Edward Oratowski

Edward Oratowski was born on 5 March 1948 in Tarnów, in the Lesser Poland region of southern Poland. He began playing football as a boy with his home town club, Unia Tarnów, coming through its youth teams in the early 1960s and then playing for its senior side from the mid 1960s until 1973.

In 1973 Oratowski was signed by Stal Mielec, who had just won the Polish championship. After his first season he established himself in the starting line-up as a defensive midfielder and centre back, and he stayed in Mielec until the end of his top-level career in 1983. The club credits him with 226 appearances and 16 goals in the top division; across all competitions, including the Polish Cup, the League Cup and 14 matches in European competition, he played 266 times for Stal and scored 23 goals.

Those seasons were the high point of Stal's history. The team finished third in 1974, runner-up in 1975 and champions of Poland in 1976, and took third place again in 1979 and 1982. Oratowski also captained the side. In the 1975 to 1976 UEFA Cup Stal reached the quarter-finals, and his goal in the away leg against Hamburger SV gave them a 1 to 1 draw in Hamburg; the club says the goal has a permanent place in the history of football in Mielec. After the third-place finish of 1982 he led Stal out as captain for what became the club's last European tie, against the Belgian side Lokeren.

From 1984 to 1988 he played on in the United States, for the Polish-American clubs Wisła Chicago and the Polish-American Eagles of New York.

After returning to Poland he went back to Stal Mielec and worked off the pitch as team manager (kierownik drużyny). The club gives his term as 1993 to 1997; other records also list spells in 1983 to 1984 and 1999 to 2000. He received the Silver Badge of the Polish Football Association (PZPN).

Edward Oratowski died on 15 October 2026 at the age of 78. His death was announced the same day by FKS Stal Mielec, which wrote that it had received the news with deep sadness, and was reported by 90minut.pl, the city of Mielec and local media. The place and cause of death were not made public. A funeral Mass was arranged for 12 noon on 20 October 2026 in the chapel of the municipal cemetery in Tarnów-Mościce.

Oratowski is remembered in Mielec as one of the players of Stal's golden era, when a club from a small industrial town won the Polish title and reached the last eight of the UEFA Cup. His goal against Hamburger SV remains one of the best known moments in the club's history. Tomasz Leyko, deputy mayor of Mielec and author of the club history Biało-Niebieska, said Oratowski was so devoted to Stal that he lent his own money to help save the club, money that a foreign sponsor never repaid.