JWSport Jacek Waszak – Sport journalist
President Zbigniew Boniek is convinced that the national team now needs repair and good atmosphere and rebuild team spirit.
Paulo Sousa is a 50-year-old coach who most recently worked at French Bordeaux. He left the club in August 2020. As we have learned he has named his coaching staff and it will include his
assistants Manuel Julio Cordeiro da Silva and Spaniard Victor Manuel Sanchez Llado, while Portuguese Paulo Jorge Fernandes Grilo became the goalkeepers’ coach. Spaniards Lluis Sala Perez and Antonio Jose Gomez Diaz will be in charge of physical preparation. The staff also includes Italian Cosimo Cappagli, who will be an analyst.
Sousa has had a great football career, including winning the Champions League twice.
He played for Borussia Dortmund, Inter and Juventus Turin among others. Twice won the Champions League (in the colors of BVB and Juve). His career ended quickly, because already at the age of 31. The reason was a serious injury.
At the beginning of his coaching career, Sousa took care of the national team of Portugal under 16, and then he was in such clubs as Queens Park Rangers, Swansea City, Leicester City, FC Basel, Fiorentina and Girondins Bordeaux. He also led Videoton Szekesfehervar, Maccabi Tel Aviv and Chinese Tianjin Tianhai. He spent the most time at Videoton and Fiorentina.
As a coach Sousa had few successes. Among the greatest are triumphs in the Israeli (2013/14) and Swiss (2014/15) premier leagues, in addition to winning the League Cup and Super Cup twice in Hungary.
As a coach he never achieved such successes or even came close to them. Of course, it was difficult to dream of triumphing in the Champions League without leading big clubs.
In weaker teams, however, he had considerable achievements in relation to their capabilities, winning the championships of Israel and Switzerland, achieving good results in European cups. In stronger leagues he usually fared worse. So the question is how he will form a relationship with a whole group of players from the national team.
“I am honored and proud to be the coach of the Polish national team. Poland is a country of soccer and I am sure that your enthusiasm will provide us with strength, support, faith and together we will be able to fight in the next European Championships” – admitted Sousa in the material broadcast during the press conference of the president of the Polish Football Association
