Czesław Michniewicz has been nominated by the International Federation of Football Historians and Statistics for the title of best manager of 2022. Other candidates for the statuette include: Lionel Scaloni, Didier Deschamps and Zlatko Dalić.
Michniewicz took over the staff of January 2022 a year after the PZPN terminated the contract with Portuguese Paulo Sousa a month earlier. He made his debut under end of March in a friendly against Scotland which ended in a 1-1 draw. Later she was 2-0 win against Sweden in the World Cup play-off match in Qatar.
june and september it is a Nations League competition. It started with a 2-1 victory over Wales, then came a cold shower in the form of a meeting in Brussels with Belgium, which ended in defeat for the Polish players. 1:6, highest in 12 years. Then it was 2:2 with the Netherlands in Rotterdam and a second loss, this time 0:1, in front of their home crowd in Warsaw against the Belgians. Already in the fall of White and Red they lost to the Netherlands 0:2 at PGE Narodowy, then in the match deciding to remain in the top division of these competitions, they beat the Welsh 1-0 in Cardiff. In the only test just before the World Cup, the Polish team won 1-0 against Chile.
Already at the world championships in Qatar, Michniewicz’s team drew in the group stage 0-0 v Mexico, beat Saudi Arabia 2-0 and lost to Argentina 0-2, but thanks to a better goal difference than Mexico, they won their first promotion to the World Cup top 16 in 36 years. In the match of the 1/8 finals, she lost to France 1:3 and ended her participation in the tournament.
Czesław Michniewicz’s work in the team cannot be unequivocally assessed. On the one hand, he fulfilled all the goals that PZPN set for him – to stay in the Nations League, qualify for the World Cup and get out of the World Cup group. On the other hand, a lot of things have developed around the national team toxic atmosphere. Many fans did not like the style presented by Michniewicz’s team. There were also image issues – conflict with journalists and bounty scandal put the 52-year-old in a very difficult position.
On December 22, PZPN announced that they would not be renewing the coach’s expiring contract. Cezary Kulesza underlined that these were issues of further staff development and a long-term plan.
– However, in order to properly assess the work of the coach, we also had to take into account other key issues, such as the long-term idea of the future functioning of the national team and the direction of its development . This is why, after numerous meetings and analyses, we have taken the difficult decision to end our cooperation. Czesław Michniewicz is an experienced trainer and I’m sure he won’t wait long for new job offers. We wish him good luck and success in his career. – said the president of the Polish Football Association.
Every year, the IFFHS portal organizes a plebiscite for the best coach in the world. In 2021, the Italian won Robert Mancini. In 2020, he triumphed Didier Deschamps. Three years ago it was Fernando Santos.
Czeslaw Michniewicz reached the last twenty. However, his chances of receiving the award are slim. He is the big favorite Lionel Scaloniwho led the Argentine national team to triumph in the World Cup after 36 years.
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