Walter Rozitsky

Walter Rozitsky was a Polish football player with a French passport, who played the positions of midfielder and defender. He played for FC Barcelona and Real Madrid. He could have also been an earlier French player for Le Havre.

Professional career

His name, "Rozitsky", appears in a number of archival compositions of FC Barcelona before the war. He was probably a midfielder (or right winger) and defender.

Rozitsky was the fifth player in history who left FC Barcelona for Real Madrid. In the shirt of the Blaugrana he played 55 games and scored 5 goals, won the club championship of Catalonia, and won twice the King's Cup and the Pyrenees Cup. He remained in Madrid until 1915, when the outbreak of World War I suspended his career. He left Spain, was drafted into the German army and never returned to the Iberian Peninsula. He died during one of the battles for independence; the details of his death are unknown.

International affiliation

During the time in which he played professionally, Poland was not a sovereign nation. Despite this, at the Estadio Santiago Bernabéu in the gallery of all the Real Madrid players, under the name Rozitsky is inscribed Polonia (meaning Polish). The first Pole playing for the club took pride at being placed next to Santiago Bernabéu Yeste, with whom he performed on the same team.