Fernando Santos takes over as national coach of Poland. The 68-year-old coach was looking for a new challenge after he was fired from the national team of Portugal after the last World Cup.
Santos was surprisingly eliminated by Morocco (1-0) with Portugal in the quarter-finals of the World Cup in Qatar. During the tournament, there was already unrest in Santos’ team, because he replaced star Cristiano Ronaldo and then left him outside the starting eleven.
Portuguese media spoke of an argument between the two, but Santos stated that he made the decision for tactical reasons. After the World Cup, the Santos era came to an end. The highlight in his eight years as national coach was winning the European title in 2016.
Poland reached the knockout stage of the World Cup for the first time in 36 years in Qatar. In the eighth finals, losing finalist France was ultimately too strong. Despite the good performances, Czeslaw Michniewicz’s contract was not renewed.
The Polish federation organized a press conference for Tuesday, but federation chairman Cezary Kulesza already shared a photo with Santos on Twitter on Monday evening. “See you tomorrow at the press conference,” he wrote. Santos was previously national coach of Greece and trainer at Panathinaikos, FC Porto, Sporting CP and Benfica, among others.
Poland will meet for the first time at the end of March under the leadership of Santos. Then the team prepares for the European Championship qualifying series, which starts on March 24 with a match against the Czech Republic. At the previous European Championship in 2021, Poland was already eliminated in the group stage.
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