The Poland Euro 2024 squad got off to an excellent start in the tournament as they went ahead against the Netherlands, but ended up with nothing after the Dutch came back to secure a 2-1 win.
Then their tournament was ended by a 3-1 defeat to Austria in Hamburg. Poland's problem isn't European Championships - 2024 was their fifth finals outing in a row, including as 2012 co-hosts alongside Ukraine - but in achieving anything remotely good when they are there.
They have won only two of 15 games in normal time over the previous four tournaments - both at Euro 2016 when they reached the last eight by beating Northern Ireland and Ukraine, then Switzerland on penalties. Poland have otherwise suffered group-stage exits, and that pattern continued here in Germany.
It was always going to be a tough ask to replicate the last World Cup, and get through the group stage at Euro 2024. Wojciech Szczesny was the hero in Cardiff in March in the play-off final against Wales, but no one was able to replicate that in Germany.
Michal Probierz's final 26 included notable absences. Aston Villa star Matty Cash didn't make it to the preliminary selection, former West Brom midfielder Grzegorz Krychowiak won't get a chance to add to his 100 caps, while Birmingham's Krystian Bielik wasn't at the tournament, either.
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Perhaps most notably, Juventus forward Arkadiusz Milik pulled out with injury – but there are still quality players in the final group. Robert Lewandowski is 35 and still capable of game-changing moments, Jakub Kiwior has enjoyed a good season with Arsenal, while Nicola Zalewski and Piotr Zielinski are two familiar faces to Serie A fans. Szczesny will be staying between the sticks but Nice custodian Marcin Bulka is included and definitely one for the future.
This is Poland's seventh consecutive major tournament appearance in all – they also featured at the 2018 and 2022 World Cups – and, as with every Euro 2024 side, FourFourTwo will bring you all the latest as we report live from the European Championship. That includes information on how to watch every game, as well as details on all the fixtures.
Poland's players thank the crowd after losing to Austria at Olympiastadion (Image credit: Getty Images)
Poland Euro 2024 squad
Poland Euro 2024 squad: The 26-man team
GK: Wojciech Szczesny (Juventus)
GK: Lukasz Skorupski (Bologna)
GK: Marcin Bulka (Nice)
DF: Jan Bednarek (Southampton)
DF: Bartosz Bereszynski (Empoli)
DF: Jakub Kiwior (Arsenal)
DF: Tymoteusz Puchacz (Kaiserlsuatern)
DF: Bartosz Salamon (Lech Poznan)
DF: Pawel Dawidowicz (Verona)
DF: Sebastian Walukiewicz (Empoli)
MF: Kamil Grosicki (Pogon Szczecin)
MF: Piotr Zielenski (Napoli)
MF: Przemyslaw Frankowski (Lens)
MF: Sebastian Szymanski (Fenerbahce)
MF: Jakub Moder (Brighton)
MF: Damian Szymanski (AEK Athens)
MF: Nicola Zalewksi (Roma)
MF: Bartosz Slisz (Atlanta United)
MF: Michal Skoras (Club Brugge)
MF: Jakub Piotrowksi (Ludogorets Razgrad)
MF: Taras Romanczuk (Jagiellonia Bialystok)
MF: Kacper Urbański (Bologna)
FW: Robert Lewandowski (Barcelona)
FW: Karol Swiderksi (Verona)
FW: Krzysztof Piatek (Istanbul Basaksehir)
FW: Adam Buksa (Antalyaspor)
Poland Euro 2024 squad numbers
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Poland Euro 2024 squad numbers
No.
Player
Pos
1
Wojciech Szczęsny
GK
2
Bartosz Salamon
DF
3
Pawel Dawidowicz
DF
4
Sebastian Walukiewicz
DF
5
Jan Bednarek
DF
6
Jakub Piotrowski
MF
7
Karol Świderski
FW
8
Jakub Moder
MF
9
Robert Lewandowski (captain)
FW
10
Piotr Zielinski
MF
11
Kamil Grosicki
MF
12
Lukasz Skorupski
GK
13
Taras Romanczuk
MF
14
Jakub Kiwior
DF
15
Tymoteusz Puchacz
DF
16
Adam Buksa
FW
17
Damian Szymanski
MF
18
Bartosz Bereszynski
DF
19
Przemyslaw Frankowski
MF
20
Sebastian Szymanski
MF
21
Nicola Zalewski
MF
22
Marcin Bulka
GK
23
Krzysztof Piątek
FW
24
Bartosz Slisz
MF
25
Michal Skóraś
MF
26
Kacper Urbanski
MF
Poland fixtures and results
June 16: Poland 1-2 Netherlands, Volksparkstadion, Hamburg, Germany June 21: Poland 1-3 Austria, Olympiastadion, Berlin, Germany June 25: France v Poland, Westfalenstadion, Dortmund, Germany
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Poland Euro 2024 top scorers
1 goal: Adam Buska
Poland manager: Michal Probierz
Poland manager Michal Probierz (Image credit: Getty Images)
Michal Probierz is used to working with underdogs, having achieved his best results at 2009/10 Polish Cup-winning minnows Jagiellonia Bialystok. Promoted to the top job from the Under-21s after Fernando Santos' dismissal, the 51-year-old went unbeaten in his opening six games. "It's not about playing, but winning," he says of his solid style.
Poland’s star player
Robert Lewandowski
Lewandowski is still going strong (Image credit: Getty Images)
Arguably the finest forward of his generation, Robert Lewandowski probably rivals Zbigniew Boniek as Poland's greatest ever player but he has never come close to staring at an international tournament.
The rot began on home soil way back at Euro 2012. The Barcelona striker, who is 36 in August, may feel this was his last shot at making things right.
Strengths
A pair of world-class operators at either end of the pitch: Juventus’ Wojciech Szczesny – Poland’s darling in Wales – and Barcelona’s Robert Lewandowski. The Poles are better organised under Probierz and also excel at the dark arts.
Weaknesses
Creativity and imagination have long been major issues, and the situation is even worse now that Lewandowski is displaying all of his 35 years. Against Wales, with Lewy often dropping deep to become an additional midfielder, the Eagles failed to record a single shot on target across 120 nervous minutes.
Most likely to
Be referred to as Welsh party-poopers.
Least likely to
Hear commentators pronounce their names correctly, especially Szczesny. For the record, it’s ‘sh-chels-neh’ (ish).
What they hope will happen
They emulate the team that finished third on German soil at the 1974 World Cup, with Lewy lifting the Golden Boot just as Grzegorz Lato did 50 years ago.
What will happen
They emulate the team knocked out of their group on German soil at the 2006 World Cup, with Lewy faltering again.
Ryan is a staff writer for FourFourTwo, joining the team full-time in October 2022. He first joined Future in December 2020, working across FourFourTwo, Golf Monthly, Rugby World and Advnture's websites, before eventually earning himself a position with FourFourTwo permanently. After graduating from Cardiff University with a degree in Journalism and Communications, Ryan earned a NCTJ qualification to further develop as a writer while a Trainee News Writer at Future.
