Rather than write a complete retrospective of what was a year of fluctuating emotions in Polish football at the end of 2024, I thought it best to take a look at what we can look forward to in the Polish footballing world in 2025 a mere couple of days in.
I do still want to touch upon some of the things that happened in the last couple of weeks of 2024, as the mixed bag performances of individual players feels almost like a perfect encapsulation of what the year was about in many ways.
In terms of the players with the highest profiles, it was very much a disappointing end to the year for Robert Lewandowski and Barcelona, as despite often outplaying opponents they are short of goals, not least from their Polish striker. Culminating in a slightly shocking 2-1 home loss to Atletico Madrid just before Christmas, Barcelona now sit 3rd in La Liga with just one win in their last five league games.
Christmas was also an inauspicious time for Polish players in the Premier League, with Jan Bednarek and Southampton on course to finish as one of the worst ever performing sides to grace the English top flight. Southampton aren’t really deserving of this ignominy, given that compared to poor sides of the past their actual footballing displays are nowhere near as bad. Judging from online reaction, at least Bednarek is coming in for praise from their supporters, despite the tough period.
Continuing on that theme of an unenjoyable festive time in the Premier League for Polish players was Łukasz Fabianski, as he suffered a brutal concussion playing against Bednarek and Southampton. At what first appeared an incredibly concerning head injury, it would appear he escaped serious harm.
On the same day, another Polish goalkeeper in the form of Jakub Stolarczyk made his Premier League debut for Leicester away at Anfield, as they lost 3-1 to Liverpool. A pleasant surprise for yours truly who attended the match and didn’t expect Stolarczyk to start, he played reasonably well and retained his place as Leicester took on Manchester City a few days afterward, where unfortunately he was culpable for the first goal in a 2-0 loss.
Arguably the biggest surprise to end 2024 was the ongoing exploits in Turkey of Krzysztof Piątek, who currently sits top of the Süper Lig scoring charts and joint-second in the Conference League. Considering he is outscoring names such as Victor Osimhen and Ciro Immobile domestically, and level with someone like Christopher Nkunku in European competition, you really have to take your hat off to Piątek.
Not that there is much speculation, but you imagine a number of clubs in Europe’s top leagues might have their interest piqued by a January move for Piątek. You certainly wouldn’t put it past Serie A clubs to sniff around, given his previous reputation in Italy and I could even see a team struggling near the bottom of the Premier League go in for Piątek, given the form he is showing and the level of experience in the game he has to call upon.
Finally to end 2024, one of my personal favourite players Przemysław Płacheta is in the middle of a cracking purple patch. Having struggled with an injury and playing on the left at Oxford United, new manager Gary Rowett moved Płacheta to the left. Scoring an absolute screamer on Boxing Day in a game against Cardiff where he also grabbed an assist, he scored again three days later against Plymouth and rang in the New Year with an assist against Millwall. Scintillating form for the 26 year-old winger, I have long given up on hoping to see Płacheta in a Poland shirt once more. His last cap came in 2021, and realistically he has been out of the picture in terms of the national team for a very long time now.
I’m nothing if not a football romantic, and there is something about seeing a traditional flying winger like Płacheta go past his man and stand up a far post cross that never gets old. If his form continues like it has these past three outings, who knows whether or not Michał Probierz might give him another cap, especially when you consider that in the recent Nations League experiments he has brought in forgotten men like Bartosz Kapustka and (although pulling out twice through injury) Kacper Kozłowski.
This brings us nicely onto what to expect from 2025 in Polish football. Dominant surely will be the World Cup qualifiers starting in March, not to mention the very exciting tournament debut of Poland’s women in this summer’s European Championship. In the midst of this it should also be mentioned that Wrocław will be hosting the Conference League final, which would be the second club UEFA final which Poland hosts this season after the Super Cup curtain-raiser in Warszawa last August.
In the Ekstraklasa, four teams will be legitimately vying for the title, with Legia having the most ground to make up and Jagiellonia looking to retain the trophy. Raków Częstochowa have changed their style but are right up there behind Lech Poznań, who did have something of a wobble prior to the winter break.
Around Europe, you have Poland’s highest profile players such as Lewandowski and Piotr Zieliński in title races, and it could be a busy January for out of favour names such as Nicola Zalewski and Jakub Moder, strongly linked with moves away to gain playing time.
All in all, 2025 promises to likely bring us the same topics that Polish football generally has for some years now, enjoying a handful of top level performances, grumbling as to why other players don’t get picked and everyone thinking they know better than some of the game’s most pre-eminent pundits and managers, myself included.
It may be a little too late to say Szczęśliwego Nowegu Roku, but to all who’ve read this far, here’s hoping 2025 surpasses what we expect from Polish football.
For more, follow @ekstraklasaexp on Twitter and @ekstraklasaexports on Instagram to know when new posts go live.
Yorumlar