Michał Kubiak

Michał Jarosław Kubiak (born 23 February 1988) is a Polish volleyball player, member of the Polish national team and Japanese club Panasonic Panthers, participant of the Olympic Games (London 2012, Rio 2016), 2014 and 2018 World Champion, gold medallist of the 2012 World League, silver medallist of the 2011 World Cup, bronze medallist of the 2011 European Championship and 2011 World League.

Michał Kubiak
Personal information
Full nameMichał Jarosław Kubiak
NicknameMisiek
Kubi
Nationality Polish
Born (1988-02-23) 23 February 1988
Wałcz, Poland
Height1.92 m (6 ft 4 in)
Weight87 kg (192 lb)
Spike347 cm (137 in)
Block320 cm (126 in)
Volleyball information
PositionOutside hitter
Current club Panasonic Panthers
Number13
Career
YearsTeams
2002–2005
2005–2006
2006–2007
2007–2008
2008–2009
2009–2010
2010–2011
2011–2014
2014–2016
2016–
2018		 Maraton Świnoujście
Joker Piła
AZS Olsztyn
KS Poznań
Hapoel Kiryat Ata
Pallavolo Padova
AZS Politechnika Warszawska
Jastrzębski Węgiel
Halkbank Ankara
Panasonic Panthers
Beijing Volleyball
National team
2011– Poland
Honours
Men's volleyball
Representing  Poland
FIVB World Championship
2014 Poland
2018 Bulgaria/Italy
FIVB World Cup
2011 Japan
2019 Japan
2015 Japan
FIVB World League
2012 Sofia
2011 Gdańsk
CEV European Championship
2011 Austria/Czech Republic
2019 Belgium/France/Netherlands/Slovenia

Personal life

Michał Kubiak was born in Wałcz, Poland. He has an older brother Błażej, who is also a volleyball player. He is married to Monika. On 23 February 2014 (Kubiak's 26th birthday) their daughter Pola was born. They also have a second child.

Michał Kubiak and Zbigniew Bartman during the match at Spodek, Katowice (2012 World League).
Kubiak, Łukasz Żygadło and Paweł Zagumny during the match Poland – USA (2012 World League).

Career

Before his career as an indoor volleyball player, Michał Kubiak played beach volleyball with Zbigniew Bartman. They won a gold medal at the European U18 Championship in 2004 and a silver medal at the World U18 Championship,[1] also in 2004. Both Kubiak and Bartman gave up playing beach volleyball.

Clubs

Kubiak made his debut in the Polish volleyball league during the 2005/2006 season. He played for three Polish clubs before moving to foreign leagues. In the 2008/2009 season, he played for Israeli club Hapoel Kiryat Ata. His career accelerated after good performances in the B squad of the Polish national team. After that he moved to Italian Serie A2 Volley Padwa. In the 2010/2011 season, he returned to the PlusLiga, specifically to AZS Politechnika Warszawska, where he played with Zbigniew Bartman again. He wanted to leave the Warsaw club in 2011, but the club stated that their contract was still valid and filed a lawsuit.[2] Finally, Kubiak moved to Jastrzębski Węgiel. With this club, he won a silver medal in the World Club Championship 2011. In 2012/2013 season he won a bronze medal in the Polish Championships. In 2013/2014 the club advanced to the Final Four of the Champions League in Ankara and after defeating Zenit Kazan won the bronze medal.[3][4] His team beat ZAKSA Kędzierzyn-Koźle in the last matches in the fight for a medal. Jastrzębski Węgiel, including Kubiak, ended the season with a second bronze in the Polish Championships.[5] In July 2014, a year before his contract was due to end, Kubiak requested an early termination. The club agreed, and Kubiak was able to play for the Turkish club Halkbank Ankara for the season 2014/2015.[6] Kubiak agreed with Jastrzębski Węgiel that after the end of the contract in Turkey, he would return to the Polish club.[7] On 29 March 2015 he won the Turkish Cup with his team Halkbank Ankara. In the final match, his team beat Arkas Izmir 3-0 and Kubiak scored 11 points.[8] After one season in Japan with the Panasonic Panthers, he renewed his contract until the end of the 2018/2019 season.[9]

National team

Kubiak was first selected to represent the Polish national team by coach Andrea Anastasi in 2011. With the Polish team, he won three medals in 2011 - silver at the World Cup[10] and two bronzes at the World League[11] and the European Championship.[12] He was a gold medalist at the World League 2012 in Sofia, Bulgary.[13][14] On 16 August 2014 he was selected to the Polish squad at the World Championship held in Poland.[15][16] On 21 September 2014 Poland won the title of World Champion 2014.[17][18][19] On 27 October 2014 he received a state award granted by the Polish President Bronisław Komorowski, the Gold Cross of Merit for outstanding sports achievements and for promoting Poland across the world.[20]

In November 2015 he was nominated for Polish Sports Personality of the Year by the Plebiscite of Przegląd Sportowy.[21] He took 5th place in the list of 2015 Polish Sports Personality of the Year.

On 30 September 2018 Poland achieved title of the 2018 World Champion.[22] Poland beat Brazil in the final 3-0 and defended the title from 2014. Kubiak received an individual award for the Best Outside Spiker and he was one of the main players in the team.[23]

Controversies

In 2019, he made a comment against the Iranian people that led to his suspension by FIVB for six games. He said referring to the people of Iran: "The Iranians think they are great and the best and we are the worst. But I believe that they are fatal, malicious and damned people. For me, this nation doesn’t exist, even though they proudly call themselves Persians, not Arabs. Sometimes we have to play with them, but for me, they don’t exist."

Sporting achievements

Clubs

Youth national team

Individual awards

State awards

References
  1. Men's U18 Event 2004 Results - fivb.org - 12-09-2004
  2. Stanowisko AZS PW w sprawie Michała Kubiaka Archived 2014-10-30 at the Wayback Machine - plusliga.pl - 04-10-2011
  3. JASTRZEBSKI edge former champions Zenit to strike first CL medal - zenit-kazan.com - 23-03-2014
  4. Jastrzębski Węgiel trzecią siłą w Europie. Mamy brązowy medal Ligi Mistrzów!!! Archived 2014-10-31 at the Wayback Machine - jastrzebskiwegiel.pl - 23-03-2014
  5. PlusLiga: Brązowe Jastrzębie - przegladsportowy.pl - 28-04-2014
  6. Michał Kubiak przenosi się do Turcji! Archived 2014-07-15 at the Wayback Machine - s-w-o.pl - 04-07-2014
  7. Dziękujemy i czekamy na powrót Archived 2014-07-14 at the Wayback Machine - jastrzebskiwegiel.pl - 04-07-2014
  8. TURKISH CUP M: HalkBank clinched the trophy! - worldofvolley.com - 29-03-2015
  9. Michał Kubiak przedłużył kontrakt z Panasonic Panthers! - s-w-o.pl - 06-03-2017
  10. Poland shoot up World Rankings on back of World Cup silver - fivb.org - 06-12-2011
  11. 2011 FIVB Volleyball World League Final Report - fivb.org - 10-07-2011
  12. Bartosz Kurek is the man of the day as Poland strikes bronze at EuroVolley Archived 2014-09-24 at the Wayback Machine - cev.lu - 18-09-2011
  13. Poland beat USA to claim first World League title - fivb.org - 08-07-2012
  14. Poland wins historical gold at the 2012 World League - fivb.org - 08-07-2012
  15. FIVB Mistrzostwa świata w piłce siatkowej mężczyzn Polska 2014. Trener Antiga ogłosił skład - plusliga.pl - 17-08-2014
  16. Polish team named for the FIVB Men's World Championship Poland 2014 - fivb.org - 17-08-2014
  17. Poland win second World Championship title at home - fivb.org - 21-09-2014
  18. Poland put an end to the reign of Brazil - fivb.org - 21-09-2014
  19. FIVB MŚ Polska 2014: Polska ze złotym medalem - plusliga.pl - 21-09-2014
  20. "Dziękuję za chwile wzruszenia i dumy" Archived 2014-10-27 at the Wayback Machine - prezydent.pl - 27-10-2014
  21. Michał Kubiak nominowany w 81. Plebiscycie „Przeglądu Sportowego” na 10 Najlepszych Sportowców Polski 2015 - plisliga.pl - 26-11-2015
  22. "Poland triumph over Brazil to retain World title for years more years". FIVB. Retrieved 30 September 2018.
  23. "Kurek MVP mistrzostw świata! Nagrody indywidualne dla Kubiaka, Nowakowskiego i Zatorskiego!". Dziennik. Retrieved 30 September 2018.
  24. Postanowienie Prezydenta Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej z dnia 23 października 2014 r. o nadaniu orderów i odznaczeń – isap.sejm.gov.pl – 23-10-2014
  25. "Odznaczenia dla Mistrzów Świata w Piłce Siatkowej Mężczyzn 2018". prezydent.pl (in Polish). 2 October 2018. Retrieved 2 October 2018.
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