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Poland to name new soccer coach on Tuesday

23.01.2023 08:00
After days of media speculation and guessing, officials are expected to announce the name of the new coach of Poland's national soccer team this week.
Image: pzpn.pl
Image: pzpn.plpzpn.pl

The Polish Football Association (PZPN) is scheduled to hold a news conference at the National Stadium in Warsaw on Tuesday at 1 p.m. to introduce the new manager.

The association's head, Cezary Kulesza, tweeted on Sunday: "The choice was not easy, but I believe that we will experience many beautiful moments with the new coach."

The announcement comes after the national soccer governing body in December decided against renewing the contract of homegrown manager Czesław Michniewicz, whose role as Poland boss ended on December 31, according to officials.

The Polish Football Association said earlier this month it was interviewing several foreign candidates for the position of manager of the national team to replace Michniewicz.

Polish media outlets have speculated that Michniewicz could be replaced by Portuguese manager Paulo Bento, who previously managed clubs such as Portugal's Sporting, Brazil's Cruzeiro, Greece's Olympiacos and China's Chongqing Lifan.

From 2010 to 2014, Bento was coach of the Portugal national team, and from 2018 to December 2022, he managed South Korea, guiding them to the last 16 of the World Cup in Qatar.

Poland too reached the last 16 of last year's World Cup in Qatar, where they were eliminated by eventual runners-up France.

The Polish team has been drawn to play the Czech Republic, Albania, the Faroe Islands and Moldova in qualifiers for the Euro 2024 championships in Germany.

The Poles are due to start their Euro 2024 qualifying campaign with an away game against the Czech Republic on March 24.

(gs)

Source: PAP