Meet the Wellington Phoenix star whose dad took down mafia bosses

Polish target man Oskar Zawada has had a big impact on the A-League since arriving at Wellington Phoenix.

The former Wolfsburg youth player has bagged a team-high 11 goals in his first season, after setting himself a target of hitting double figures.

That is more than he had scored for any other club during a decade-long professional career that taken him from Poland to Germany, South Korea and now New Zealand.

Helping him thrive on the field, Zawada has been enjoying life off it as well. Zawada and his wife Patrycja are expecting their first child this month. A future All White perhaps?

Did you know anything about New Zealand when the move to the Phoenix was first suggested?

I just knew the country New Zealand, that it’s really far away from Poland and that life here was amazing, like in Australia. But I didn’t know a lot, like I do now. I had a few phone calls with people who lived here and I also had a very good conversation with Shaun Gill and Ufuk Talay and it gave me a really good feeling that this is the place where I want to sign my contract.

The one Polish player everyone in New Zealand knows is Robert Lewandowski. Is he someone you look up to, seeing he’s a striker as well?

When I was younger there was no Robert Lewandowski but maybe nowadays young players in Poland look up to him. I was looking up to Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Edinson Cavani and Edin Džeko. They are all tall strikers and I took inspiration from them. I didn’t have just one player I looked up to but I always really liked good, tall strikers.

You started your career at Wolfsburg in Germany and your time there would have coincided with Manchester City star Kevin de Bruyne, who is now one of the best in the business. Did you two ever play together?

Yeah of course. We had some opportunities to train together and to play some friendly games. He’s an amazing player. He wasn’t so famous like he is now but you could see he was going to be a future star. It didn’t surprise me that he went to Manchester City. He’s very smart and a good footballer.

You and your wife announced late last year that you are having a baby, will they be born in New Zealand?

Yes. The baby will be born in New Zealand and I think that’s great. It’s going to be a great memory for the kid and for us. We’re very happy about it. We really like New Zealand and my wife is also very happy here.

How are you feeling about becoming a father?

When we speak about football nothing changes because I will work so hard like I did before, it’s just my free time I will spend more time with the kid at home but that’s a normal part of being a father. But I will be working harder in training and in the games because I want to show my kid that their father is working hard for a better future and I want to be a good example for him. It’s additional motivation.

You seem to have a thing for lions. You have a lion tattoo down your forearm and use a lot of lion imagery on your social media posts. What is the inspiration behind the lion theme?

I really believe that if you manifest something it’s going to happen to you and I had a big inspiration from the lions, the kings of the jungle and I also really like nature. I take inspiration from animals because it’s all about history and biology. I was always joking that I’m the human lion because I am a lion on the pitch.

Speaking of social media, Phoenix fans have loved some of the videos you have posted on Instagram, providing a glimpse into your life away from the football field …

There’s people from Poland who follow me and also our fan base from New Zealand, and I know from being a kid what is going on when there’s someone you like. I try to give some stories to the people who supported me because nowadays, we live in a social media society and I try when I have time and motivation to do something extra to give something back to the people, and it’s quite fun for me and people like it. I just try to create and show the people who Oskar Zawada is.

You train at the same facility as the Hurricanes Super Rugby team. Do you have any plans to get along to watch your first rugby game?

We see each other every day so we greet each other. Of course, I have conversations with some players and so far I really like these players and the work ethic they have. For sure, I’d like to watch some games of the Hurricanes.

Finally, is it true that your dad was a special agent?

Yeah, yeah that’s true. He was a policeman who was sent to dangerous situations for example when there’s a mafia boss or something and you have to go with a lot of people to take him down. It was quite dangerous stuff. He didn’t speak a lot about it but sometimes we asked him and we knew he was a big, tall and strong guy. He never said anything we should be scared about but we were young and didn’t care so much, but now I have a lot of respect.