European Football Championship 2016 / Poland

This article covers the Polish national team at the 2016 European Football Championship in France . It was the third uninterrupted participation for Poland. The team was eliminated in the quarter-finals after a 5-3 penalty shoot-out against Portugal.

qualification

Robert Lewandowski , qualifying top scorer

Poland completed the qualification for the European Championship in the group D . The Polish team scored the most goals of all 53 qualifying participants and had the top goalscorer with Robert Lewandowski (13 goals). He scored a hat trick against Georgia in the final minutes . In the qualifying games, they also managed to win against Germany for the first time. However, since points were given in some games, the team had to be content with second place behind world champions Germany, against whom the only game was lost. Overall, national coach Adam Nawałka used 28 players, but only Grzegorz Krychowiak and Robert Lewandowski were used in all ten games. Their first international matches came in qualifying Filip Starzyński and Bartosz Kapustka in the two games against Gibraltar. Kapustka also scored his first international goal 11 minutes after being substituted on.

In the course of qualifying, Poland, which had missed the 2014 World Cup, climbed from 61st place in the FIFA world rankings to 30th in July 2015, but then fell back again.

Games

All results from a Polish point of view.

date	Venue	opponent	Result	Goal scorers
07.09.2014	Estádio Algarve , Faro / Loulé , ( PRT )	Gibraltar	7: 0 (1: 0)	1: 0, 2: 0 Kamil Grosicki (11th, 48th), 3: 0, 4: 0 Robert Lewandowski (50th, 53rd), 5: 0 Łukasz Szukała (58th), 6: 0, 7: 0 Robert Lewandowski (86th, 90th + 2 ′)
10/11/2014	PGE Narodowy , Warsaw	Germany	2: 0 (0: 0)	1: 0 Arkadiusz Milik (51.), 2: 0 Sebastian Mila (88.)
14/10/2014	PGE Narodowy , Warsaw	Scotland	2: 2 (1: 1)	1: 0 Krzysztof Mączyński (11th), 1: 1 Shaun Maloney (18th), 1: 2 Steven Naismith (57th), 2: 2 Arkadiusz Milik (76th)
11/14/2014	Boris Paitschadze National Stadium , Tbilisi ( GEO )	Georgia	4: 0 (0: 0)	1: 0 Kamil Glik (51.), 2: 0 Grzegorz Krychowiak (71.), 3: 0 Sebastian Mila (73.), 4: 0 Arkadiusz Milik (90. + 2 ′)
03/29/2015	Aviva Stadium , Dublin ( IRL )	Ireland	1: 1 (1: 0)	1: 0 Sławomir Peszko (26th), 1: 1 Shane Long (90th + 1 ′)
06/13/2015	PGE Narodowy , Warsaw	Georgia	4: 0 (0: 0)	1: 0 Arkadiusz Milik (62nd), 2: 0, 3: 0, 4: 0 Robert Lewandowski (89th, 90th + 2 ′, 90th + 3 ′)
04.09.2015	Commerzbank-Arena , Frankfurt am Main , ( DEU )	Germany	1: 3 (1: 2)	1-0 Thomas Müller (12th), 0-2 Mario Götze (19th), 1: 2 Robert Lewandowski (37th), 1: 3 Mario Götze (82nd)
07.09.2015	PGE Narodowy , Warsaw	Gibraltar	8: 1 (4: 0)	1: 0, 2: 0 Kamil Grosicki (8th, 15th) 3: 0, 4: 0 Robert Lewandowski (18th, 29th), 5: 0, 6: 0 Arkadiusz Milik (56th, 72nd) 7th : 0 Jakub Błaszczykowski (59th / penalty), 8-0 Bartosz Kapustka (73rd), 8-1 Jake Gosling (87th)
08/10/2015	Hampden Park , Glasgow ( SCO )	Scotland	2: 2 (1: 1)	1: 0 Robert Lewandowski (3rd), 1: 1 Matt Ritchie (45th), 1: 2 Steven Fletcher (62nd), 2: 2 Robert Lewandowski (90th + 4 ′)
10/11/2015	PGE Narodowy , Warsaw	Ireland	2: 1 (2: 1)	1: 0 Grzegorz Krychowiak (13th), 1: 1 Jon Walters (16th / penalty), 2: 1 Robert Lewandowski (42.)

table

Pl.	country	Sp.	S.	U	N	Gates	Diff.	Points
1.	Germany	10	7th	1	2	024: 900	+15	22nd
2.	Poland	10	6th	3	1	033:100	+23	21st
3.	Ireland	10	5	3	2	019: 700	+12	18th
4th	Scotland	10	4th	3	3	022:120	+10	15th
5.	Georgia	10	3	0	7th	010:160	−6	09
6th	Gibraltar	10	0	0	10	002:560	−54	00
As of October 11, 2015

preparation

After the end of the qualification, the Poles won 4-2 in Warsaw on November 13th against EM newcomer Iceland and four days later another EM participant was defeated by a 3-1 against the Czech Republic , with Paweł Dawidowicz becoming a newcomer its first use came. On March 23, 2016 was in Poznan against Serbia 0 and three days later: 1 Wroclaw against Finland with 5: 0, two teams that could not qualify for the final round. On June 1, they lost a friendly against the Dutch, who were also not qualified for the European Championship, in Gdansk with 1: 2. On June 6, Poland without Robert Lewandowski came to a goalless draw against the also unqualified Lithuanians in Krakow .

Squad

A preliminary roster of 28 players was presented on May 12, 2016. The players came from 24 clubs in 10 countries. Only the Polish champions Legia Warsaw and Lechia Gdańsk provided more than one player with three and two players respectively.

No.	position	Surname	society	birth date	International matches	Länderspiel- gates	debut
12	goalkeeper	Artur Boruc	Bournemouth AFC	Feb. 20, 1980	63	0	2004
22nd	goalkeeper	Łukasz Fabiański	Swansea City	Apr 18, 1985	30th	0	2006	4th
01	goalkeeper	Wojciech Szczęsny	AS Roma	Apr 18, 1990	27	0	2009	1
04th	Defense	Thiago Cionek	US Palermo	Apr 21, 1986	6th	0	2014	1
15th	Defense	Kamil Glik	Torino FC	0Feb 3, 1988	42	3	2010	5		1
03	Defense	Artur Jędrzejczyk	Legia Warsaw	0Nov 4, 1987	20th	3	2010	5		2
02	Defense	Michał Pazdan	Legia Warsaw	21 Sep 1987	18th	0	2007	5		1
20th	Defense	Łukasz Piszczek	Borussia Dortmund	03rd June 1985	47	2	2007	4th		1
18th	Defense	Bartosz Salamon	Cagliari Calcio	0May 1, 1991	8th	0	2013
14th	Defense	Jakub Wawrzyniak	Lechia Gdańsk	0July 7, 1983	49	1	2006
16	midfield	Jakub Błaszczykowski	AC Florence	Dec 14, 1985	80	16	2006	5	2
06th	midfield	Tomasz Jodłowiec	Legia Warsaw	08 Sep 1985	45	1	2008	5
11	midfield	Kamil Grosicki	Rennes stadium	0June 8, 1988	40	8th	2008	5		1
21st	midfield	Bartosz Kapustka	KS Cracovia	23 Dec 1996	8th	2	2015	4th		3
10	midfield	Grzegorz Krychowiak	Sevilla FC	Jan. 29, 1990	35	2	2008	5
08th	midfield	Karol Linetty	Lech poses	0Feb. 2, 1995	10	1	2014
05	midfield	Krzysztof Mączyński	Wisła Krakow	May 23, 1987	17th	1	2013	5		1
17th	midfield	Sławomir Peszko	Lechia Gdańsk	Feb. 19, 1985	38	2	2008	3
23	midfield	align = "left" Filip Starzyński	Zagłębie Lubin	May 27, 1991	3	1	2014	1
19th	midfield	Piotr Zieliński	FC Empoli	May 20, 1994	15th	3	2013	1
09	attack	Robert Lewandowski	FC Bayern Munich	Aug 21, 1988	77	34	2008	5	1
07th	attack	Arkadiusz Milik	Ajax Amsterdam	Feb. 28, 1994	27	10	2010	5	1
13	attack	Mariusz Stępiński	Ruch Chorzów	May 12, 1995	3	0	2013

Coach: Adam Nawałka

1. ↑ ^{a b} Status: June 12, 2016

Players who were only in the preliminary roster

On May 19, Paweł Wszołek fell out of the European Championship due to a broken forearm during training. In addition, Maciej Rybus has to pass the tournament due to a broken shoulder . The remaining players dropped out of the final squad on May 30th.

position	Surname	society	birth date	International matches	Länderspiel- gates	debut	EM games
goal	Przemysław Tytoń	VfB Stuttgart	0Jan. 4, 1987	14th	1	2010	3 (2012)
Defense	Paweł Dawidowicz	Benfica Lisbon	May 20, 1995	1	0	2015
Defense	Maciej Rybus	Terek Grozny	Aug 19, 1989	41	2	2009	1 (2012)
midfield	Paweł Wszołek	Hellas Verona	Apr 30, 1992	8th	2	2012
attack	Artur Sobiech	Hannover 96	June 12, 1990	13	2	2012	0 (2012)

Finals

St-Denis Marseille (VR + VF) Nice La Baule Saint-Etienne (AF)

Venues (green = positive balance, yellow = balanced balance), district (blue)

In the draw for the six final groups on December 12, 2015, Poland was placed in Pot 3. Poland was drawn into group C with qualifying opponent Germany. Northern Ireland and Ukraine, the co-hosts of the last European Championship, were drawn as further opponents. Poland has a negative record against all three. Before Germany could only be won in this European Championship qualification, six times it was enough to draw, 13 games were lost, including the first European Championship final game in 2008. Against Northern Ireland and Ukraine, however, the balance was equalized in the final round. Because against the Northern Irish there were three wins, two draws and four defeats in previous nine games and against the Ukraine in seven games two wins, two draws and three defeats, most recently twice in qualifying for the 2014 World Cup .

After a 1-0 win against Northern Ireland, which evened the balance and the Poles won a European Championship game for the first time, but the superiority against the largely defensive Northern Irishmen is not expressed, there was a goalless draw against Germany, with Arkadiusz in particular Milik the winning scorer from the first game missed some very good chances. With a 1-0 win against Ukraine by Jakub Błaszczykowski , who was the first Pole to score the second goal at a European Championship, they then also equalized the record against the Ukrainians and only because of the fewer goals scored were "only" second in the group behind Germany scored one more goal against Ukraine.

In the round of 16 they met Switzerland in Saint-Étienne , who had a two-day break after their last group game. Poland won 5-4 on penalties and advanced to the quarter-finals.

Opponents in the quarter-finals were Portugal, who were able to prevail in their round of 16 with a goal in extra time against Croatia, which had relegated the Spaniards to second place in their group. Poland's Robert Lewandowski scored the 1-0 in the second minute. In the 33rd minute, Renatos Sanches scored to equalize. The game was decided 5-3 on penalties for Portugal.

As a result of the European Championship games, Poland moved up eleven places in the FIFA world rankings to 16th place, repeating the best ranking of September 2007.

Group stage

Pl.	country	Sp.	S.	U	N	Gates	Diff.	Points
1.	Germany	3	2	1	0	003-000	+3	07th
2.	Poland	3	2	1	0	002-000	+2	07th
3.	Northern Ireland	3	1	0	2	002: 200	± 0	03
4th	Ukraine	3	0	0	3	000: 500	−5	00

Sun., June 12, 2016 at 6:00 p.m. in Nice
Poland	-	Northern Ireland	1: 0 (0: 0)
Thursday June 16, 2016 at 9:00 p.m. in Saint-Denis
Germany	-	Poland	0-0
Tuesday, June 21, 2016 at 6:00 p.m. in Marseille
Ukraine	-	Poland	0: 1 (0: 0)

Knockout phase

Round of 16: Saturday 25 June 2016 at 3 p.m. in Saint-Étienne
Switzerland	-	Poland	1: 1 n.V. (1: 1, 0: 1), 4: 5 in E.
Quarter-finals: Thursday June 30, 2016 at 9:00 p.m. in Marseille
Poland	-	Portugal	1: 1 n.V. (1: 1, 1: 1), 3: 5 i. E.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ FIFA World Ranking (August 14, 2014)
2. ↑ FIFA World Ranking (July 9, 2015)
3. ↑ Poland - Czech Republic 3: 1
4. ^ "Lithuania will be the last rival before EURO 2016" , pzpn.pl
5. ↑ "Szeroka kadra na EURO 2016" , pzpn.pl
6. ↑ "Paweł Wszołek nie pojedzie na EURO 2016" , pzpn.pl
7. ↑ Euro 2016 - Maciej Rybus: Popłakałem się , sportowyffekty.wp.pl, May 30, 2016
8. ↑ “UEFA EURO 2016 final draw” , uefa.com