Today, on June 7, the Ukraine national team will play a friendly match against Poland in Warsaw as part of their preparation for Euro-2024. Here is our opponent.

Poland

General Information

As of April 2024, Poland held the 28th position in the official FIFA ranking. The first match in history for the Polish national team was played on December 18, 1921 against Hungary (0:1), their biggest victory came on April 1, 2009 over San Marino (10:0), and their worst defeat occurred on June 26, 1948 against Denmark (0:8). The team is known by the nicknames "white-and-red" and "White Eagles."

Poland has twice won bronze at the World Cup (1974, 1982), reached the quarter-finals of the European Championship (2016) and became Olympic champions (1972).

Squad

In the friendly match against Ukraine, Poland's head coach Michal Probierz will be able to count on 30 players.

Goalkeepers: Marcin Bulka («Nice», France), Lukasz Skorupski («Bologna», Italy), Wojciech Szczesny («Juventus», Italy), Mateusz Kowalczyk («Stal Mielec»).

Defenders: Jan Bednarek («Southampton», England), Bartosz Bereszynski, Sebastian Walukiewicz (both — «Empoli», Italy), Pawel Bochniak («Heerenveen», Netherlands), Jakub Kiwior («Arsenal», England), Timoteusz Puchacz («Kaiserslautern», Germany), Pawel Dawidowicz («Verona», Italy), Bartosz Salamon («Lech Poznan»).

Midfielders: Pshemyslaw Frankowski («Lille», France), Sebastian Szymanski («Fenerbahce», Turkey), Jakub Moder («Brighton», England), Damian Szymanski (AEK, Greece), Michal Skurowski («Club Brugge», Belgium), Nikolaj Zalewski («Roma», Italy), Jakub Piotrowski («Ludogorets», Bulgaria), Bartosz Sliwka («Atlanta», USA), Kacper Urbanowski («Bologna», Italy), Jakub Kaluzynski («Antalyaspor», Turkey), Piotr Zielinski («Napoli», Italy), Taras Romanchuk («Jagiellonia Bialystok»), Kamal Grosicki («Gornik Szczecin»).

Forwards: Robert Lewandowski («Barcelona», Spain), Arkadiusz Milik («Juventus», Italy), Krzysztof Piatek («Besiktas», Turkey), Adam Buksa («Antalyaspor», Turkey), Kamil Swiderski («Verona», Italy).

The most players in the Polish squad come from Serie A. Ten players represent six clubs in the Italian championship — «Napoli», «Juventus», «Empoli», «Bologna», «Roma» and «Verona». The oldest player is 35-year-old midfielder Kamal Grosicki from Szczecin's «Gornik», while the youngest is 22-year-old midfielder Nikolaj Zalewski from «Roma».

Head Coach

51-year-old Polish specialist Michal Probierz has been coaching the national team since September 2023. He replaced Portuguese Fernando Santos in this position. 

Previously, he worked with Bielsko-Biala's «Polonia», «Widzew», Bialystok's «Jagiellonia», «Lodz», Greek «Aris», «Wloclawek», «Belchatow», Gdansk's «Lechia», «Krakowia» and the Polish youth team. Under his leadership, the Poland national team has played six matches, winning three and drawing three.

He is a supporter of the 3-4-2-1 playing system.

Leader

The undisputed leader of the white-and-red team today is Barcelona's forward Robert Lewandowski.

For the Polish national team, 35-year-old Lewandowski has played in 148 matches, scoring 82 goals. With Poznan's «Lech», he was champion of Poland and won the Polish Cup and Super Cup. With Bayern Munich, he won eight Bundesliga titles, three German Cups, five German Super Cups. He also won the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Super Cup. With Dortmund's «Borussia», he won two German league titles, a German Cup and a national Super Cup. With Barcelona, he has won La Liga and the Spanish Super Cup.

We remind you that the friendly match between Poland and Ukraine will take place on June 7 in Warsaw at the «National» Stadium (kick-off at 21:45 Kyiv time).