Nicknames: Bialo-czerwoni, Biale Orly

Head coach: Franciszek Smuda

Captain: Jakub Blaszczykowski

Most caps: Michal Zewlakow (102)

Top scorer: Wlodzimierz Lubanski (48)

Home stadium: National Stadium, Warsaw

Along with the rest of the continent, football caught on in Poland in the late 19th century and has remained the country’s most popular sport. The sport is known as Pilka nozna in Polish. The national team reached the World Cup semifinals in 1974 and 1892, finishing 3rd place both times. This period was the peak of the Polish national team’s success, qualifying for 4 straight World Cups and also winning the 1972 Olympics and getting silver in 1976. Suprisingly however Poland had never qualified for the European Championship before finally making it to this summer’s tournament. On the domestic front Poland has never really had a single dominant team or even pair of dominant teams though Legia Warszawa, Wisla Kraków and Górnik Zabrze could make a claim. On the European front, Górnik Zabrze remain the only Polish club to have reached a European final, that being their loss to Manchester City in the 1970 European Cup Winners’ Cup.

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Troy Hanks

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