Fernando Santos will no longer be the coach of the Polish national football team, PAP confirmed to PZPN. An announcement on this matter is to be announced soon. “It’s a matter of hours rather than days,” it said.
The first information about the dismissal of the Portuguese coach was published by “Przegląd Sportowy” on Wednesday. PAP’s information coincides with the newspaper’s findings.
On Tuesday morning, there was a meeting between Santos and the president of the Polish Football ociation, Cezary Kulesza, and later the lawyers of both parties stepped in to establish the rules for terminating the contract, the provisions of which were quite complicated. Jakub Kwiatkowski, spokesman for the Polish Football ociation and team manager of the national team, informed that the men would meet again, and such a conversation probably took place on the same day.
According to PAP’s findings, the union is working on a statement to inform about the Portuguese’s departure.
The 68-year-old coach took over the Polish team in January, replacing Czesław Michniewicz. Under his leadership, Polish players have played six matches so far – they won three, including two in the European Championship qualifiers: at home against Albania 1-0 and the Faroe Islands 2-0 and friendly against Germany 1-0, and also suffered three away defeats in the qualifications Euro 2024: against the Czech Republic 1:3, Moldova 2:3 and on Sunday in Tirana against Albania 0:2.
They won six points in five qualifying matches and are in fourth place in group E, behind Albania – 10, the Czech Republic – 8, but only in four games, and Moldova – 8.
The next training camp and matches – with the Faroe Islands in Thorshavn and Moldova in Warsaw – await the Poles on October 12 and 15. If they fail to advance to next year’s tournament in Germany due to taking one of the top two places in the group, they will probably play in the play-offs, to which they will qualify due to their high position in the last edition of the Nations League. (PAP)
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