Another foreign coach wants to take over the Polish national team. He has experience from Euro 2016

From December 29, the Polish national team has no coach. On that day, Paulo parted ways with the Polish Football Association. – At the first board meeting on January 19, we will know the new coach –

Ante Cacić wants to lead our representation

Fabio Cannavaro, Dick Advoocat, Avram Grant or Alexandre Guimaresa – according to the media, these are foreign coaches interested in working for the Polish national team. According to Sport.pl, Ante Cacić, the former coach of the Croatian national team, is also eager to lead our team.

Born in Zagreb, 68-year-old Cacić was the Croatian coach from September 2015 to October 2017. Under his leadership, the team advanced to the 2016 European championship, and in the tournament played in France, they were eliminated in the 1/8 finals after defeating Portugal 0-1. In the quarter-finals, the Portuguese defeated the Poles after penalties, in the semi-finals they defeated Wales, and in the finals they defeated the hosts, winning the title of European champion. In turn, the Croatians in the group defeated Turkey (1: 0), tied with the Czech Republic (2: 2) and defeated Spain (2: 1). After such sensational group results, their defeat in the 1/8 finals was perceived as a surprise.

Cacić was released at the final of the 2018 World Cup qualifiers. The Croats finished second in the group behind Iceland. They overtook Ukraine, Turkey, Finland and Kosovo. The new coach, Zlatko Dalić, made the play-offs to the World Cup, eliminating Greece, and at the tournament in Russia he won a sensational second place with the representation.

Contract to Euro

Cacić led the Croatian national team in 25 matches. His record is 15 wins, four draws, six losses. Goals 50:24, average 1.96 points per game. He mainly played the 4-4-2 and 4-2-3-1 system. After parting with the Croatian national team, the Egyptian team Pyramids FC trained for a year, with whom they took third place in the 2019/2020 season. He has been unemployed since October 2020.

In his club career, he was most successful while leading Dinamo Zagreb – the national championship and the Croatian Cup in the 2011/2012 season. He also trained, among others Croatian NK Lokomotiva, Slaven Belupo and Slovenian NK Maribor. In 2016, Cacić took the seventh place in the poll of the International Federation of Football Historians and Statistics for the best coach of the national team in the world. Fernando Santos won then, who led the Portuguese to the European Championship, and Adam took 10th place.

According to our information, Ante Cacić would be interested in signing a 2.5-year contract – that is, until the end of the European Championship, which will be held in Germany from June 14 to July 14, 2024. He is ready to run the Polish national team immediately, and he treats our team as “perfect work” and “a difficult, exciting challenge”.

Polish or foreign option?

The advantage of Cacic is experience in working with the national team and in leading stars of world football (including Luka Modrić, Ivan Rakitić, Mateo Kovacić, Ivan Perisić and Mario Mandzukic). Croatia has been in the forefront of Europe for years, and footballers from this country are playing in the best teams in the world (currently, including Real Madrid, RB Leipzig, Sevilla, Inter Milan, Chelsea London).

The remuneration may be a contentious issue, because it is not known what financial ceiling the PZPN will decide on for the future manager. There are also voices that the activists in the face of the lack of time – play-offs for the World Cup in Qatar will take place in March – may decide to choose a coach from Poland who knows our players better.

Cacic was offered to the Polish union a year ago after Jerzy Brzęczek was fired, but president Zbigniew Boniek opted for Paulo Sousa. The Croatian coach also currently has an offer from one of the Arab clubs.