Why can't Poland recruit Polish stars?

In late 2003 after couple of impressive performances in his first few Bundesliga games, Polish media suggested then-Polish national team coach Paweł Janas to check Podolski out, as he was still eligible to play for Poland. Janas ignored the request stating in one of the press interviews that "as for today we have much better strikers in Poland and I don't see a reason to call up a player just because he played one or two good matches in the Bundesliga. He's not even a regular starter at his club." By that time Podolski was still interested in representing Poland, but as the season progressed more and more German media started to suggest to call up the striker to their national team. When his full potential was finally unveiled, he had already been persuaded to represent Germany. At the end of the season Cologne were relegated, but Podolski impressed so much, that he celebrated his debut for Rudi Völler's Germany on 6 June 2004 in Kaiserslautern against Hungary with a late substitute appearance. He had become the first second-division player since 1975 to break into the national team.

In January 2001, the then national coach Jerzy Engel of the Poland national football team travelled to Germany to persuade Klose to play for the Polish national team, since Klose has Polish nationality. His request was declined by Klose who said that: “I have a German passport, and if things are still running this way, I have a chance to play for Rudi Völler”.[6]

missewaThreads: 4 Posts: 31 Joined: Jun 4, 08	Jun 8, 08, 18:15 / #
Why can't Poland recruit Polish stars(Klose, Podolski) instead of foreign players(Olisadebe, Guerrero) and coaches(the Dutch guy) who aren't Polish? Did they make an offer to the great Polish coach(Nowak) of former champion DC united?

PeterThreads: 5 Posts: 296 Joined: Mar 31, 07	Jun 8, 08, 18:35 / #
I think one of the most glaring disappointments has been the fact that Poland has had some good youth squads (the U-17's, U-19's, etc) over the past 15-20 years but for some reason have never come through to the 1st team. The biggest disappointment for me was the 1992 Olympic team, great things were expected but never materialsed.

Bratwurst BoyThreads: 11 Posts: 14,563 Joined: Apr 2, 07	Jun 8, 08, 18:39 / #
That's why: URL In late 2003 after couple of impressive performances in his first few Bundesliga games, Polish media suggested then-Polish national team coach Paweł Janas to check Podolski out, as he was still eligible to play for Poland. Janas ignored the request stating in one of the press interviews that "as for today we have much better strikers in Poland and I don't see a reason to call up a player just because he played one or two good matches in the Bundesliga. He's not even a regular starter at his club." By that time Podolski was still interested in representing Poland, but as the season progressed more and more German media started to suggest to call up the striker to their national team. When his full potential was finally unveiled, he had already been persuaded to represent Germany. At the end of the season Cologne were relegated, but Podolski impressed so much, that he celebrated his debut for Rudi Völler's Germany on 6 June 2004 in Kaiserslautern against Hungary with a late substitute appearance. He had become the first second-division player since 1975 to break into the national team. URL In January 2001, the then national coach Jerzy Engel of the Poland national football team travelled to Germany to persuade Klose to play for the Polish national team, since Klose has Polish nationality. His request was declined by Klose who said that: “I have a German passport, and if things are still running this way, I have a chance to play for Rudi Völler”.[6]

Guest	Jun 16, 08, 19:09 / #
I reckon Guerrero has been one of your better players at this tournament, facts are if you had better polish players than him he would not have been played

missewaThreads: 4 Posts: 31 Joined: Jun 4, 08	Jun 16, 08, 19:17 / #
One goal big deal. If Poland had a coach who could speak Polish he would get young kids interested in the game.

MateuszoflvThreads: 4 Posts: 32 Joined: Jun 16, 08	Jun 16, 08, 20:33 / #
Yea that too, mabye if leo spoke Polish. But I still hope that the Poles dont eat Leo alive lol He did not **** up as much as janas did in the last world cup...

plk123Threads: 30 Posts: 6,412 Joined: Aug 29, 07	Jun 16, 08, 21:07 / #
missewa: Why can't Poland recruit Polish stars(Klose, Podolski) instead of foreign players(Olisadebe, Guerrero) and coaches(the Dutch guy) who aren't Polish? Did they make an offer to the great Polish coach(Nowak) of former champion DC united? dude, the dutchman has a contract through 2009 and neither klose not podolski are really polish. the consider themselves german so you need to accept that. now on to the stars: what stars? Guest: I reckon Guerrero has been one of your better players at this tournament, facts are if you had better polish players than him he would not have been played bingo missewa: One goal big deal. If Poland had a coach who could speak Polish he would get young kids interested in the game. dream not reality the dutchman did good. janas was an as$. 2 years is nothing and the dutchman needs more time.. dumping him now could be huge mistake.. one has to work on the development. changing coaches always sets the team back.. and that's the last thing bialo czerwoni need right now. thw aquad is better then ever so they just need to work on even more improvement.

missewaThreads: 4 Posts: 31 Joined: Jun 4, 08	Jun 16, 08, 21:20 / #
Podolski wanted to play for Poland and should be playing for Poland not these third world players these idiot coaches keep giving Polish citizenship to.

El GatoThreads: 9 Posts: 459 Joined: Sep 21, 07	Jun 16, 08, 21:36 / #
missewa: Why can't Poland recruit Polish stars(Klose, Podolski) instead of foreign players(Olisadebe, Guerrero) and coaches(the Dutch guy) who aren't Polish? Did they make an offer to the great Polish coach(Nowak) of former champion DC united? missewa: One goal big deal. If Poland had a coach who could speak Polish he would get young kids interested in the game. Dude get over it. He coached an MLS TEAM, which btw, are considered laughable in the soccer world today. Nobody gives two $hits about MLS teams, they all watch the Barclay's, Primera, Seria A, Bundesliga, etc. Nowak managed to get a bunch of guys to win in a second rate league. I bet that was hard. I'm not doubting that he's a good coach, but certainly not amazing.

plk123Threads: 30 Posts: 6,412 Joined: Aug 29, 07	Jun 16, 08, 21:56 / #
mls only went down since they bought beckham. or did he buy them? lol

MarcinDThreads: 5 Posts: 96 Joined: Jun 10, 08	Jun 16, 08, 22:23 / #
I have been disapointed all around in Poland in sports. Why are other Eastern European countries, ones that have much younger histories than ourselves, doing so much better in sports. You see them respresented in American sports like football, basketball, hockey and even baseball but not at all by Poles. I've had this discussion with my parents and they feel that it is political. Dating back to the 80's when Poland was busy leading the fight against Communism, other Eastern European nations were simply sitting back and waiting. While we were busy striking and cutting costs for sports, the other nations were not. Now fast forward and were way back when it comes to sports and I'm not sure if it's just a lack of focus on sports a lack of funding of sports or all issues combined

King SobieskiThreads: 7 Posts: 1,106 Joined: Jan 22, 07	Jun 16, 08, 22:34 / #
MarcinD: I have been disapointed all around in Poland in sports. Why are other Eastern European countries, ones that have much younger histories than ourselves, doing so much better in sports. You see them respresented in American sports like football, basketball, hockey and even baseball but not at all by Poles. yeah, the amount of crap i cop from my serb mate at work about basketball, tennis, handball, volleyball, etc is not funny.

MarcinDThreads: 5 Posts: 96 Joined: Jun 10, 08	Jun 16, 08, 22:43 / #
King Sobieski: yeah, the amount of crap i cop from my serb mate at work about basketball, tennis, handball, volleyball, etc is not funny. other than the strongest man in the world, who do we have?

DecoratorThreads: 5 Posts: 412 Joined: Aug 26, 06	Jun 16, 08, 22:51 / #
MarcinD: other than the strongest man in the world, who do we have? Robert Kubica? he's pretty good don't you think.

MarcinDThreads: 5 Posts: 96 Joined: Jun 10, 08	Jun 16, 08, 23:43 / #
Decorator: Robert Kubica? he's pretty good don't you think. hahah I didn't even know who he was, but I think I heard a story on the Polish channel I have on my satellite. I think i'm too Americanized Sports wise. Other than Futbol I don't get any other coverage. I guess that might be the answer to my question....Polska doesn't participate much in American sports

MateuszoflvThreads: 4 Posts: 32 Joined: Jun 16, 08	Jun 16, 08, 23:45 / #
oh man Poland wins alot of things in the international world its just not publicized as some other countries because theres not enough money going into the advertisments. as El Gato Pointed out, The fifa sites and soccer sites have adds EVERYWHERE that Italy wont the world cup. I wonder who pays for that... Italy Ofcourse. If poland had that kind of money , things would be better. To throw a few more names out. Poland has a Judo Star (who will be in the Olmpics) The Polish mountain climbers who tried to get to Mt. Everst during Winter were very much publicized in National Geographic. Polish Climbers are known to be the best in the world. Poland is great at football , even though they dont win at tournments, Poland still has that certain playing style that is unique !! :) A polish guy just won F-1 We have the Strongest man and woman. Podolski is 100% Polish. (too bad he doesnt play for Poland...) Golota is One of the best Boxers Adam Malysz for ski Jumping If anymore come to mind ill say

plk123Threads: 30 Posts: 6,412 Joined: Aug 29, 07	Edited by: plk123 Jun 16, 08, 23:58 / #
Mateuszoflv: Polish Climbers are known to be the best in the world. craziest! strongest man is on drugs. there have been some figure skater pairs high in the standings.

missewaThreads: 4 Posts: 31 Joined: Jun 4, 08	Edited by: missewa Jun 17, 08, 00:04 / #
I guess that's why Peter Nowak was given the honor of being an olympic coach for the United States. By the way there are many great Polish swimmers.

plk123Threads: 30 Posts: 6,412 Joined: Aug 29, 07	Jun 17, 08, 00:14 / #
decathlon or some other combined

DecoratorThreads: 5 Posts: 412 Joined: Aug 26, 06	Jun 17, 08, 00:43 / #
Otylia Jedrzejczak is the reigning olympic 200m butterfly champion.. ok ok i looked it up but at least for a london chap it shows i'm taking an interest ;-)

KrzysztofThreads: 2 Posts: 1,146 Joined: Jul 26, 07	Jun 17, 08, 10:09 / #
King Sobieski: my serb mate at work about basketball, tennis, handball, volleyball, etc is not funny. Agreed on basketball, Poland sucks, because they made the national league with teams composed only of foreigners plus some Polish bench warmers. After the first years of showing NBA matches live in Polish TV (about 15 years ago) there was a huge boom for basket here, you could see kids playing almost everywhere. It's all gone wasted, because the clubs weren't smart enough to profit from such a big interest among the kids. Tennis wasn't ever a discipline for "proletaryat" in Poland, it was completely neglected for decades, and it's still quite an expensive sport, so we have only 2 women and 0 men in World top 100, but we'll see in the next years. Handball? Who is the current World Champs runner-up?* I'm sure not Serbia, I don't know if they even played. Who's playing at the Olympic Games (men) - Poland or Serbia?* Volleyball, well yeah, both teams were Olympic champions (Poland in 1976, Yugoslavia in 2000), but who played in the final of last World Championship, beating Serbia in the group stage 3-0?* * correct answer: Poland plk123: strongest man is on drugs. And how many medals (Olympic or World championship) did the USA lose because of doping? Do I have to make a list of all those athlets? It would be quite loooong. MarcinD: Dating back to the 80's when Poland was busy leading the fight against Communism, other Eastern European nations were simply sitting back and waiting. No, they weren't waiting, the DDR (Eastern Germany), Bulgaria and USSR were working hard on their steroids programs.

EbonyandBathoryThreads: 7 Posts: 349 Joined: Feb 14, 08	Jun 17, 08, 16:02 / #
missewa: not these third world players Yeah, Brazil sucks at futbol.

King SobieskiThreads: 7 Posts: 1,106 Joined: Jan 22, 07	Jun 17, 08, 17:54 / #
surprisingly there are quite a few sports people of polish heritage that have represented australia. krystof, it is funny that you mention that about basketball, the same has happened here in australia. basketball blew up in the early 90's and they were getting 15k to matches. now teams are folding and they struggle to get over 3k to matches.

missewaThreads: 4 Posts: 31 Joined: Jun 4, 08	Jun 17, 08, 23:45 / #
EbonyandBathory: Yeah, Brazil sucks at futbol Polish players should play for Poland and Brazilian players who weren't good enough to play for Brazil shouldn't be given Polish citizenship.

EbonyandBathoryThreads: 7 Posts: 349 Joined: Feb 14, 08	Jun 18, 08, 16:16 / #
missewa: Polish players should play for Poland and Brazilian players who weren't good enough to play for Brazil shouldn't be given Polish citizenship. Then I guess we would have scored zero goals this Euro. That's a good point.

missewaThreads: 4 Posts: 31 Joined: Jun 4, 08	Jun 18, 08, 18:07 / #
You probably approve of other forms of cheating then like taking steroids.

EbonyandBathoryThreads: 7 Posts: 349 Joined: Feb 14, 08	Jun 19, 08, 15:14 / #
What cheating? Roger joined fair and square. I approve of Poland fielding the best possible side, if that means foriegn players, that's the way it must be.

El GatoThreads: 9 Posts: 459 Joined: Sep 21, 07	Jun 19, 08, 17:13 / #
EbonyandBathory: What cheating? Roger joined fair and square. I approve of Poland fielding the best possible side, if that means foriegn players, that's the way it must be. And he's damn good. Honestly I think if it hadn't been for him and Brouc things would have been much worse this Euro.

plk123Threads: 30 Posts: 6,412 Joined: Aug 29, 07	Jun 19, 08, 22:19 / #
Krzysztof: And how many medals (Olympic or World championship) did the USA lose because of doping? Do I have to make a list of all those athlets? It would be quite loooong. i surely agree. Krzysztof: * correct answer: Poland hell yeah. :) EbonyandBathory: Yeah, Brazil sucks at futbol. not a 3rd world country EbonyandBathory: What cheating? Roger joined fair and square. I approve of Poland fielding the best possible side, if that means foriegn players, that's the way it must be. hmmm.. doesn't seem to fit together in that sentence.

missewaThreads: 4 Posts: 31 Joined: Jun 4, 08	Jun 19, 08, 22:29 / #
EbonyandBathory: What cheating? Roger joined fair and square. I approve of Poland fielding the best possible side, if that means foriegn players, that's the way it must be. Getting fast tracked citizenship for somone who can't even speak Polish is cheating. I thought the name on the players jerseys was Poland and not Brazil.