Images via Tomasz Kudala/Shutterstock and Mikolaj Barbanell/Shutterstock
For the past few years, the slogan of the PZPN has been Łączy Nas Piłka, which loosely translates as football connects us. Football may well connect us, but it seems money still divides us.
First reported by Szymon Jadczak and Dariusz Faron for Sportowe Fakty on the morning following Poland’s 3-1 defeat by France, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki promised the squad prior to the World Cup at least 30 million PLN if they were to leave the group, with subsequent reports claiming that figure would have reached 50 million PLN had the team gone further. On account of this promise, the money would’ve gone directly to the players and coaches, bypassing the PZPN.
A follow-up article was published yesterday afternoon by Tomasz Włodarczyk, which made for even grimmer reading. In the article, he reveals that the topic of the bonus first came up when Morawiecki met the players in the team hotel for dinner prior to them leaving for Qatar. Apparently the topic of the bonus had already been discussed prior to this by Morawiecki and Selekcjoner Czesław Michniewicz, so Morawiecki broached the topic with the players whilst joking during the dinner and no-one actually kept track of what the supposed bonus figure was actually going to be. The players did not take these discussion seriously, and were completely focussed on the task at hand i.e. playing for Poland and the World Cup.
However, it is reported by Włodarczyk that after the final group game against Argentina, Michniewicz called Morawiecki and requested a specific percentage distribution of this bonus between players and coaches. When the topic was once more broached amongst the players, some members of the squad wanted money based on how many minutes they had played in the tournament, whereas Robert Lewandowski argued that all the members of the playing squad should receive some of this bonus, taking into account the players with fewer minutes.
The players assumed that 10% would go to the coaches; however, Michniewicz wanted 20%. During these discussions, Lewandowski requested that disputes about the bonus should be resolved after the tournament so as not to distract the squad from the upcoming game against France. It is not believed that the bonus talks between Michniewicz and Lewandowski contributed to the supposed conflict between them, but it was genuinely rather the manner of Poland’s football at the World Cup.
According to this report, head of the PZPN, Cezary Kulesza, was furious that the money was going to be handed directly to the players and coaches, bypassing him and the PZPN. Not only does this information make Michniewicz’s position nigh-on untenable given talks had already begun about whether he should be kept on as Selekcjoner, but it paints him as being more concerned with financial gain than his team’s performance.
The Polish government tried to quell the matter by announcing the bonus was meant to go to a special PZPN fund for the development of football in Poland, but this announcement was met with great derision as it is pretty clear that was not originally the case.
According to Jadczak, this story was held for nearly a week so as not to cause an issue during Poland’s participation during the tournament and thus be accused of harming their chances.
Watching back the game against Argentina, the most cynical of us may feel that the anti-football coached by Michniewicz was partly influenced by the potential bonus he would receive, but given he restarted the talks with Morawiecki after that match (as well as the fact Michniewicz favours defensive football) I don’t think that theory particularly holds water.
What is more disappointing is that these millions of złotys could be spent on football infrastructure in Poland. Think how far Polish football could develop if there was a national centre of excellency, like in France or England. This is before we address the glaring fact that Morawiecki promised millions of złotys of public money during a period of high inflation and a fast approaching energy crisis.
This morning there was supposed to be a meeting between Morawiecki and Lewandowski to discuss this bonus issue, but Lewandowski is on holiday and it is not yet known if they have spoken or what the outcome of these potential talks has been. Morawiecki himself has spoken about the issue today and said: “I think that our players deserve some kind of bonus, because they got out of the group, after all they played really well. This success is worth every penny.” He then contradicted himself just before this article was published, stating: "there will be no government funds provided as bonuses for football players."
It’s highly likely this will be the end of Michniewicz as Selekcjoner, given that it was fairly 50/50 whether he would be kept on anyway and now it seems he might well be made the scapegoat for this scandal, although you can’t deny he has brought it on himself somewhat. It doesn’t reflect well on Kulesza either, given that such a huge issue went on supposedly without his knowledge, and it reflects fairly badly on the players also in that a group of millionaires were debating how many more millions each of them should receive.
The squad arrived back in Warszawa yesterday, and after landing did not speak to journalists or greet fans. It is a PR nightmare for everyone involved, and yet there is a fairly simple way to calm down this scandal: apologise for such a stupid use of public funds, refuse to hand out or receive this money and move on.
What is depressing even further is it seems that potential monetary gain is still a huge issue in Polish football. Given prior to the World Cup we heard ugly rumours of sold games in the lower leagues, and now another scandal over money involving a Selekcjoner who still has question marks over his involvement in corruption 20 years ago, and Kulesza is overseeing a PZPN that looks far less professional an outfit than it was under his predecessor Zbigniew Boniek.
If this money is given out, most likely now to the PZPN to do with as they wish, they could invest in promised football infrastructure to advance the development of the Polish game, but that seems a tall order. It would be nice if the money was donated to charity, as quite frankly that seems to be the only positive outcome that could arrive from this sorry affair, which threatens further by the day to overshadow the whole of Poland’s participation in this World Cup.
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