Polish National Football Team / World Championships

Poland
Polska

World Cup record goalscorer:	Grzegorz Lato (10)
World Cup record players:	Wladyslaw Żmuda (21)
Rank :	15th
Balance sheet
34 World Cup games 16 wins 5 draws 13 defeats 46:45 goals
statistics
First World Cup game Poland 5-6 a.m. Brazil Strasbourg ( FRA ); June 5, 1938
Biggest World Cup victory Poland 7-0 Haiti Munich ( Germany ); June 19, 1974
Biggest World Cup defeats Poland 0: 4 Brazil Guadalajara ( MEX ); June 16, 1986 Poland 0-4 Portugal Jeonju ( KOR ); June 10, 2002
successes
World Championship
Participation in the finals	8 ( first : 1938 )
Best results	Third: 1974, 1982
Best placements in the countries that host the FIFA World Cup
(As of June 28, 2018 )

The article contains a detailed description of the Polish national soccer team at soccer world championships . The Poles have taken part in world championships eight times so far and are the best team with a maximum of eight participations in 15th place in the all-time ranking . The best placings were the third places in 1974 and 1982. In the last three participations, however, the group stage was not survived.

Overview

year	Host country	Participation until ...	last opponent	Result	Trainer	Comments and special features
1930	Uruguay	not participated	-	-
1934	Italy	withdrawn	-	-
1938	France	Round of 16	Brazil	11.	Jozef Kaluza	Ernst Willimowski is the first player to score four goals in a World Cup game.
1950	Brazil	not participated	-	-		-
1954	Switzerland	withdrawn	-	-		Poland wanted to avoid the games against Hungary in qualifying
1958	Sweden	not qualified	-	-		failed in qualifying in the playoff at the USSR
1962	Chile	not qualified	-	-		failed in qualification to Yugoslavia
1966	England	not qualified	-	-		failed in qualification to Italy
1970	Mexico	not qualified	-	-		failed in qualification to Bulgaria
1974	BR Germany	3rd place match	Brazil	3rd place	Kazimierz Górski	Water battle of Frankfurt , Grzegorz Lato top scorer
1978	Argentina	Intermediate round	Argentina , Peru , Brazil	5.	Jacek Gmoch	Opening game against Germany
1982	Spain	3rd place match	France	3rd place	Antoni Piechniczek
1986	Mexico	Round of 16	Brazil	14th	Antoni Piechniczek
1990	Italy	not qualified	-	-		failed in qualification to Sweden and England
1994	United States	not qualified	-	-		failed in qualification to Norway and the Netherlands
1998	France	not qualified	-	-		failed in qualification to England and Italy
2002	South Korea Japan	Preliminary round	South Korea , Portugal , USA	25th	Jerzy Angel
2006	Germany	Preliminary round	Ecuador , Germany , Costa Rica	21st	Paweł Janas
2010	South Africa	not qualified	-	-		failed in qualification against Slovakia and Slovenia
2014	Brazil	not qualified	-	-		failed in qualification to England
2018	Russia	Preliminary round	Senegal , Colombia , Japan	25th	Adam Nawałka	After two defeats in the first two group matches, Poland had no chance of reaching the round of 16 before the last group match.

Statistics (data including 2018: 21 World Championships; percentages are rounded)

• Participation waiver: 2 × (10%; 1930, 1950)
• Withdrawn: 2 × (10%; 1934, 1954)
• Unqualified: 9 × (43%; 1958, 1962, 1966, 1970, 1990, 1994, 1998, 2010 and 2014)
• Sports qualification: 8 × (38% or 47% of the attempts)
  • Preliminary round: 3 × (14%; 2002, 2006 and 2018)
  • Round of 16: 2 × (10%; 1938, 1986)
  • Intermediate round of the best 8 teams: 1 × (5%; 1978)
  • Third: 2 × (10%; 1974, 1982)

Most frequent last opponent: Brazil 4 × (1938, 1974, 1978, 1986)

World Cup tournaments

1930 in Uruguay

Like most European teams, the Polish did not take part in the first World Cup.

1934 in Italy

For the first World Cup in Europe , Poland had against Czechoslovakia qualify . After the Polish team lost 2-1 at home, they did not play the second leg because the Polish government did not issue travel permits due to border disputes between the two countries. Czechoslovakia was thus qualified for the World Cup.

1938 in France

Scene from the game against Brazil

The Polish and Brazilian teams before the Poles' 1st World Cup match

Poland had to qualify for the first World Cup in France against Yugoslavia . The first leg in Warsaw was won 4-0, the second leg lost 0-1 in Belgrade , which meant Poland qualified for the first time. In France, the Polish team failed in the first round 5-6 after extra time against Brazil . The game is considered one of the best and most dramatic in World Cup history. Ernst Willimowski became the first player in the history of the World Cup to score four goals in this game.

1950 in Brazil

Poland has played numerous international matches since 1947 , but they did not take part in the second World Cup in South America .

1954 in Switzerland

For the soccer world championship in 1954 Poland should play against Hungary in the qualification . Due to the dominance of the Hungarians during this period, who had become Olympic champions in 1952 and were the first continental European team to win in England , the Poles did not expect a chance and did not qualify.

1958 in Sweden

Poland was unable to qualify for the 1958 World Cup. In a group with the USSR and Finland , Poland and the USSR won their home games against each other and both games against the Finns. So in the end both had 6: 2 points and since the goal difference or the goal difference did not count, there was a playoff in Leipzig . Poland lost 2-0 and the USSR with goalkeeper Lev Yashin qualified for the World Cup for the first time.

1962 in Chile

Poland had to qualify for the third World Cup in South America against Yugoslavia . The first leg in Belgrade was lost 2-1, the second leg in Warsaw ended 1-1, which meant that Poland was eliminated. Yugoslavia then had to play against the winners of the Asian qualifiers and won both games against South Korea. Yugoslavia finished fourth at the World Cup in Chile.

1966 in England

For the World Cup in the "motherland of football" Poland had to compete in a group with Italy , Scotland and Finland , but ended up only in third place. Italy qualified for the World Cup in England, but surprisingly dropped out in the preliminary round.

1970 in Mexico

Again Poland could not qualify for the World Cup . In a group with Bulgaria , the Netherlands and Luxembourg , one point was missing in the end after losing both away games in Bulgaria and the Netherlands, but the Bulgarians took one point in the Netherlands. Bulgaria qualified for the World Cup in Mexico, where they were eliminated in the preliminary round.

1974 in Germany

Poland celebrates victory against Brazil

For the first time after the Second World War , Poland, which had become Olympic champion in 1972 under Kazimierz Górski , qualified for the World Cup. Ex-world champions England and Wales could be eliminated in the qualification . The qualification for the Poles started poorly with a 2-0 win in Wales, but England and Wales were defeated 2-0 and 3-0 respectively in Chorzów . However, record goalscorer Włodzimierz Lubański , one of the goalscorers in the game against England suffered a cruciate ligament ruptured through a foul and was out for several months. Since England had only reached 1-1 in their home game against Wales, a draw in the last game in London was sufficient for qualification. In the sold-out Wembley Stadium , goalkeeper Jan Tomaszewski became the match winner for Poland against the English, in whom Martin Peters was still a 66 World Champion. After a counterattack, Jan Domarski put Poland in the lead in the 57th minute and thus became a celebrated national hero. Allan Clarke was able to equalize with a penalty six minutes later, but before and after Tomaszewski could not be overcome.

The World Cup draw, however, brought no less high-profile opponents: Italy's 1970 vice world champion , Argentina and the underdog and newcomer to the World Cup, Haiti , but Poland was to become the tournament's surprise team. The team got to know the Caribbean style of play through two games in April shortly before the World Cup in Haiti, one of which was even lost. Italy, on the other hand, was surprised in Haiti's first opening game and overlooked the fact that Poland had nine Olympic champions and the team had reinforced with young players. The Poles' first World Cup game in 36 years immediately ensured that the Polish team became one of the most popular teams in the tournament with their powerful offensive football. Argentina were defeated 3-2. After an undisputed 7-0 win over Haiti, they threw the big favorites Italy 2-1 out of the tournament. In the second final round, which was held in groups for the first time, the Poles faced host and European champions Germany , Sweden and Yugoslavia . After two narrow victories with 1-0 over Sweden and 2-1 over Yugoslavia, there was a semi-final game against the German team, which also started with two wins in the second final round, but a draw was enough for the final. In the legendary Frankfurt water battle, the technically better team lost 1-0 to Germany. It failed after 90 minutes of running towards the German goal, mainly because of a world-class goalkeeper named Sepp Maier . It didn't help that Poland had an equal goalkeeper. Jan Tomaszewski even saved a penalty from Uli Hoeneß in the 53rd minute .

In the game for third place against the defending champions and record world champions Brazil , Poland won 1-0 with a goal from Grzegorz Lato , who was also the tournament's top scorer with seven goals. It is the only Polish win against the Brazilian senior team to date. Górski then led the team to the silver medal at the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal . Since this was viewed as a failure in Poland, he then resigned from his office.

1978 in Argentina

For the fourth World Cup in South America , Poland qualified under the new national coach Jacek Gmoch with 11: 1 points against Portugal , Denmark and Cyprus , although one point was only given in the last game against Portugal.

After the successes of the last World Cup and the last two Olympic Games , the pressure to succeed from home was enormous for the Polish team. An increase in third place from 1974 was expected. However, this was much more difficult in Argentina. In addition, the golden team had grown a few years older. In the opening game against world champions Germany they were the better team, but they couldn't get past 0-0 and thus continued the tradition of goalless opening games. With victories over Tunisia and Mexico , they nevertheless reached the second round as group winners. Here the Poles met three South American teams and lost against Brazil and Argentina with a lot of bad luck. Only Peru could be defeated 1-0. Gmoch made his office available after the World Cup.

1982 in Spain

To qualify for the World Cup on the Iberian Peninsula , Poland was drawn into the only European group of three and won all four games against the GDR and Malta under Antoni Piechniczek .

In 1982 Poland was in a serious domestic political crisis. In December 1981 the state of war was declared by General Wojciech Jaruzelski and there were no great hopes in the homeland when the team set out for Spain . From November 1981 until the World Cup, the team had not played a game. The first group games corresponded to the state of mind of the entire nation, but could be used to get used to. A 0-0 win against Italy still seemed like a success, but the 0-0 win against World Cup newcomers Cameroon was a disappointment. With a brilliant 5-1 win against Peru, they ultimately even became group winners. This victory seemed like a break in the air and in the second round the team turned to their new star Zbigniew Boniek only really. Belgium was beaten by Boniek almost single-handedly 3-0 and against the "archenemy" Soviet Union 0-0 reached the semi-finals. Here you met the Italians again, who, like Poland, had woken up in the meantime and after victories over Brazil and Argentina no longer saw Poland as a hurdle, especially since Poland had to play without Boniek, who received his second yellow against the USSR in the 88th minute Card received. So the semi-finals were lost 2-0. In the game for third place they defeated France , which with Michel Platini was at the beginning of a great era, 3-2. Platini and Boniek later became club-mates at Juventus Turin .

1986 in Mexico

Qualifying for the second World Cup in Mexico brought Poland and Belgium into a group with Albania and Greece . After a win against Greece there was a setback against Albania, against which Mielec only managed a 2-2. But since Albania won 2-0 at home against the Belgians, Poland could even cope with the defeat in Belgium and the goalless home game against the Belgians. Because in the end both had 8: 4 points and the same goal difference, but Poland had scored more goals. Belgium then also qualified through the playoff games against the Dutch and should play a better role in Mexico.

In 1986 Poland was convinced that Boniek, one of the European superstars, was a much more powerful group than in 1982. The disillusionment occurred in the first group game against Morocco . More than a 0-0 did not jump out. A new mode that also allowed third-placed players to advance to the next round made the decision in the second game. A 1-0 win over Portugal was a preliminary decision for qualifying for the round of 16. The 3-0 defeat against England was no longer significant. However, the trip in the round of 16 was already over with a clear 4-0 defeat against the top favorites Brazil and Poland said goodbye to the World Cup for a long time. Antoni Piechniczek , the only coach who had led Poland to two World Cup finals, resigned from his position as national coach after the World Cup. His successors were not very successful, however. Because it would take 16 years before a Polish national team was allowed to travel to a World Cup again.

1990 in Italy

To qualify for the second World Cup in Italy , the Poles had to face Sweden , England and Albania. Only against Albania both games could be won, against England it was enough at home only to a 0-0. This meant that only third place was taken. For the World Cup finals, group winners Sweden and England qualified as one of the two best runners-up of the three groups of four. England finished 4th in the final tournament, Sweden dropped out there in the preliminary round.

1994 in the United States

For the qualification for the World Cup in the USA , the Poles were drawn into a group of six with Norway , the Netherlands , again England, Turkey and San Marino , which participated for the first time. With only three wins, two of them against San Marino, and two draws, they only finished fourth. Norway and the Netherlands qualified from this group for the World Cup finals in the USA.

1998 in France

The qualification for the second World Cup in France did not go much better. England were again one of the qualifying opponents, followed by Italy . In the end, both were ahead of Poland, which only left Georgia and Moldova behind, but even lost in Georgia. England and Italy qualified from this group for the World Cup finals in France.

2002 in Japan and South Korea

In qualifying for the first World Cup in Asia, Poland picked up on old times. The Ukraine , Belarus , Norway, Wales and Armenia were referred to the courts and only lost the game in Belarus. The Ukraine came second in the group, but lost the playoff for the finals against Germany.

After this sovereign qualification, the euphoria among the Polish fans was huge. The game against co-hosts South Korea was lost with a bang 0: 2 (0: 1). After the clear 0: 4 (0: 1) defeat against Portugal , Poland was eliminated early. The 3-1 (2-0) victory over the USA was well deserved and could even have been higher, but only had statistical value. In the final table, Poland took fourth and last place with 3 points and 3: 7 goals from 3 games. Jerzy Engel's tenure ended with the early retirement , his successor was Zbigniew Boniek , who resigned as coach after only five games.

2006 in Germany

Poland was directly qualified for the second World Cup in Germany as one of the two best runners-up of the eight European qualifying groups . Only two of the ten group games were lost, both against eventual group winners England , but with 27: 9 goals Poland had a better goal difference and more goals than England. However, the rest of the qualifying opponents weren't too big either: Austria , Northern Ireland , Wales and Azerbaijan had not or never qualified for the World Cup for a long time (Austria most recently in 1998). Nevertheless, this raised high hopes among Polish football fans that they would finally be able to build on great times again after the disappointment of the last World Cup. After the change in the Eastern Bloc , which was also triggered by the Polish workers around Lech Wałęsa , Polish football fans were now able to go to the games in the neighboring country - in contrast to 1974, when only selected "fans" were allowed to attend the games to travel. However, the surprising opening defeat against Ecuador destroyed all hopes for a successful World Cup. An almost completely different team had traveled to Germany compared to the games in the qualifying round. The game against Ecuador was lost with 0: 2 (0: 1) after Poland was not always saddled on the defensive and sometimes acted helplessly and without ideas on the offensive and in the end with two crossbars there was also bad luck. The second game against hosts Germany was lost 0: 1 (0: 0). Poland managed to keep the 0-0 through to stoppage time thanks to their goalkeeper Artur Boruc , but after Sobolewski saw the second yellow card after a tactical foul at the beginning of the final phase and was therefore sent off the field, the pressure on the Polish took off Massive gate. After Klose and Ballack only hit the crossbar in the 90th minute, it was Neuville who scored the goal in the first minute of stoppage time, which meant the World Cup for Poland with the victory of Ecuador on the following day.

In the third game against Costa Rica , which was also eliminated at the time , Poland tried to make amends for the premature end of the World Cup, but the game of the Polish team was strongly reminiscent of the two previous games. In the end, the Polish team was able to win a rather weak game through goals from Bartosz Bosacki with 2: 1 (1: 1) and was eliminated in Group A as third (3 games, 1 win and 2 defeats, 2: 4 goals (- 2), 3 points) ahead of Costa Rica with three points behind the qualifying second place for the round of 16. With that, Poland said goodbye to the World Cup for at least 12 years. After the disappointing departure, national coach Paweł Janas was replaced by Dutch coach Leo Beenhakker .

2010 in South Africa

However , Poland qualified for the first World Cup in Africa with Franciszek Smuda . But in a group of six ( Group 3 ) with Slovakia , which was able to qualify for the first time, Slovenia , the Czech Republic , Northern Ireland and San Marino - none of them big chunks (only the Czech Republic was in the top of the FIFA world rankings in September 2008 before qualification began -10 and fell to 18th place due to the missed qualification) - it went extremely badly again. After all, the 10-0 win over “football dwarf” San Marino achieved the highest win in international history. But as the penultimate qualification was not possible. Smuda stayed in office until the European Championship at home , but his contract was not extended after he was eliminated in the preliminary round. From this group, group winners Slovakia qualified directly, as did group runner-up Slovenia after winning the playoff against Russia (second in group 4) for the World Cup finals in South Africa.

2014 in Brazil

In the qualification for the second World Cup in Brazil Poland went with Waldemar Fornalik as national coach. Once again, England was the group opponent, as well as Ukraine , with whom the European Championship was held in 2012 , Montenegro , Moldova and again San Marino. With three wins - two against San Marino - as well as four draws and three defeats, Poland only finished fourth and Fornalik was allowed to vacate his position as national coach. Only group winners England qualified for the World Cup finals in Brazil, group runners-up Ukraine failed in the playoff games of the eight best runners-up in the group against France.

2018 in Russia

In the qualification , which started in September 2016, the Poles faced Denmark , Romania , Montenegro , Armenia and Kazakhstan . Poland, coached by Adam Nawałka since 2013 , won eight games and only lost points in the 2-2 in their first game in Kazakhstan and the 0-4 defeat in Denmark. With 16 of 28 goals, Robert Lewandowski , who was thus the best European scorer in the qualification, played a significant role. Nevertheless, the direct qualification as group winners could only be secured on the last match day. The group runner-up Denmark was able to prevail in the playoff games of the top eight group runners-up against Ireland and also qualified for the World Cup finals in Russia.

In Russia, expectations could not be met. Set as the group head in the draw, the Poles lost the opening game against Senegal 1: 2 and after the 0: 3 against Colombia had no chance of reaching the round of 16. The 1-0 win against Japan was just a conciliatory end.

player

Ranking of the Polish World Cup players with the most appearances

Grzegorz Lato (left), Polish player with the most World Cup goals in the game for third place at the 1974 World Cup

01. Władysław Żmuda - 21 games in 3 tournaments (4th place in the leaderboard)

02. Grzegorz Lato - 20 games in 3 tournaments (7th place on the leaderboard)

03. Zbigniew Boniek - 16 games in 3 tournaments

04. Kazimierz Deyna †, Henryk Kasperczak , Andrzej Szarmach , Antoni Szymanowski - 13 games each in 2 tournaments

08. Jerzy Gorgoń - 12 games in 2 tournaments

09. Jan Tomaszewski , Józef Młynarczyk , Stefan Majewski - 11 games each in 2 tournaments

12. Włodzimierz Smolarek - 10 games in 2 tournaments

Ranking of the Polish World Cup players with the most goals

01. Grzegorz Lato - 10 goals (8th place on the leaderboard)

02. Andrzej Szarmach - 7 goals

03. Zbigniew Boniek - 6 goals

04. Kazimierz Deyna and Ernst Willimowski - 4 goals each

World Cup captains

• 1938: Władysław Szczepaniak
• 1974, 1978: Kazimierz Deyna
• 1982: Władysław Żmuda
• 1986: Zbigniew Boniek
• 2002: Tomasz Waldoch
• 2006: Jacek Bąk
• 2018: Robert Lewandowski

Players banned from World Championships

• 1982: Zbigniew Boniek received the second yellow card in the second game of the second final round against the USSR because he kicked the ball against an advertising gang after the referee's whistle , and had to pause in the semi-finals against Italy .
• 1986: Dariusz Dziekanowski received the second yellow card in the round of 16 against Brazil . Since Poland left, it had no effect.
• 2002: Piotr Świerczewski received the second yellow card in the second group game against Portugal and was suspended for the last game against the USA.
• 2006: Radosław Sobolewski received the yellow-red card in the second group game against Germany and was suspended for the last game against Costa Rica.

Share of players playing abroad in the World Cup squad

In the first two appearances, Poland only used players who played in Poland, as it was not customary to move abroad before the Second World War. After the Second World War and the change to communism in the sphere of influence of the USSR there were no more legionnaires , as a change to a professional team in the West was not possible and there were no changes within the Eastern Bloc . In the mid-1970s, the former national record player Włodzimierz Lubański was allowed to move to Belgium at the age of 28 and was appointed to the 78 squad as the only legionnaire. In 1986 there were already 5 legionnaires in the squad. After the upheaval in Eastern Europe, younger players also played in Western Europe and from 2002 made up the main part of the Polish squad.

0-	Year (games)	Number (countries)	Players (stakes)
1938 (1)	0
1974 (7)	0
1978 (6)	1 (Belgium)	Włodzimierz Lubański (5)
1982 (7)	0
1986 (4)	5 (1 in Germany, 1 in France, 2 in Italy, 1 in Portugal	Stefan Majewski (4); Andrzej Zgutczyński (1); Zbigniew Boniek (4), Władysław Żmuda (1); Józef Młynarczyk (4)
2002 (3)	15 (2 in Belgium, 6 in Germany, 1 in England, 2 in France, 1 in Greece, 1 in Italy, 1 in the Netherlands, 1 in Turkey)	Marcin Żewłakow (3), Michał Żewłakow (2); Tomasz Hajto (2), Radosław Kałużny (2), Tomasz Kłos (2), Paweł Kryszałowicz (3), Jacek Krzynówek (3), Tomasz Waldoch (3); Jerzy Dudek (3); Jacek Bąk (1), Piotr Świerczewski (2); Emmanuel Olisadebe (3); Marek Koźmiński (3); Tomasz Rząsa (1); Radoslaw Majdan (0)
2006 (3)	15 (2 in Germany, 3 in England, 1 in Greece, 1 in Qatar, 2 in Austria, 1 in Russia, 2 in Scotland, 1 in Turkey, 2 in Ukraine)	Jacek Krzynówek (3), Euzebiusz Smolarek (3); Kamil Kosowski (1), Tomasz Kuszczak (0), Grzegorz Rasiak (1); Michał Żewłakow (3); Jacek Bąk (3); Sebastian Mila (0), Arkadiusz Radomski (3); Mariusz Jop (1); Artur Boruc (3), Maciej Żurawski (3); Miroslaw Szymkowiak (2); Seweryn Gancarczyk (0), Mariusz Lewandowski (2)
2018 (3)	19 (1 in Belgium, 1 in Bulgaria, 3 in Germany, 5 in England, 1 in France (at AS Monaco ), 7 in Italy, 1 in Russia)	Łukasz Teodorczyk (2); Jacek Góralski (2); Jakub Błaszczykowski (1), Robert Lewandowski (3), Łukasz Piszczek (2); Jan Bednarek (3), Bartosz Białkowski , Łukasz Fabiański (1), Kamil Grosicki (3), Grzegorz Krychowiak (3); Kamil Glik (2); Bartosz Bereszyński (3), Thiago Cionek (1), Dawid Kownacki (2), Karol Linetty , Arkadiusz Milik (1), Wojciech Szczęsny (2), Piotr Zieliński (3); Maciej Rybus (2)

Games

The Poles have played 34 World Cup games so far. Of these, 16 won, 13 lost and 5 ended in a draw. Only the very first game had to be extended as a winner had to be determined and Poland lost in extra time.

Poland took part in the opening game against the defending champions once and had to face the hosts four times: in 1974 and 1978 in the second final round, and in 2002 and 2006 in the preliminary round.

The Poles lost three times (1974, 1978 and 1982) to the eventual world champion, but reached a draw against him in the preliminary round in 1982.

In 1974 (game for third place) and 1978 (opening game) the team played against the defending champion.

Poland played the most frequently against Brazil (1938, 1974, 1978, 1986) and met three newcomers to the World Cup: 1974 / Haiti , 1978 / Tunisia and 1982 / Cameroon

All World Cup games
No.	date	Result	opponent		venue	occasion	comment
1	0June 5, 1938	5: 6 n.V. (1: 3, 4: 4)	Brazil	*	Strasbourg ( FRA )	Round of 16	First international match against Brazil
2	June 15, 1974	3: 2 (2: 0)	Argentina	*	Stuttgart ( FRG )	First final round
3	June 19, 1974	7: 0 (5: 0)	Haiti	*	Munich ( FRG )	First final round	275th international match
4th	June 23, 1974	2: 1 (2: 0)	Italy	*	Stuttgart ( FRG )	First final round
5	June 26, 1974	1: 0 (1: 0)	Sweden	*	Stuttgart ( FRG )	Second final round
6th	June 30, 1974	2: 1 (1: 1)	Yugoslavia	*	Frankfurt am Main ( Germany )	Second final round
7th	03rd July 1974	0: 1 (0: 0)	BR Germany	A.	Frankfurt am Main ( Germany )	Second final round
8th	0July 6, 1974	1: 0 (0: 0)	Brazil	*	Munich ( FRG )	3rd place match
9	0June 1, 1978	0-0	BR Germany	*	Buenos Aires ( ARG )	Football World Cup 1978 , first final round
10	0June 6, 1978	1: 0 (1: 0)	Tunisia	*	Rosario ( ARG )	Football World Cup 1978, first final round
11	June 10, 1978	3: 1 (1: 0)	Mexico	*	Rosario ( ARG )	Football World Cup 1978, first final round
12	June 14, 1978	0: 2 (0: 1)	Argentina	A.	Rosario ( ARG )	Football World Cup 1978, second final round
13	June 18, 1978	1: 0 (0: 0)	Peru	*	Mendoza ( ARG )	Football World Cup 1978, second final round
14th	June 21, 1978	1: 3 (1: 1)	Brazil	*	Mendoza ( ARG )	Football World Cup 1978, second final round
15th	June 14, 1982	0-0	Italy	*	Vigo ( ESP )	First final round
16	June 19, 1982	0-0	Cameroon	*	La Coruña ( ESP )	First final round	First international match for a European team against Cameroon
17th	June 22, 1982	5: 1 (0: 0)	Peru	*	La Coruña ( ESP )	First final round
18th	June 28, 1982	3: 0 (2: 0)	Belgium	*	Barcelona ( ESP )	Second final round
19th	04th July 1982	0-0	Soviet Union	*	Barcelona ( ESP )	Second final round
20th	0July 8, 1982	0: 2 (0: 1)	Italy	*	Barcelona ( ESP )	Semifinals
21st	July 10, 1982	3: 2 (2: 1)	France	*	Alicante ( ESP )	3rd place match
22nd	0June 2, 1986	0-0	Morocco	*	Monterrey ( MEX )	Group game
23	0June 7, 1986	1: 0 (0: 0)	Portugal	*	Monterrey ( MEX )	Group game
24	June 11, 1986	0: 3 (0: 3)	England	*	Monterrey ( MEX )	Group game
25th	June 16, 1986	0: 4 (0: 1)	Brazil	*	Guadalajara ( MEX )	Round of 16
26th	0June 4, 2002	0: 2 (0: 1)	South Korea	A.	Busan ( KOR )	Group game	First game against South Korea
27	June 10, 2002	0: 4 (0: 1)	Portugal	*	Jeonju ( KOR )	Group game
28	June 14, 2002	3: 1 (2: 0)	United States	*	Daejeon ( KOR )	Group game
29	0June 9, 2006	0: 2 (0: 1)	Ecuador	*	Gelsenkirchen ( DEU )	Group game
30th	June 14, 2006	0: 1 (0: 0)	Germany	A.	Dortmund ( DEU )	Group game
31	June 20, 2006	2: 1 (1: 1)	Costa Rica	*	Hanover ( DEU )	Group game
32	19th June 2018	1: 2	Senegal	*	Moscow ( RUS )	Group game	First game against Senegal, Jakub Błaszczykowski's 100th international match
33	June 24, 2018	0: 3	Colombia	*	Kazan ( RUS )	Group game
34	June 28, 2018	1-0	Japan	*	Volgograd ( RUS )	Group game	1000th World Cup game for a European team

Highest victories and defeats

Poland achieved the highest victories against the following countries in World Cup tournaments:

•  Argentina : 1st final round 1974 3-2 (also twice 2-1 in friendly games)
•  Belgium : 2nd final round 1982 3-0
•  Brazil : Game for 3rd place 1974 1-0 (only win against the Brazilian senior team)
•  Haiti : 1st final round 1974 7-0
•  Japan : 2018 1-0 preliminary round (first FIFA-counted win against Japan)
•  Mexico 1st final round 1978 3-1
•  Peru : 1st final round 1982 5: 1

Poland suffered the biggest defeat at a World Cup tournament against these countries:

•  Argentina 2nd final round 1978 0-2 (also twice 0-2 and once 1-3 in friendly matches)
•  Brazil : Round of 16 1986-04
•  Ecuador : 2006 preliminary round 0-2 (only loss to Ecuador)
•  England : 1986 0-3 preliminary round (also 0-3 twice in World Cup qualifiers)
•  Colombia : Preliminary round 2018 0: 3
•  Portugal : 2002 preliminary round 0-4
•  Senegal : Preliminary round 2018 1: 2 (first game against Senegal)
•  South Korea : 2002 preliminary round 0-2 (only defeat against South Korea)

Records

team

• Most tournament goals:
  • 1974: 16 in 7 games

player

• Ernst Willimowski (1938) was the only player to score four goals in an opening game, one of them after extra time. However, Poland lost the game 5-6 a.m.
• Top scorer: Grzegorz Lato 1974 with 7 goals (after him only Ronaldo scored more than 7 goals in a tournament)
• Most group matches: Władysław Żmuda , Grzegorz Lato and Mario Kempes (Argentina) (all 1974 to 1982): 17 each - due to the fact that Poland took part in tournaments three times in a row with a second final round. As a result, most Polish players have played very few knockout games.
• Third fastest goal after a substitution: Marcin Żewłakow after 59 seconds against the USA at the 2002 World Cup.
• Top scorer in qualification: Robert Lewandowski for the 2018 World Cup with 16 goals (together with Mohammad al-Sahlawi / Saudi Arabia and Ahmed Khalil / UAE, who played more games)

See also

• Polish national soccer team / European championships

Web links

• fifa.com: Poland

References and footnotes

1. ↑ The placements from 5th place onwards were determined by FIFA without any placement games. See: All-time FIFA World Cup Ranking 1930-2014 (PDF; 200 kB)
2. ↑ eu-football.info: "Football MATCH: October 17, 1973 England v Poland"
3. ^ England 1-1 Poland (1973) WCQ
4. ↑ dfb.de: "World Cup 1978: Maier keeps the zero at the beginning"
5. ↑ Two of them in the second division and one for a Welsh club
6. ↑ fifa.cvom: Stats of the Day - June 28, 2018