Poland are under fairly new management going into the World Cup 2022, as Czeslaw Michniewicz is less than a year into the job.
The move came about after Paulo Sousa paid a release clause to get out of the role and join Brazilian side Flamengo in January. Michniewicz was brought in to replace the Portuguese on a deal that will take him through to the end of the year.
The 52-year-old, a former goalkeeper, made his mark in his first job as by taking Lech Poznan to the Polish Cup and Polish Super Cup in his debut season of 2003/04.
He later led Zaglebie Lubin to the Polish title before having a journeyman route through various clubs in his homeland.
Michniewicz’s involvement with the national set-up first started when he took charge of the Under-21s in 2017, and he led his country to the U21 European Championship for the first time in 25 years in 2019.
A spell in charge of Legia Warsaw followed, and the manager sealed his second Polish league title in 2020/21 with three games to spare.
He then turned heads by taking the capital club to the group stages of the Europa League, where they beat Leicester City and Spartak Moscow.
Czeslaw Michniewicz was fired in October last year after a poor start to the domestic season and was therefore available to take the manager position at Poland after Sousa’s departure.
A World Cup play-off against Russia was set to be his first test, but it was called off after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Poland were sent straight through to the play-off final against Sweden, where they won 2-0 thanks to a Robert Lewandowski penalty and Piotr Zielinksi goal.
Things didn’t go brilliantly in the Nations League, as the Poles picked up just one point from their double-headers with Belgium and the Netherlands, but two wins over Wales were enough to keep them in League A.
For World Cup 2022, Poland have been drawn in Group C alongside Argentina, Mexico and Saudi Arabia.
