From early childhood he loved soccer and was a very fast runner, so at age 14 he became a forward on the local team Wawel Wirek.
Their offers were refused, but finally, at the beginning of 1939, he decided to move to Fablok Chrzanów, another A-Class team, from the Kraków region.
In 1939, his team won Kraków’s qualifiers, which allowed it to play in inter-regional games for promotion to the top flight.
Apart from Ernest Wilimowski, Leonard Piątek and Ewald Dytko, Cyganek, a debutant, was regarded as the best player on the field.
[3] In early 1945, after the Red Army poured into Upper Silesia, Cyganek started to organize football matches under new, Communist authorities.