The Polish national team will not play at the National! The stadium is unusable

– We are still waiting and hope that by the end of the week it will be clear whether we will play in Warsaw. We would love to, but safety is the most important thing – we heard on Tuesday in PZPN, where we asked if the March match against Albania would take place at the National Stadium. There was no certainty. Or in other words: there were doubts all the time. The latter was expressed by the Minister of Sport, Kamil Bortniczuk, who was a guest of the morning conversation at RMF FM on Wednesday.

– As of today, we are not sure whether the use of the National Stadium in the context of mass events is safe for the audience – said Bortniczuk. – I think that the March match against Albania will not take place here, but this is my opinion – added the minister.

And he continued: – I am in constant contact with the president of the company [Włodzimierzem Dolą]who is trying to play for time because he is interested in having this match played here. But I will in no way be pushing or suggesting that the match take place at the National Stadium. I am a serious man and I do not want to take responsibility for the lives and safety of tens of thousands of fans on my shoulders.

PZPN played for time. Last week, general secretary Lukasz Wachowski said that the association intended to submit to UEFA by February 5 where the March match against Albania would take place. According to our information, he was still waiting on Tuesday. On Wednesday, Bortniczuk – in another conversation with RMF FM – confirmed that the match against Albania was 100 percent. will not be held at the National. – We can no longer wash the eyes of the fans and PZPN – admitted the minister.

PZPN has had an alternative for a long time. Unofficially, it is said that the first reserve stadium at the moment is the facility in Gdańsk, not in Wrocław, as originally reported.

Bortniczuk talks about the worst-case scenario regarding the national issue

In November, Czesław Michniewicz’s team played a sparring match with Chile (1:0) the day before the departure to Qatar. Not at the National Stadium – as originally planned – but at the Legia stadium, because just before the World Cup matches it turned out that one of the elements of the roof structure was damaged in the facility where the Polish national team plays most of its home matches. The National Park was immediately closed, analyses, expert opinions and later repairs were commissioned. It was supposed to be reopened after two weeks, but to this day it is not certain when it will be fully opened.

– The worst case scenario, which probably will not work, assumes a complete dismantling of the roof structure and building it anew – Bortniczuk told RMF FM on Wednesday.

And once again he explained what the problem really is: – A crack appeared on the casting, which is the key element of the roof – the only one of its kind in the world. Today, specialists from Poland and Germany are examining this material, checking its structure, cracking and the risk of whether the ropes that support it can snap under some tension. As of today, we know that most likely it will not be necessary to replace this element and that it is enough to use four so-called. bypasses – like the one that has already been used – and this will most likely allow the stadium to be used in the coming years. However, there will be a need to analyze security even more often – emphasized Bortniczuk.

Poland will start fighting in the Euro 2024 qualifiers in March. They will start with away matches against the Czech Republic (March 24) and at home against Albania (March 27). The other group rivals are Moldova and the Faroe Islands. Two teams will advance to ME.