# Bogdan Wenta

Bogdan Brunon Wenta (born 19 November 1961) is a Polish politician and handball coach and former Polish and German handball player. He has been a member of the Poland men's national handball team in 1981–1994 and Germany men's national handball team in 1997–2000, a participant of the Olympic Games Sydney 2000, five-time Polish Champion (1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988), and former head coach of Poland. He has been one of the best handball player in the history of Polish handball. Between 2014 and 2018 he was a Member of the European Parliament for the Polish Civic Platform. In 2018, he was elected as Mayor of Kielce, having run from his own committee with the endorsement of the Civic Platform.

## Personal life

Since 1984 he has been married to Iwona. They have one son Tomasz (born 13 March 1996). In 2014 Bogdan Wenta was elected to European Parliament.

## Career as player
### Clubs

Wenta's entire career in Poland was connected with one club - Wybrzeże Gdańsk, where he started playing in first team in 1978, when he was 17. He was five-times Polish Champion (1984–1988) and achieved European Cup final twice, losing to RK Metaloplastika Šabac in 1986 and SKA Mińsk in 1987. In 1989 he moved to Spain and played for Bidasoa Irún (1989–1992) and FC Barcelona Handbol (1992–1995). He was first Polish player in FC Barcelona. At last, he emigrated to Germany, and played for TuS Nettelstedt (1995–1998) and SG Flensburg-Handewitt (1998–2000).

### National teams
#### Poland 1981–1993

Wenta made his debut in Polish national team in 1981, when he was barely 20. He was appointed by Zygfryd Kuchta. It was match with Switzerland. He represented Poland in 185 official games (including friendly matches 198) and scored 763 goals, which is the third result in history of Polish handball.
He took part in IHF World Handball Championship twice - in 1986 (14th place) and 1990 (11th place). He did not participate in Olympic Games as Polish player. In 1993 he was blamed for Poland's elimination during qualifications to 1994 European Men's Handball Championship. Since then he was never called up again to Polish national team.

#### Germany 1997–2000

In 1996 Wenta accepted German citizenship, which caused a lot of controversy in his homeland, Poland. However he has never played against Poland. He represented the German side in 46 official games (and 4 friendly matches) and scored 144 goals. He was a member of German national team in IHF World Handball Championship twice - 1997 and 1999. In 1998 he achieved bronze medal of European Championship and took part in European Championship 2000. He made his Olympic debut at Olympics Sydney 2000 (5th place).
He regained Polish citizenship in 2008.

## Career as coach, 2000–2012

Bogdan Wenta retired in 2000 and became coach assistant in SG Flensburg-Handewitt. In 2005 he had to enter the court and play because of many players had injuries. He was 44 and this number was on his shirt.
From summer 2006 to autumn 2007 he was head coach of German handball club, SC Magdeburg.
On 28 October 2004 Wenta was announced as Poland men's national handball team head coach. In 2007 he achieved with national team the biggest success of Polish handball - Poland won silver medal of World Championship. They lost the final to host team - Germany 25:29. In 2008 Poland took the fifth place by defeating Russia 29:28 at 2008 Summer Olympics, held in Beijing. In 2009 Poland led by him achieved second medal of IHF World Handball Championship. They won the bronze medal by defeating Denmark 31:23 at World Championship 2009 in Croatia. In January 2010 he was awarded Coach of Year 2009 by Plebiscite of Przegląd Sportowy. In 2012 national team did not qualify to Olympic Games. On April 19, 2012, he announced his resignation.
* 2007 EHF Cup, with SC Magdeburg
* 2007 IHF World Championship, with Poland
* 2009 IHF World Championship, with Poland
* 2009 Polish Cup, with Vive Targi Kielce
* 2009 Polish Championship, with Vive Targi Kielce
* 2010 Polish Cup, with Vive Targi Kielce
* 2010 Polish Championship, with Vive Targi Kielce
* 2011 Polish Cup, with Vive Targi Kielce
* 2011 Polish Championship, with Vive Targi Kielce
* 2012 Polish Cup, with Vive Targi Kielce
* 2012 Polish Championship, with Vive Targi Kielce
* 2013 Polish Cup, with Vive Targi Kielce
* 2013 Polish Championship, with Vive Targi Kielce
* 2013 EHF Champions League, with Vive Targi Kielce

## Involvement in politics, 2014–present

Wenta was a Member of the European Parliament elected in the 2014 European elections. In European Parliament, he served on the Committee on Culture and Education and on the Committee on Development. In addition to his committee assignments, he was a member of the Parliament's delegation to the ACP–EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly. In 2018, he quit his membership in the European Parliament after being elected as Mayor of Kielce in 2018 Polish local elections.

## Other activities

* European Endowment for Democracy (EED), Member of the Board of Governors

## Sporting achievements
### Clubs
#### National championships

* 1981/1982 Polish Championship, with Wybrzeże Gdańsk
* 1982/1983 Polish Championship, with Wybrzeże Gdańsk
* 1983/1984 Polish Championship, with Wybrzeże Gdańsk
* 1984/1985 Polish Championship, with Wybrzeże Gdańsk
* 1985/1986 Polish Championship, with Wybrzeże Gdańsk
* 1986/1987 Polish Championship, with Wybrzeże Gdańsk
* 1987/1988 Polish Championship, with Wybrzeże Gdańsk
* 1990/1991 Spanish Cup, with Bidasoa Irún
* 1992/1993 Spanish Cup, with FC Barcelona
* 1993/1994 Spanish Championship, with FC Barcelona
* 1993/1994 Spanish Cup, with FC Barcelona
* 1994/1995 Spanish SuperCup 1994, with FC Barcelona
* 1998/1999 German SuperCup 1998, with TuS Nettelstedt-Lübbecke

### National team

* 1998 European Championship

### Individually

* 1990 ASOBAL League - The best pair of foreign players with Alfreð Gíslason
* 1991 ASOBAL League - The best pair of foreign players with Alfreð Gíslason
* 1990 ASOBAL League - Most Valuable Player
* 1991 ASOBAL League - Most Valuable Player
* 1995 ASOBAL League - Best Playmaker

### State awards

* 2007 Knight's Cross of Polonia Restituta