Krzynowek gets it

The Polish Ekstraklasa has been struggling over the last decade. It’s only seen 4 different champions. The league lacks parity and the league fails to provide any kind of development to Polish youth. The last time a Polish club made it to the Champions League was the 1994-05 Legia Warsaw, where their run ended in the quarterfinals against Greek side Panathinaikos. Before they went down however, they out lasted Blackburn Rovers and Rosenberg in group play. And the last time we had success in a smaller, but still prestigious UEFA Cup was the 2003 Wisla Krakow squad who beat Schalke04, Parma and then finally lost in the fourth round to Lazio.

Smuda not off to a good start

Stefan Majewski was granted a gift of a lifetime, a two match interview by PZPN. To show the Polish federation that he can be the top man for the national team as coach. Like Leo Beenhakker’s final games, the offense under Majewski was still non-existent. And thus, the world-wide search for his successor began. PZPN interviewed many coaches, both domestic and foreign, and found the best candidate to take over was former Lech Poznan boss Franz Smuda.

Roger can speak Polish – Can you?

I’m sure we have all heard the same poor excuse by fans since Polish international Roger Guerreiro received his passport and first call up. This same excuse of course claims that Roger cannot speak Polish, thus this should not make him eligible for national team play. I think not. That is why I intend this blog post to finally end that Roger language excuse once and for all. Frankly, it’s annoying, especially when Roger actually speaks Polish almost better then Smolarek.

Lech Finally got themselves a #1 Keeper

The powers of the Ekstraklasa have been loading up on talent this summer, trying to stack a roster for what should be a very competitive 2009/10 season. Such moves like Arek Radomski from NEC in the Dutch league to Lech Poznan, Carlo Costly returning from his load deal to GKS Belchatow from Birmingham City, Marcin Mieciel going back to Legia Warsaw from German VfL Bochum and Wisla Krakow bringing in Lukasz Gargula and Andraz Kirm. However, the biggest signing of them all may have been this past week when Lech Poznan signed goalkeeper Grzegorz Kasprzik from Piast Gliwice.

Thursday June 11th Bullets

It’s been a while since i last checked in with some news and notes around the Polish league. Honestly, not much has happened since my last post on transfers around the Polish league and abroad. Most of the attention has been on the national team but there have been some news of note last few days that I figured i’d get everyone up to date on the happenings in Polish soccer.

Puchar Polski Preview

On Tuesday, May 19th, Lech Poznan will play Ruch Chrozow for the 55th Polish Cup (Puchar Polski). The match will be played in Chrozow, who have a gigantic opportunity to qualify for a European cup tomorrow with a win. Normally I’d say Chrozow doesn’t stand much of a chance, but, with about 40,000 tickets already sold at Slaski Stadium, majority of which will be rooting for Ruch, and the whole argument that anyone can beat anyone any given match day, makes Ruch’s case really strong.