(photo. Paula Duda / Łączy nas piłka) After years of neglecting women's football, Polish FA finally is making some progress toward it's developement. Currently the aim for WNT is to qualify for EURO'21 for the first time ever. Reforms made in domestic games has now Ekstraliga (top tier league) operate under club licensing regulations with secured TV deal and also bigger pool of money invested into it. Same goes for Polish Cup tourney. EURO 2022 Qualifiers GROUP D Poland ................. 3 ... 2-1-0 ...10- 0 ... 7 Spain ................... 3 ... 2-1-0 ... 9- 1 ... 7 Czech Republic ... 3 ... 2-0-1 ... 12- 5 ... 6 Moldova .............. 3 ... 1-0-2 ... 3-13 ... 3 Azerbaijan ........... 4 ... 0-0-4 ... 1-16 ... 0 POL 0 - 0 ESP (highlights) POL 5 - 0 MDA (highlights) AZR 0 - 5 POL (highlights) Remaining POL matches: 18-09-2020 CZE - POL 22-09-2020 POL - CZE 23-10-2020 POL - AZR 27-10-2020 MDA - POL 01-12-2020 ESP - POL Ekstraliga (graphics: Łączy nas piłka) Clubs preview (in polish) Round highlights 1st round 2nd round 3rd round 4th round 5th round Standings (after 5th round) (graphics: Łączy nas piłka)
Ewa Pajor can`t play for Wolfsburg and Poland for at least 3 months after a knee surgery. This could cost Poland the qualification for the Euro. Das Fußball-Jahr 2020 ist für Ewa Pajor leider vorzeitig beendet: Nach einer OP am linken Knie steht fest, dass die Stürmerin der #Wölfinnen mindestens drei Monate ausfallen wird. Alles Gute und eine schnelle Genesung, liebe Ewa!✊💚➡️ https://t.co/EJLV8vN02N#VfLWolfsburg pic.twitter.com/uT1limmT9y— VfL Wolfsburg Frauen (@VfL_Frauen) September 11, 2020
That’s a shame cuz Poland was actually leading in group points over Spain(all though the rest of the schedule did favor the Spanish) and then stuck in an hard group which includes semi tough Czech Republic. But at least it gives Wolfsburg a chance to start Pauline Bremer. Her career been so side tracked since she looked so promising in the u20 WC back in 2014. Or maybe finally start Popp at central striker? I mean that’s what she does for the #2 ranked NT in the world, only makes sense to play it for her club as well
Wow, she looked fine a few days ago, during the WCL's matches. Was it something that was longtime-planned or a sudden injury?
Pajor injury and 3 month recovery time (at minimum) is surely a loss for NT but this team isn't just one player. Stępiński when came as a coach three years ago, clearly told PZPN (Polish FA) that in order for women's football in PL to develop and to get the attention of fans he will need full support and means to build the team that will not only advance to EURO but also stay competitive out there. I believe this team is close to that. Next two weeks will pretty much decide the shape of Group D. 6 points for Poland from two matches with Czechia will guarntee at least play-offs for White-and-Reds and quite possibly may be enough for direct qualification (as rematch with Moldova and Azerbaijan is formality - looking at their level). That would leave Spain vs. Poland playing for 1st place of the group. Even would Poland lost this last match we could still advance directly as one of three best runners-up. Anyway 4 points from two matches with Czechia is a must - and that's the narrative in Polish camp. Czech's of course may disagree and have their own ideas. Players roster: GK Katarzyna Kiedrzynek (VfL Wolfsburg) Anna Szymańska (Czarni Sosnowiec) Anna Palińska (Górnik Łęczna) DF Natalia Chudzik (Medyk Konin) Aleksandra Sikora (Klepp IL) Jolanta Siwińska (Medyk Konin) Anna Rędzia (SMS Łódź) Martyna Wiankowska (Czarni Sosnowiec) Małgorzata Mesjasz (Turbine Potsdam) Paulina Dudek (PSG) Małgorzata Grec (Górnik Łęczna) Zofia Buszewska (GKS Katowice) MF Agata Tarczyńska (Werder Bremen) Patrycja Balcerzak (SC Sand) Joanna Wróblewska (Śląsk Wrocław) Gabriela Grzywińska (Medyk Konin) Sylwia Matysik (Bayer 04 Leverkusen) Agnieszka Jędrzejewicz (Czarni Sosnowiec) Dominika Grabowska (FC Fleury 91) Kasandra Parczewska (GKS Katowice) Weronika Zawistowska (Czarni Sosnowiec) Paulina Filipczak (SMS Łódź) Adrianna Achcińska (SMS Łódź) FW Agnieszka Winczo (SV Meppen) Dżesika Jaszek (Czarni Sosnowiec) Nikola Karczewka (Górnik Łęczna) Polish Champions Górnik Łęczna had an awfull start of the season thus a lot of it players didn't get a call - including one of Ekstraliga best players - Ewelina Kamczyk (even though she scored hattrick in her last league match). Emilia Zdunek also didn't get a call as she decided to leave Sevilla in view of uncertain Spanish league schedule and came back to Górnik Łęczna but played only one match since. League best goalkeeper Karolina Klabis (AZS UJ Kraków) was given a leave cuz of personal reasons.
It's pretty much as @Lohmann said - problems were there, through out the whole season and you could see it also during WCL's matches. Pajor didn't look fresh and sharp with her runs and didn't use her speed to the fullest. Fun fact: First match with Czechia wasn't played on schedule. Couple of Czech players got a stomach flu and their coach asked PZPN and Stępiński for reschedule. Stępiński agreed on fair play merit. Poland had then well preperd team, with no injuries, uplifted after good sparring games results. Now Czech's are in full strength, without injuries and with high morale (I guess) knowing we are missing our best striker and few others...all while new UEFA covid19 rules state that club can't reschedule if there's at least 13 players able to play. I guess no good deed goes unpunished.
Most important week for Poland WNT but players are starting to drop down like flies. Fate seem an ultimate trickster. First it was Pajor, now it's Jaszek (Ekstraliga current top scorer) and Sikora's (Rompa) uncertain for first match. With Kamczyk out of form, and Zdunek out of shape, all thats left is for Dudek and Kiedrzynek to knock eachother out during training camp and for Matysik to catch a flu. Wait...UEFA said that any number below 13 players is valid for match reschedule.. ...I'm starting to consider a small sabotage of our training camp. 17 year old Kinga Kozak (GKS Katowice) called for Dżesika Jaszek. (from March 2019) UEFA Women's under 17/19 Championship Achcińska has her debut (5min) against Spain. I don't think Kozak will get any minutes against Czechia but both players are developing nicely, staying on the radar of scouts from top Europe leagues.
Sikora was an unused sub yesterday for Klepp against LSK. Last week she was not even on the bench, so may be she is getting closer to match fitness.
Well, Czechs have their own problems as their best striker Lucie Vonkova (Ajax) was seen drinking beer at some lake in Netherlands She was called for NT but that would suggest that she is also injuried as she hasn't played for Ajax either. In general CZE v POL shapes to be very ugly match with a lot of fighting in the middle of the park. Czechs should play a lot of long balls into Polish pk box as they have height advantage. Poland will try to avoid playing narrow and will want to counter with speed on wings.
These games ain’t going to be an ‘Rompa in the park! question; why are the two games played within days of each other since the actual Euro tourney is still nearly two years? I mean the destiny of both woso soccer could be riding on how well they do
Highlights from Czech Republic vs. Poland game Tuesday 22nd rematch in Poland. The game promise to be much more open as both teams are in need of 3 points out of it. Ekstraliga 6th round highlights fun fact: 4th in the league Śląsk Wrocław has starting eleven of an average 19,3 years.
Highlights from Poland last two games. September's 2nd match with Czechia proved to be a disaster. Poland lost their most important game of the season basically because of accumulation of injuries, poor mental attitude and unability to withstand the pressure of the task at hand in order to meet the expectations. It was the worst 90 minutes of performance this team had in last three years. Unfortunatelly that wasn't some isolated incident as the same thing happend in previous WWC qulifiers in matches vs. Scotland. It's an issue that PZPN has to adress in Polish WNT for this team to achieve any success on international stage. Poland 0 - 2 Czech Republic (Stašková 29', K. Dubcová 71') Bad luck seem to haunt Polish WNT. Along with absence of key players due to series of injuries, now covid-19 adds to the mix. Three days before the match with Azerbaijan, Katarzyna Daleszczyk was tested positve. Day before the match another 2 positive test had Kamczyk and Karczewska leave the team with another two - Grec and Wiankowska moved into quarantine. Poland had a total of 14 players unavaiable for Azerbaijan match Poland 3 - 0 Azerbaijan (Mesjasz 41', Zawistowska 47' 65') Procedures have another round of covid-19 testing for today. Results - tomorrow. Everyone in on edge as day after tomorrow NT has a scheduled flight for tuesday match against Moldova.
It seems like Poland have to beat Spain away to have a chance to qualify then? Taking for granted both Poland and the Czechs win their remaining matches against the minnows, Poland will beat the Czechs on the table by one point with a win in Spain. Originally the ESP-POL match is scheduled last in these qualifiers, which could have been a tiny advantage for Poland with Spain likely already group winner by then, but with postponements of matches involving Azerbaijan not yet re-sceduled (could be played in February), Spain might have everything to play for when they face Poland in December. If the injury situation improves and covid-19 comes under control, there could be a tiny lifeline for Poland. I see the first game against Spain ended 0-0 earlier.
Yes, essentially match in Spain will decide who will advance as runner-up from this group. For Poland it's a must win game, though I don't rate our chances very high. In first match when Pajor was around Vilda was affraid of her speed and resigned from setting up his usual high line of defense. That gave our players fighting chance in the middle with 4-5-1 setup. This time around that won't be the case. I expect Spain to setup high and Poland to be outnumbered and outplayed in the middle of the park, consequently closed down on their own half. Perhaps 2 or 3 chances (mostly from set pieces) - that's all what Poland will have in this match but even if we score on one of those, there's still question of defending it (bunker) till final whistle.
Ekstraliga Czarni Sosnowiec - unmatched so far - are clear favorites not only for front seat position before winter brake but to win the league title this season. Czarni are simply level above the rest of Ekstraliga clubs, playing with purpouse and clear aim for making waves in UWCL next season. Reigning chapmions - Górnik Łęczna slowly get back to form but in their case as well as Medyk Konin's - both need fresh ideas comming from the coaching bench cuz football they're playing is getting outdated. Górnik will play with ZNK Split in first round of UWCL this season, a match they should win. UKS SMS Łódź and WKS Śląsk Wrocław are two clubs in this league to have an eye for the future. Both clubs posses very well developed academies with young coaching proffesionals who incorporate very modern approach to team developement and training. In case of Śląsk Wrocław there is also infrastructure, money and fans comming from men's top division club. Round highlights 6th round 7th round 8th round 9th round Standings *Mid-week Śląsk Wrocław won first of two their rescheduled matches (against Olimpia Szczecin) and now has 16 points and GD 13-11. Second match (against Rolnik Głogówek) has to be postponed gain (heay rain) and is rescheduled for 11th Nov.
Poland will bid for WEURO 2025. (unofficial) 🆕PZPN chce zorganizować w Polsce EURO kobiet w 2025 roku❗️@BoniekZibi dokłada projekt dużego turnieju kobiet na koniec kadencji, ale to już jego następca będzie składał aplikację do UEFA.Aplikacja ta przygotowywana jest od kilku miesięcy, prowadzone są rozmowy z samorządami.— Joanna Tokarska (@JoannaTokarska_) June 2, 2021
In the Polish Women's Cup Final yesterday, league champions Czarni Sosnowiec won 1-0 to seal the double, thanks to a Martyna Wiankowska goal. 🇵🇱🏆🏆 📸 @j_prondzynski pic.twitter.com/Ah8BYaMNqZ— FIFA Women's World Cup (@FIFAWWC) June 6, 2021
2021/22, the first half: It's another close season at the top of the Ekstraliga, almost a tie of the 3 best teams, after the first results in spring. Going back to August, the former 3-time champs had a sinking feeling with a home 2-1 loss to UJ Kraków, before a shocking one against the up-and-coming Łódź: Górnik Łęczna 0 - 5 UKS Łódź Zieniewicz 24, Abambila 48, Kopińska 57, Gąsieniec 82, Krezyman 88 www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_xxlPBrTQA&t=1m07s - Match report: Gol24 Łódź also got a much-needed draw 1-1 with Sosnowiec, 2021 double-winners. That team dropped more points in draws, but it was this game and hattrick in November that gave Górnik 1st place at the winter break: Czarni Sosnowiec 2 - 3 Górnik Łęczna Wiankowska 1, Horvathova 48 / Macleans 19, 25, 73 www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3fzU1oaBmo&t=35s "The coach of Górnik [Robert Makarewicz] surprised with the line-up and released in the first 11, among others, the young Katarzyna Jezioro. The risk paid off, because Górnik won in Sosnowiec 3:2. It is also important that they were able to rise after a terrible start, because they lost a goal after just a few dozen seconds from the first whistle. "Later, however, Chinonyerem Macleans started her concert. The Nigerian scored three times and strengthened her position as Ekstraliga's top scorer." - (Match report: Dziennik Wschodni) As you'd expect, next game, Sosnowiec went to Łęczna and knocked Górnik out of the cup, 2-1! And nothing too predictable in the first game since winter - Górnik have drawn 3-3 with Katowice, which let Łódź back into top spot on goal difference (28pts each), Sosnowiec 1 point behind. @Lechus7, I hadn't even heard of Sosnowiec until 2020, but this women's team won record numbers of titles in the 20th century, then nothing, then it won its first two trophies for nearly 20 years. What was the club doing in the meantime?
In short: lack of funding post 1989 till last decade. Half a century of Russian occupation of Poland 1945-89 has left the country a pauper. In 1989 the Iron Curtain falls, free election are held and centrally controlled socialist economy is replaced by capitalism and free market. In the subsequent privatization process, many unprofitable plants, which were previously the only source of money for the company's sports teams, were closed. Sosnowiec, a small town dependant on huge heavy industry factory - now closed - had no means to stay competitve in sports. Czarni means 'those who are Black' or 'Blacks' - name comes form miners factory that previouly existed in town but nowadays it's Kolejowy Klub Sportowy Czarni Sosnowiec - Railway Sports Club Czarni Sosnowiec. The story of Czarni Sosnowiec is also the story of an amazing woman. Irena Półtorak who is called the mother of women's football in Poland. Irena Półtorak (1933 - 2013) She devoted almost all her life to football - first by building the first professional women's team Czarni Sosnowiec and then by working with the Polish national team. She was born on 17 November 1933 in Wildno in the Lipno district. She started her education in Primary School No. 1 in Lipno, which is today's Public Middle School No. 1 named after the Polish Nobel Prize winners. Her childhood fell on the first very difficult post-war years. She quickly began working for the District Council of Trade Unions. This period resulted in frequent, perhaps even too frequent, contact with human problems. However, it was then that young Irena discovered in herself the spirit of a true social activist. Even then, there was little indication that her future would lie in sport, and nothing indicated that she would choose football, the obvious domain of men in the 1960's. The priority for her, as for many other women then, was work. She followed it even to Silesia (400km away) where she was employed in Sosnowiec Steel Foundry "SOSTAL". By a twist of fate, the "Czarni" Sosnowiec Multi-Sectional Miners' Sports Club was operating at the foundry. In 1962 Irena took up her second job there, of course, as a social worker. She quickly became a member of the Czarni Sosnowiec board. In 1968 she took care of the table tennis section and four years later she became the manager of the men's youth (U-14) football team. Finally, the year 1974 came and the World Championships in West Germany, which the Polish men's national team finished in the third place. On the wave of this success Irena Półtorak organized on 20 September 1974 the founding meeting of the women's soccer section of Czarni. A total of 84 womens showed up, whose accession became the foundation of women's soccer in Poland. The team created then was the first women's team in Poland, and Irena Półtorak became its first manager. She held this position until 1991, making the team of Czarni the most successful in the country. But it did not end there. In the meantime, thanks to her persistence, a women's league was created. Apart from the Czarni, it was inaugurated by the following teams: Korona Krakow, Garbarnia Krakow, Karolinka Jaworzyna Slaska, Walter Radom, Irena Wroclaw, Telpod Krakow and Polama Warsaw. The Czarni won their first national championship in 1979/80, but went on to win eleven more times. They also won the Polish Cup eleven times. Irena was also instrumental in setting up the women's national team and organising its first official match. The memorable meeting took place in 1981 in Sicily, where Poland played against Italy. Unfortunately, our players lost 3:0 on their debut. Her adventure with the senior women's national team was as long and fruitful as the one with the club team of Czarni. She was the manager of the national team, and during the 20 years of her WNT tenure, the Polish women played 78 official international matches. For many years she was also the secretary of the Women's Football Department of the Polish Football Association. But it did not end there. After she officially ended her adventure with the senior women's national team, she still worked with women's youth teams. The last one she took care of was the U17 WNT, with which she worked almost until her death. She even prepared its training camp before the second round of the European Championship qualifying round in 2013. In 2009, as the only woman in Poland, she was awarded the Diamond Badge, the highest decoration of the Polish Football Association. In 2011, she received the "Coach of the Year" award, which was granted to her by the Women's Sports Committee of the Polish Olympic Committee for the entirety of her work with women. She died on 5 January 2013 in Sosnowiec, where she was also buried. Dr Władysław Szyngier, coach of the Polish women's national team in 1991-98 and head of the football department at the Academy of Physical Education in Katowice, said at the time: "She was the most dedicated and deserving activist for Polish women's soccer. Her death is a great loss for women's football" The community of football activists unanimously appoints her the informal title of the mother of women's football in Poland. (Translated with www.DeepL)