Paulo Sousa made a financial effort for his employer. Just smile

“I treat this country as mine. Together to Qatar” – said Paulo Sousa in an interview for Truth of Football on December 14th. It was a time when the press in Brazil signaled that several local clubs were interested in the manager. It was also a moment when Jakub Kwiatkowski, the spokesman for the national team, asked about the matter, who introduced Sousa to the team, accompanying him and cooperating with him on a daily basis. The Portuguese poker face was shaking his head: no conversation. I work for Poland. But it must have been the time of Sousa’s first talks with the Brazilian side. December 26 president: I would like to go by mutual agreement, this is a good time to end the cooperation, such a request should be in your hand, at last you will choose your coach.

Deja vu from France

Sousa, apart from these strange-sounding arguments, explaining the defection before the World Cup play-offs, was to regret recently for the extremely high criticism after losing the match with Hungary. He was surprised to hear Kulesza’s request to include a Polish coach in the staff (he did not agree to it), and to work for a leading club in South America. Maybe he was fed up with the Polish winter, because according to foreign media reports, his face was shining for work in Brazil. It is difficult to say whether Sousa was in conflict with someone from the Polish federation (absolutely not in the opinion of the Polish Football Association), at least he was a man of Zbigniew Bonek in the relationship. The change of power and what happened around the Portuguese in the fall and now during the holidays are very similar to the events known from the Girondins Bordeaux, which began in December 2019.

Here he quoted the Polish Pope, in France the slogans of the French Revolution

When Sousa was employed by Bordeaux, GACP (General American Capital Partners) was another shareholder. The company spared no expenses on the club. During the times, the salaries of club employees increased by 11 million euros. Loud transfers were made, and representation expenses (the best hotels and eagerly used planes, not only for footballers), were absorbed in large amounts. This created a conflict with the club’s other shareholder (King Street) who wanted a balanced policy and finally decided to take over a minority stake in GACP.

You can also find more about the situation on the PZPN – Sousa line at

Sousa, this conflict was related to the fact that, as a result of ownership changes and the budget hole, which was the result of increased expenses, the transfers that he wanted were abandoned in the winter of the 2019/20 season. The coach himself started 2020 with a conflict with the new president and general director of the club (Frederic Longuepee became the president). It was about the coach’s January interview with the “Sud Ouest” newspaper. After he was authorized by the trainer and approved by the club’s spokesman, it turned out that he wanted to interfere with him a bit more, annoyed by Longuepee, throwing or changing the unfavorable fragments. A person close to the trainer later confided in “L’Equipe”: It was like censorship. Do you think they will continue to work well together now? Impossible! “In a press release to the media, the club delicately stuck high heels on the trainer:

“A simple rule common to all is that each club employee speaks on topics related to his specialization. How would it be adopted if the club president commented on the selection of the team’s eleven?” – it was written. And the minor exchanges between the parties continued for a long time. At press conferences, Sousa quoted the slogans of the French Revolution: freedom, equality, fraternity. You can smile at it, remembering that the most interesting thing happened later, when it seemed that both sides would part ways before the spring round of the 2019/20 season.

He said goodbye and continued working. What if Sousa misses Flamengo?

Sousa eventually played the season with the Girondins to the end and his club finished 12th in Ligue 1. In June, the coach said goodbye to the players and told reporters that he was leaving. He was probably after the word with Benfica Lisbon who was looking for a coach. Except that his paths with the club from his home country eventually missed, and Sousa miscalculated in his calculations. So he did not take the packed suitcases from Bordeaux. He smiled and even signaled to the president that he could still lead the French team. The separation issue was prolonged, and the media throughout the summer reported a strange situation, for which it turned out to be a lot of money. That Bordeaux did not want Sousa and Sousa Bordeaux was rather clear. The mystery was who would earn how much and who would lose how much. After all, Sousa’s contract with the team was signed until 2022, and he was almost earning money. Annually, his account was credited with 2.5 million euros (about 11 million zlotys). The parties said goodbye only in August, and the Portuguese guaranteed himself 2.2 million euros in the settlement, paid over the next eight months. This meant that he posted French payments on his account while working with the Polish national team, for which he was probably getting around 70,000 a month. euro.

“What is left of Paulo Sousa’s transition to Girondins? A huge mess”, described the situation “L’Equipe” in its August 10, 2020 release. The same words are now used by Polish journalists, and the Polish Football Association, to sort out the sudden mess, convened, where the situation related to the position of the coach of the Polish national team is to be discussed. About what the possible scenarios of the case are,. Will the scandal with Sousa end smoothly or will it continue as in France? Or maybe it will leave an even greater disgust? Now PZPN wants compensation for early termination of the contract. However, as the coach’s agent assures. Although no one can imagine further cooperation with him on the Vistula, the Portuguese is still the white-and-red coach.