His own goal was not seen by billions of spectators, nor was Richarlison’s reverse scissors kick at the recent World Cup in Qatar in Brazil’s match against Serbia. He also failed to win in European competition, as did Dimitri Payet’s stunning strike in Marseille’s match against PAOK in the Conference League quarter-finals.

And even his name became widely known when he put on his nice suit and found himself in the same room with Messi and the big stars of world football at the FIFA gala for the best 2022 a few days ago.

Pole Marcin Oleksi has every reason to smile, having received the award for the best goal of last year. A goal that only the few who attended last November’s match between Warta Poznań and Stal Zersow for the Polish Amputee Championship would have seen. However, it happened that a sports fan recorded it on his mobile phone, uploaded it to social networks, and from there the 35-year-old Pole went viral and finally received the Puskas award, for this shot he leaned over. on one of his crutches. At that time, a fan who saw the video of Oleska’s goal jokingly and seriously remarked that he should be nominated for this particular trophy. A few months later, his dominance and the votes he received from other players and coaches partially opened the door so that all forms of football could be recognized on the world stage.

Marcin Oleksi receives the FIFA Puskas award for this incredible goal… 👏#The best

📹 @AmpFutbolPolskapic.twitter.com/wwDYPgLmpW

— Athletic | Football (@TheAthleticFC) February 27, 2023

By the time he reached this point of universal recognition, Oleksi, who also competed for the Polish amputation team, had experienced the hard face of life. At 23, he worked as a construction worker while at the same time playing as a goaltender for little league clubs in his hometown. Everything changed one fine day in 2010, on a normal working Saturday. While waiting for the car to close the pothole in the road, Oleksi heard a loud noise and, without having time to come to his senses, was already lying on the ground.

“I looked around and saw that a car had run over me and my uncle was running around in a panic,” he describes. “I looked down and saw that my legs were broken and somehow I understood what had happened. The only thing I thought about was that I had to stay alive, you know. “I can’t die.” That’s all I thought about. I was still conscious when the ambulance arrived. I passed out on the way to the hospital. I woke up after the operation and immediately looked at my legs and saw that the left one had been amputated. But all I could think about at that moment was that at least I was alive.”

Shortly thereafter, his partner gave birth to their first child, and now Oleksi decided that the sport has no place in his life. Nine years and an attempt to hit the ball to son Thomas had to pass, so that the longing for football returned again. “It was a dream for me to be able to play someday,” he admitted a few hours before the award was presented, and continued: “First with the help of a prosthesis, I became a goalkeeping coach for young children, then I discovered amputee football, and so I went to Varta Poznan. From the first training session, I realized that a new football life was starting for me.”

Speaking to ESPN, he revealed that he voted for Dimitri Payet’s best goal between Marseille and PAOK because, as he said, “it was a decision he made to score from that area of ​​the field, the power of the shot and the technique , you have to be really good technically to score that goal with such accuracy from this area.”

Of course, you can also refer to his own goal in the match between his team Warta Poznań and Stal Zersov, when, after a cross from a teammate, he leaned on one of his crutches and sent the ball into the net with a roundhouse kick. “When I saw the ball coming towards me at such a height, I thought it could be something beautiful,” he says of the goal that put him on the same list as Ronaldo, Neymar and Salah, who also won the trophy . “During training, we don’t often try to make such throws. But when I started playing football with amputees, I always wanted to do something special, ”he added, referring to ESPN.

Within 24 hours, the video of his goal scored hundreds of viewers and was also featured on news bulletins in Poland. “I found out about it the next day because it started showing on TV. I imagined then that it would be something big in Poland, but not all over the world,” emphasizes Oleksi, who, of course, managed to achieve much more than a beautiful goal along the way, as he turned the eyes of fans to the football of people with amputations and let them know that this, too, can provide moments of excitement and great skill.

🏆 The FIFA Puskas Prize goes to Marcin Oleksi!

…and what was the goal 🤩 pic.twitter.com/2LEkSUbfHN

— FIFA World Cup (@FIFAWorldCup) February 27, 2023

“I’m glad that there are now a lot of people who see kids on crutches play football and do amazing things,” he says, of course knowing that he himself played a part in making it happen.

And while he was getting used to the publicity in Poland, in January FIFA included his goal in their list of the 11 best goals scored in the world in 2022. “At first it was a strange feeling. I didn’t believe at all that it was me who was nominated,” he admitted and added: “Then I began to process information, I got used to it. Right now it makes me happy.”

Oleksi has achieved what many would have thought impossible. Not only was he able to return to football despite losing his left leg, but he also managed to steal at least one night of the shine from the biggest stars in the sport. The Polish footballer admits that this is the best goal he has ever scored, but he is sure that it will not be the last, promising that “there will be another, more beautiful moment.”

In our country there is an official championship under the leadership of the Hellenic Amputee Football Federation. The national team was created in 2016.