball collectively with his son, Tomasz, that ushered in a mannequin new chapter of his sporting life.
“I on an everyday basis had a dream that after I had a son i would like to play soccer with him,” he says. “So after I obtained a sports activities prosthetic I took him to the soccer pitch and we started taking half in, and that i felt like I needed to get again to it as quickly as extra.
“i started to educate goalkeeping for youths. Then I obtained here across about an alternative to play amputee soccer for Warta Poznan. After the primary teaching session, I knew I needed to maintain and play soccer as quickly as extra.”
nobody can have predicted at that first teaching session that it may lead to Oleksy being nominated for a prize that has been obtained prior to now by stars collectively with Cristiano Ronaldo, Neymar, Mohamed Salah and Son Heung-Min, with this yr’s winner to be introduced at actually one of the biggest FIFA Awards gala on Feb. 27. however he is completely happy to symbolize a sport he has solely been taking half in for a pair of years on the worldwide stage.
“it is actually rewarding to be nominated for this sport,” he says. “i am completely happy that the followers will see that the blokes who’re on crutches are taking half in soccer they typically’re doing superb issues. and in addition, based mostly on the suggestions that I can be taught beneath the video, a lot of the followers are saying ‘wow, that is superb,’ ‘that is unbelievable.'”
Unsurprisingly, Oleksy regards his purpose in the direction of Stal Rzeszow as actually one of the biggest he has ever scored, however he thinks it may not be actually one of the biggest one which he’ll ever rating.
“There’s going to be one other, extra stunning one,” he says. “it is coming.”
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