- Nawałka is to sign a contract valid until the end of 2022. The new selector’s salary is to be around 200,000. PLN gross monthly plus bonus for promotion to the World Cup
- In November 2018, Nawałka started working for Lech Poznań, but his results were poor and in March 2019 he was dismissed. He has been unemployed since then, and when the pandemic broke out – for fear of being infected with the coronavirus – he consistently turned down all offers.
- In the final straight, Andriy Shevchenko’s candidacy was resigned, and the Polish team will be taken over by a coach, who in 2016 was promoted with Poles to the quarter-finals of Euro 2016
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Only the details of the contract have been refined and nothing should stop the final agreement. The contract is to be valid until the end of this year, the salary is 200,000. gross zlotys plus a bonus for promotion to the world championship finals.
On Monday, the last day of January, the interregnum that has been taking place since December 26 in the position of the most important Polish football coach will end. At the National Stadium, President Cezary Kulesza will present a new (old) coach who will lead the Polish team on March 24 in a play-off match for the promotion to the finals of the World Cup with Russia in Moscow. If Poland wins, three days later at the Silesian Stadium in Chorzów it will face the winner of the Sweden – Czech Republic match. Better will qualify for this year’s World Cup in Qatar. In case of defeat, in the same place, he will play in a friendly manner against the loser of the Swedish-Czech pair.
After the shocking resignation of Paulo Sousa, who unilaterally terminated his contract with the Polish Football Association and fled to the Flamengo Rio de Janeiro – due to the circumstances – the name of the successor was obvious: Nawałka was the most obvious candidate. Time was his greatest ally – there were less than 100 days left to the absolutely crucial clash with Russia in the context of the World Cup. At the pre-match training camp, there will be no time to polish new tactical ideas or a “introductory evening”: on Sunday and Monday the players will come to Warsaw, on Tuesday they will train, maybe two (light, tactical), on Wednesday, start up and travel to Moscow, on Thursday at 18 game.
So there was a need for a coach that the players know and trust. Nawałka meets these criteria. He left the national team after the unsuccessful World Cup in Russia, tired and embittered, although he could have stayed. Later, he regretted that he had taken the decision not to extend the contract too hastily, but he was in contact with the team all the time. Interpersonal relationships were one of his great strengths as a manager.
In November 2018, he started working for Lech Poznań, but had poor results and was dismissed in March 2019. He has been unemployed since then, and when the pandemic broke out – for fear of contracting the coronavirus – he consistently turned down any offers. The only one, from the Polish national team, was unable to resist. “Representation is not denied,” he said. He felt that he had not finished the work with the national team. On January 13 and 14, after returning from vacation in the Maldives, he met President Kulesza at the Hyatt hotel where he is stationed in Warsaw.
The talks continued, but at the end the president and the coach seemed to be getting along. At the beginning of the second half of January, it seemed that the matter was settled and on January 19, at the meeting of the PZPN Board, President Kulesza will present the selector. Nawałka would receive a salary of 200,000. PLN per month (gross, initially the selector wanted net) plus a bonus for promotion to the World Cup. Nawałka negotiated the thing he cared about the most: a guaranteed contract until the end of 2022, regardless of the results achieved in March, and then also in the League of Nations. So if president Kulesza suddenly wanted to say goodbye to him, it would involve the necessity to pay compensation.
The media widely informed about the return of the former coach, which upset Kulesza. He decided that Nawałka was forced into the staff, so he put him back in the waiting room and started talking to Andriy Shevchenko, who was released from Genoa, whom he made up and dreamed up. Nawałka’s topic was quiet for a while. The president of the Polish Football Association spoke by phone with Jan Urban from Górnik Zabrze and it could have seemed that Nawałek lost his pole position in the race for the manager’s position. But not for Urban.
When on January 5 “Przegląd Sportowy” – as the first – announced that the former Ukrainian footballer, winner of the Golden Ball and winner of the Champions League with Milan is a candidate for the selector of our team, it seemed that it was only a wishful thinking of President Kulesza. At that time, “Szewa” was bound by a contract with the Serie A club. The contract with Genoa, valid until June 2024, was signed in November 2021, so it looked that employment in the Polish Football Association was still a dream. But even then it was clear that Shevchenko is going smoothly in Italy and his job is under threat.
Things turned out perfectly for the Polish Football Association – on January 15, Genoa dismissed the Ukrainian after two months and one win and seven defeats in eleven matches in all competitions. The talks that had taken place went green. Shevchenko made an agreement – he was to sign a contract until the end of the EURO 2024 qualifying, which would be extended to the tournament in the event of a promotion. Everything was confirmed by the former Shevchenko press spokesman – Mykola Vasylkov.
The case broke up with the termination of the Ukrainian’s contract with Genoa. The parties did not agree. But this is not the only reason why the Ukrainian will not come to Warsaw for the Monday presentation. The debut would fall on the match with Russia, the stakes of the match are enormous, and Shevchenko is Russian-speaking, he is friends with the owner of Chelsea, Roman Abramovich, and lives in London on a daily basis. Therefore, his topic was closed.
On Monday, Adam Nawałka returns to the team he left in July 2018. The match with Russia will be his 51st in the role of manager.
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