After having done exceedingly well at the Euro 2016, Poland have decided to reward manager Adam Nawałka with a new contract.
The manager helped with the national team reached the quarter-finals of the Euro 2016. This was a totally unexpected performance from the national team. Even qualifying from the group stages was considered as a great achievement despite possessing players like Robert Lewandowski. This is because of the recent chequered history for the national team when it comes to getting results. They have had some iconic results in the last couple of years, but equally bad ones as well.
Nawałka has been the national team manager since 2013 and he has done an excellent job of revamping the team so as to take advantage of upcoming stars like Lewandowski. The fact that the national team has been able to reach the quarter-finals of the major tournament like the European championship will be a major boost to the health of the sport in the country. Poland has failed to shine as a major European footballing nation and it has largely been dwarfed by Germany throughout its history. The recent resurgence, though, provides hope that Poland will also be able to compete in the latter stages of a major tournament quite regularly from now on.
Poland could have even reached the semifinals of the tournament had it not been for bad luck. They were only knocked out of the tournament on penalties. He penalty shootout loss to Portugal in the quarter-final is not a disappointing aspect by any means. After all, Portugal went on to win the title itself. In the last three years under the management ofNawałka, the Polish national team has played 30 matches. They have managed to win 15 out of these games while going on to 11 and losing four.