Franciszek Smuda (; born 22 June 1948) is a Polish

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Co ...

and former footballer who also holds a German passport. As a player, he spent his career playing for clubs in Poland, the United States and Germany. In 1983, he turned to coaching, becoming the manager of

Widzew Łódź RTS Widzew Łódź () is a Polish football club based in Łódź. The club was founded in 1910. Its official colours are red and white, hence their nicknames ''Czerwona Armia'' (Red Army) and ''Czerwono-biało-czerwoni'' (Red-white-reds). History ...

Wisła Kraków Towarzystwo Sportowe Wisła Kraków Spółka Akcyjna, commonly referred to as Wisła Kraków (), is a Polish professional football club based in Kraków. It currently competes in the I liga, the second level of Polish football league system. It ...

Legia Warsaw Legia Warszawa (), commonly referred to as Legia Warsaw or simply Legia, is a professional football club based in Warsaw, Poland. Legia is the most successful Polish football club in history, winning record 15 Ekstraklasa champions titles, a ...

and

Lech Poznań Kolejowy Klub Sportowy Lech Poznań S.A., commonly referred to as KKS Lech Poznań or simply Lech Poznań (), is a Polish professional association football, football club based in Poznań and currently competing in the Ekstraklasa, the nation' ...

, among others. He has won three Polish league titles. Since 2009 he was the manager of the Poland national team, but resigned on 16 June 2012, following their elimination from Euro 2012.

Early life

Smuda was born in

Lubomia Lubomia is a village and the seat of Gmina Lubomia, Wodzisław County, Silesian Voivodeship, southern Poland near the Czech border. It has a population of about 3,600. It lies approximately west of Wodzisław Śląski and south-west of the reg ...

, Wodzisław County, Poland, as a son of Gerard, a railway worker, and Marta.

Playing career

As a player, Smuda played as a defender. He began his career at Unia Racibórz and later played for

Odra Wodzisław Śląski Odra Wodzisław Śląski Spółka z o.o. (), is a Polish football club based in Wodzisław Śląski, Poland. History The club was established in 1922 as Odra Wodzisław, then changed its name several times. After the Second World War and until ...

. He got his debut in the Ekstraklasa playing for Stal Mielec during the 1970–71 season. He also played for

Piast Gliwice Gliwicki Klub Sportowy Piast Gliwice () is a Polish football club based in Gliwice. In the 2018–19 season, Piast won its first Polish championship. As of 2022–23, it competes in the Ekstraklasa, Poland's top division. History The club wa ...

, followed by a short spell at Vistula Garfield in the USA. He also participated in the NASL Hartford Bi-Centennials. In 1975 Smuda returned to Poland to play for

. In 1978, he returned to the USA again to play for three other NASL clubs. He finished his career as a player in Germany then shortly after becoming a manager.

Coaching career

Smuda began his coaching career successfully in the lower leagues in Germany. During the late 1980s, he was appointed as a manager in Turkey. He coached Altay Izmir and Konyaspor for a total of four years. In 1993, Smuda returned to Poland to help save Stal Mielec from relegation. During the seasons in Mielec, he managed to maintain the team in the Ekstraklasa.

Widzew Łódź

In May 1995, Smuda was appointed as the manager of

and finished in second place behind Legia Warsaw in the 1994–95 season. The following season, Smuda managed not losing a single game in the league. The 1995–96 season was another successful one with Widzew's Marek Koniarek scoring the most goals in the league at 29. Widzew qualified for the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

competition for the 1996–97 season. Smuda managed the team to eliminate the Danish champions,

Brøndby IF Brøndbyernes Idrætsforening (, usually abbreviated to Brøndby IF (), is a professional association football club based in Brøndbyvester, Capital Region of Denmark. The club was founded in 1964 as a merger between two local clubs and was p ...

and advanced to the Group Stage. Widzew were drawn into a group containing

Atlético Madrid Club Atlético de Madrid, Sociedad Anónima Deportiva, S.A.D. (; meaning "Athletic Club of Madrid"), known simply as Atleti in the Spanish-speaking world and commonly referred to at international level as Atlético Madrid, is a Spanish profess ...

Borussia Dortmund Ballspielverein Borussia 09 e. V. Dortmund, commonly known as Borussia Dortmund (), BVB (), or simply Dortmund (), is a German professional sports club based in Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is best known for its men's professional footb ...

and Steaua Bucharest. Widzew finished the group in third place. The team from Łódź were able to repeat their feat of winning the Ekstraklasa again. The next season was not as promising as Widzew's management sold some of their key players and were eliminated in the qualifying phases of the Champions League. Widzew finished in 4th place that year and were unable to qualify for any European competitions. Shortly thereafter, Smuda moved to Wisła Kraków where he had much success.

Wisła Kraków

Smuda was appointed as the manager of

after the 1997–98 season. His goal was to build a team that would be not only be successful in Poland but also in European cups. Smuda won the Polish League the following season, however, Wisła was ejected from European tournaments due to a fan throwing a knife at

Dino Baggio Dino Baggio (born 24 July 1971) is an Italian former professional footballer who played as a defensive midfielder. Throughout his career, he played for several Italian clubs, and won the UEFA Cup three times, twice with Parma and once with Juven ...

during a UEFA Cup match against Parma F.C. In September 1999, Smuda was dismissed as manager of Wisła after team's first defeat in the 1997–98 season.

Legia Warsaw

After leaving Wisła in September 1999, Smuda was hired as manager of Legia Warsaw replacing

Dariusz Kubicki Dariusz Jan Kubicki (born 6 June 1963) is a Polish football manager and a former player. Playing career He played for a few clubs, including Stal Mielec, Legia Warsaw, he then went to England and played for Aston Villa, Sunderland, Wolverha ...

. However, he did not win any trophies, nor qualify for any European competitions. After a 4–0 defeat by

Zagłębie Lubin Zagłębie Lubin S.A. () is a Polish professional football club based in Lubin. Founded in 1945 as ''OMTUR Lubin'', the club competes in the Ekstraklasa. History The football team was founded in 1945 as OMTUR Lubin by local members of the ''Yo ...

in March 2001, Smuda was sacked.

Return to Wisła Kraków

In June 2001, Smuda was re-hired as a coach of Ekstraklasa champions

. He failed to defeat

FC Barcelona Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly referred to as Barcelona and colloquially known as Barça (), is a professional football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of Spanish football. Founded ...

in the third qualifying round of the

. After losing two league matches to Polonia Warsaw and

in March 2002, he was replaced by Henryk Kasperczak.

Other clubs (2002–2004)

Subsequently, Smuda managed

Piotrcovia Piotrków Trybunalski Piotrcovia Piotrków Trybunalski is a women's Polish handball team, based in Piotrków Trybunalski. Current squad :''Squad for the 2018–19 season'' ;Goalkeepers *1 Natalia Kolasińska * 16 Daria Opelt * 69 Karolina Sarnecka ;Winge ...

as well as the Cypriot team Omonia.

Odra Wodzisław

Since 2004 he has been coaching Odra Wodzisław, it was a return to his homeland. Smuda successfully helped the side stave off relegation. A year later he finished third in the league with

earning a spot in the

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store Solid, solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, porcela ...

for the 2006–07 season.

Lech Poznań

In May 2006, Smuda was hired as the manager of

following the club's merger with Amica Wronki. He led the club to a sixth-place finish in the 2006–07 season and fourth the following season. He also qualified for

2008–09 UEFA Cup The 2008–09 UEFA Cup was the 38th season of the UEFA Cup football tournament. The final was played at the Şükrü Saracoğlu Stadium, home ground of Fenerbahçe, in Istanbul on 20 May 2009. This season was the final one to use the UEFA Cup for ...

Round of 32 with

. In

2008–09 Ekstraklasa The 2008–09 Ekstraklasa was the seventy-fifth season of top-tier football in Poland. It began on 8 August 2008 and ended on 30 May 2009. The season was originally scheduled to start on 25 July 2008. However, the first two rounds of games were po ...

season, Lech Poznań managed to reach the top of the league table by the winter break, but a series of draws during the spring round resulted in a third-place finish at the end of the season. His contract with the club was not extended.

Zagłębie Lubin

After several seasons with Lech Poznań, he returned to

in September 2009.

Poland national team

On 29 October 2009, Smuda was chosen as the new manager of the Poland national team. After a disappointing

UEFA Euro 2012 The 2012 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2012 or simply Euro 2012, was the 14th European Championship for men's national football teams organised by UEFA. The final tournament, held between 8 June and 1 ...

tournament in which the

Poland national football team The Poland national football team ( pl, Reprezentacja Polski w piłce nożnej) has represented Poland in men's international tournaments football competitions since their first match in 1921. The team is controlled by the Polish Football Associ ...

finished last in their group below

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

, Franciszek Smuda left his post as manager directly after the final defeat of the campaign.

Personal life

Smuda is married to Małgorzata.

Honours

Managerial

Widzew Łódź * Ekstraklasa: 1995–96, 1996–97 *

Polish Super Cup The Polish Super Cup (, ) is an annually held match between the champions of the Ekstraklasa and the Polish Cup winners or, if the Ekstraklasa champions also win the Polish Cup, the Cup's runners-up. As of 2021, the Polish Super Cup has been pl ...

: 1996 * Ekstraklasa runner-up: 1994–95 Wisła Kraków * Ekstraklasa: 1998–99 *

: 2001 Zagłębie Lubin * Ekstraklasa bronze medal: 2005–06 * Polish Cup runner-up: 2005–06 Lech Poznań * Polish Cup: 2008–09 * Ekstraklasa bronze medal: 2008–09

References

External links

NASL stats

Franciszek Smuda
at mackolik.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Smuda, Franciszek 1948 births Living people People from Wodzisław County Sportspeople from Silesian Voivodeship Polish footballers Association football defenders Odra Wodzisław Śląski players Ruch Chorzów players Stal Mielec players Piast Gliwice players Garfield Vistula players Connecticut Bicentennials players Legia Warsaw players Los Angeles Aztecs players Oakland Stompers players San Jose Earthquakes (1974–1988) players SpVgg Greuther Fürth players North American Soccer League (1968–1984) players Polish expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Germany Expatriate soccer players in the United States Polish expatriate sportspeople in Germany Polish expatriate sportspeople in the United States Polish football managers Altay S.K. managers Konyaspor managers Stal Mielec managers Widzew Łódź managers Wisła Kraków managers Legia Warsaw managers AC Omonia managers Odra Wodzisław Śląski managers Zagłębie Lubin managers Lech Poznań managers SSV Jahn Regensburg managers Górnik Łęczna managers Poland national football team managers UEFA Euro 2012 managers Ekstraklasa managers I liga managers II liga managers Süper Lig managers 2. Bundesliga managers Polish expatriate football managers Expatriate football managers in Cyprus Expatriate football managers in Germany Expatriate football managers in Turkey