EURO 2021

Poland coach Franciszek Smuda produced no surprises when he named his 23-man squad for Euro 2012 on Sunday. It was largely expected that Smuda would drop midfielder Tomasz Jodlowiec and striker Michal Kucharczyk, who had fared poorly in a friendly win against Latvia, as well as defender Kamil Glik from his provisional group of 26. “I would like to thank them because they gave it their best, they worked at full capacity and I hope they stay in contention for squads in the future,” Smuda told a news conference. On […]

„My most severe deliberations concerned defenders and strikers,” said the Polish national team selector, who after 30 months of attempts and tests presented his choices. 26 players fighting for 23 places in the national team line-up have been nominated (the final decision will be taken after the preparatory camp in Austria taking place from 16th to 28th of May); the roster includes also 7 substitute players who have to be ready to replace the injured or indisposed players from the starting line-up. Franciszek Smuda indicated that football fans shouldn’t count […]

Fellow managers on Friday tipped defending European champions Spain and Euro 2008 second-placers Germany as hot favorites to win this year’s tournament. After wrapping up a two-day meeting of all 16 Euro 2012 qualifier nations in tournament co-hosts Poland, managers were pressed by reporters to give their forecasts for the final outcome. “I think everyone knows who the favorites are. For me, they are Germany and Spain,” Poland manager Franciszek Smuda said. Even Germany boss Joachim Loew said the 2008 victors were the team to beat. “It’s Spain, in any […]

A coach should have a detailed plan for every group match. Franciszek Smuda, 63, has been leading the national team for 25 months. – In the clubs he used to be adamant. He worked hard for a great respect and recognition, because he focused on the work with the team and he wasn’t interested in nothing else – says Marek Koźmiński, 46-time representative, a silver Olympic medalist from Barcelona from 1992, who played over 100 matches in Series A and appeared at the World Cup in Korea. – In the […]

Poland have appointed local Franciszek Smuda as coach in place of sacked Dutchman Leo Beenhakker. Having missed out on a World Cup berth and qualifying automatically as hosts for Euro 2012, Smuda’s first competitive game is more than two and a half years away. Smuda, who is the national team’s 44th coach, has a contract until the end of the European Championship in which Poland are guaranteed an automatic place as co-hosts with Ukraine. Smuda replaces temporary coach Stefan Majewski, whose team lost the last two games of the 2010 […]