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6 HISTORY OF POLISH FOOTBALL
The idea of establishing a Polish national football association
came only after Poland had itself re-emerged as a
bonafide country at the end of World War I. Although some
clubs had already been established within the partitioned
parts of Poland, it took them two years to meet and create
what is now known as the PZPN (Polish FA) at the end of
1920. The first championship was won by Cracovia, from
Krakow, in 1921.
The Polish side’s first international came on December
18, 1921. Due to the complicated political situation of
the time, only several countries could be approached for
a match, most of whom turned the opportunity down. With
the selection process taking shape, thirteen players took
the 36-hour trip to Hungary to play there. The subsequent
narrow defeat was regarded as a good result - after all,
Poland was yet to join FIFA and Hungary were playing their
80th international match.
Despite an impressive appearance at the Olympics in
1936 (fourth place), the first important tournament for
Poland was the 1938 World Cup in France. Fate was not
on Poland’s side, as the draw put them up against the
mighty Brazil and even today this match is still regarded
as a classic. The first half was all Brazil as the Canarinhos,
led by the legendary Leonidas, took a 3-1 lead into
half-time. But the second half was time for the Ernest
Wilimowski show as he scored three times to earn his team
a draw and extra-time. As legend goes, Leonidas played
bare-footed in extra time and completed his hat-trick
with two fine strikes, cancelling out a fourth Wilimowski
goal. Wilimowski’s legacy is still much debated in Poland
despite his record of 10 goals in a game still being a Polish
league record. As a Silesian and native German (like
Podolski and Klose in modern day football), Wilimowski
went onto represent Germany before finishing his career
and settling there after the war.
It took a while for the national team to settle after the disastrous
effects of the Second World War, yet by the late fifties,
several new stars were born that would lead the team into
the next few decades including names such as Ernest Pohl,
Gerard Cieślik and Lucjan Brychczy. It took a further ten years,
however, and the appointment of coach Kazimierz Górski in
1970 to make Poland a stronger team. Only eighteen months
into the job Górski had led his side to the gold medal at the
1972 Olympics in Munich, with Kazimierz Deyna (later of
Manchester City) scoring twice in an exciting 2-1 win over
Hungary in the final.
Jan Tomaszewski’s memorable night at Wembley in 1973
© PAP EPA
Just a year later, one of the most famous matches in Poland’s
history was played at Wembley. After a heroic performance
from goalkeeper Jan Tomaszewski - nicknamed ‘the clown’
by Brian Clough - a one-all draw was enough to earn Górski’s
side a place at the 1974 World Cup finals. Impressive performances
in Germany, including defeats of Argentina and Italy
and a 7-0 thumping of Haiti in the group stage, saw Poland up
against the West German hosts in the semi-final. The match
was played in horrible conditions on a water-logged pitch
(many Polish fans will still claim the Germans watered the
pitch despite heavy rain to nullify the Poles’ passing game)
with the only goal of the game coming from Gerd Muller. In
the match for third-place Poland were better than Brazil and
Grzegorz Lato, current president of the Polish FA, scored his
seventh goal of the tournament winning the Golden Boot in
the process (incidentally beating his strike partner Andrzej
Szarmach, whose tally stood at 6).
After winning the silver medal at the 1976 Olympics, qualification
for the 1978 World Cup quickly followed. An impressive
start put Jacek Gmoch’s squad through to the second round,
but a win over Peru was not enough following defeats to
Argentina (0-2, with Deyna missing a penalty) and Brazil (1-2).
A new head-coach, Antoni Piechniczek, was brought in during
1981 to try to unite an unsettled camp but as he took
over the team, Martial Law was introduced in Poland hitting
his team’s preparations for the 1982 World Cup. With only
domestic players available, Poland started with two goalless
draws but then a 5-1 win over Peru saw them advance. In
the next round, a fantastic performance from hat-trick hero
Zbigniew Boniek gave Poland a 3-0 win over Belgium, while
a solid 0-0 draw with the Soviet Union won them another
semi-final place. Crucially denied the skills of the suspended
Boniek, Poland suffered a 0-2 defeat to eventual winners
Italy, yet an exciting 3-2 win over France in the third-place
game was still regarded as a huge success back in Poland.
Poland missed out on qualification for the 1984 European
Championships, while the most important legacy of a disappointing
performance in the 1986 World Cup - where an
early exit was confirmed after a Gary Linekar inspired 0-3
defeat to England - was ‘Boniek’s curse’. The then Roma
striker concluded that Poles wouldn’t see their team again
at a major tournament for sixteen years.
Boniek was right. The 1990s witnessed the waste of a wonderful
young team - silver medallists at the 1992 Olympics in
Barcelona. With the domestic game sinking deeper into corruption,
fans watched the disappearance of Polish clubs from
the group stage of the Champions League (Widzew Łódź were
the last, in 1996). Boniek’s curse ended when Jerzy Engel’s
team were the first European team to qualify for the 2002
World Cup, but disastrous performances against Korea (0-2)
and Portugal (0-4) meant it was a short trip. Similarly poor
performances meant that Poland failed to advance beyond
the group stage at the 2006 World Cup finals in Germany.
The Polish FA then decided that it was time to give a foreign
coach a chance.
Dutchman Leo Beenhakker took on the role and he inspired
the team during Euro 2008 qualification, winning 2-1 in
style against Portugal thanks to Ebi Smolarek’s brace.
Unfortunately, while Poland yet again had enough class to
qualify for the finals they could not advance from their group
once at the tournament. However, failure in qualification for
the 2010 World Cup saw the Dutchman unceremoniously
sacked live on TV, a few minutes after the 0-3 away defeat
to Slovenia, during an interview with the Polish FA president,
Grzegorz Lato.
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