Only one favorite. The environment is almost certain who will become the selector

When talking to people who are close to the Polish federation, you can feel impatience. Not so much the prolonged search for a new coach of the Polish national team, but the next media candidates who sometimes have no chance of working with the staff. Few believe in Andriy Shevchenko – whom he dreamed of, according to “Przegląd Sportowy”. They react to questions about the Ukrainian with a playful or a bit disrespectful attitude – on the principle: it’s a waste of time, nothing to talk about, too expensive. One of the activists, tired of asking about foreign coaches, said: “Czarek could choose now, because we will soon come to Guardiola”.

Further meetings of Cezary Kulesza. He may want to listen to Jan Urban and Marek Papszun

It is certain that Kulesza met the first candidate on Monday and wanted to learn the exact plan of preparations for the play-off match with Russia, as well as the further concept of the team, both in the case of promotion to the World Cup and its lack. The conversation lasted nearly three hours. Interia said that Kulesza has planned at least two more such meetings this week. With who?

Our information shows that the president of the Polish Football Association may want to listen to Marek Papszun from Raków Częstochowa and one foreign candidate who volunteered to run the representation. However, Nawałka remains the favorite. The other coaches, who are doing well in the league, have little chance. In recent days, the media linked Kosta Runjaic i with the representation.

In sequence. In Pogoń Szczecin they assure that their coach is on vacation and he has not met Kulesza. – We have known Cezary Kulesza for years, we live well, so we would know first if he was interested in our trainer – say the authorities. In turn, Skorża, after two years with the Olympic team of the United Arab Emirates, was so hungry for work in the club that he had not yet had enough time to get satisfied with it. The most important thing, however, is how well he is doing in Lech Poznañ. He entered the club’s centenary year as the leader of the league, and the bosses of Lech do not want to weaken the team in the middle of the season. They rejected the offer for Lubomir Satka and so they negotiate the departure of Jakub Kamiński to borrow him from the new club for another six months. The departure of the coach – compared to the loss of those players – would be much more painful. It is not to be expected.

If a foreigner, then young. Grant, Advocaat and Capello without much chance

There are also no chances to lead the staff, with whom Kulesza cooperated in Jagiellonia Białystok. Many experts believed that the former Legia Warszawa coach was well suited to lead Poland in the play-offs. He knows footballers, has a tactical sense and has proven many times that he can defeat stronger opponents. Kulesza, however, was not convinced. Even for a moment he did not see the future manager in Michniewicz.

On Thursday, the contract with Termalika was signed by Michał Prukaj, who, however, in recent weeks was only a “media candidate”. Therefore, in unofficial conversations, you can hear more and more often that Adam Nawałka will most likely be the selector. The players who were consulted by Kulesza view the cooperation with him well. Moreover, Nawałka himself emphasizes that the Polish national team is the most important for him and he quickly denied rumors that he applied to lead the Kosovo team.

Nawałka is the safest and least surprising option. Our interlocutors do not rule out, however, that president Kulesza would like to surprise and reach for a coach who rarely or never appeared in journalistic publications. Zbigniew Boniek suggested on Twitter that it could be Jan Urban. We contacted the coach of Górnik Zabrze on Thursday evening. He denied that he had talked to Kulesza in recent days and assured him that he was focusing on preparations for the Ekstraklasa spring round. The president of the Polish Football Association is to appreciate the results of Marek Papszun, who did not get along with Legia Warsaw and has a proposal to extend the contract with Raków. For now, however, he is waiting with a signature for the development of events in the Polish national team.

Although it should be expected that a Pole will be the new coach, Kulesza is not categorically closed to foreign coaches. An important caveat here – if anything, it won’t be any of the experienced coaches like Avram Grant, Dick Advocaat or Fabio Capello. The president of the Polish Football Association is to be closer to the younger generation of coaches, such as Fabio Cannavaro and Andrea Pirlo.

Cezary Kulesza’s goal is to announce a new manager by January 19 at the latest. On this day, a meeting of the PZPN board will take place. The president of the Polish Football Association will choose a new selector on his own, but we know that he consults with his colleagues on this matter. The favorite remains, and the activists’ dream is to announce the decision quickly.