Adam Nawałka
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Adam Nawałka (; born 23 October 1957) is a retired
Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken *Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin screenwr ...
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 ...
player and former manager of
Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...
.


Player career


Club

Nawałka comes from a footballing family. His father, Adam, played for the local team Orlęta (Eaglets) Rudawa. Nawałka began his career in 1969 with
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 ...
. His debut in Polish top-tier league was on 21 May 1975. He played 190 matches in the highest class of Polish association football, scoring 9 goals. In 1985, he left Wisła to join the
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
club, Polish-American Eagles. He played most of his career for ''The White Star''. He started having recurrent injuries in the fall of 1978, and despite repeated surgeries, he had to retire from professional soccer in 1984. In 1985, he
emigrated Emigration is the act of leaving a resident country or place of residence with the intent to settle elsewhere (to permanently leave a country). Conversely, immigration describes the movement of people into one country from another (to permanentl ...
to the United States where he played semi-pro soccer at the Polish-American Eagles as well as performing manual labor jobs (like trimming trees around high-voltage power lines). In 1990, he returned to Poland and started selling
Trabant Trabant () is a series of small cars produced from 1957 until 1991 by former East German car manufacturer VEB Sachsenring Automobilwerke Zwickau. In total, four different models were made, the Trabant 500, Trabant 600, Trabant 601, and the Tra ...
(
East German East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...
) cars with
Volkswagen Volkswagen (),English: , . abbreviated as VW (), is a German Automotive industry, motor vehicle manufacturer headquartered in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, Germany. Founded in 1937 by the German Labour Front under the Nazi Party and revived into a ...
engines until he received his coaching qualifications in 1995.


National team

He played for the Poland national team (34 matches) and was a participant at the
1978 FIFA World Cup The 1978 FIFA World Cup was the 11th edition of the FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial international football world championship tournament among the men's senior national teams. It was held in Argentina between 1 and 25 June. The Cup was won by t ...
. At the age of 19, he played 90 minutes of every game (except 1) that the Polish team played. In the fall of 1978, Nawalka started having recurrent injuries that shortly eliminated him from the national team and shortened his playing career.


Managerial career

After receiving his coaching qualifications he coached the Polish III-rd league team Swit Krzeszowice, after which he held numerous positions at his home club of Wisla Kraków, including head of scouting and sports director, as well as being interim head coach a few times. He went on to manage GKS Katowice and later Górnik Zabrze. He was an assistant coach of the Poland national team and the understudy to
Leo Beenhakker Leo Beenhakker CM (; born 2 August 1942) is a Dutch international football coach. He has had an extensive and successful career both at club and international level. He led both Ajax and Feyenoord to Dutch championships and also had domestic s ...
in 2007 and 2008. On 26 October 2013, the Polish FA president
Zbigniew Boniek Zbigniew Boniek (; born 3 March 1956) is a Polish former footballer and manager as well as current UEFA vice-president. A former midfielder, who was also capable of playing mostly as a right winger and second striker, he is considered one of the ...
, announced that Nawałka would replace
Waldemar Fornalik Waldemar Fornalik (born 11 April 1963 in Myślenice) is a Polish football manager who is currently in charge of Ekstraklasa club Zagłębie Lubin. A former player, he spent his entire playing career with Ruch Chorzów. He currently serves as t ...
as the new manager of the Poland national team. At the time of the appointment, his side
Górnik Zabrze Górnik Zabrze Spółka Akcyjna, commonly referred to as Górnik Zabrze S.A. or simply Górnik Zabrze (), is a Polish football club from Zabrze. Górnik is one of the most successful Polish football clubs in history, winning the second-most Poli ...
was riding the Polish League. He remained with Zabrze until 1 November, and focused on the national team after the game against
Cracovia Cracovia is the Latin name for the Polish city of Kraków Kraków (), or Cracow, is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city dates back to the seventh cen ...
. On 11 October 2014, he recorded an upset by defeating
Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
with 2–0 in their
home A home, or domicile, is a space used as a permanent or semi-permanent residence for one or many humans, and sometimes various companion animals. It is a fully or semi sheltered space and can have both interior and exterior aspects to it. H ...
Euro 2016 qualifier. He became the first Polish manager to successfully guided Poland into the UEFA European Championship, and also took Poland to their first Euro quarterfinals, which contributed to Poland's historic success in their football history since the fall of communist rule. He was allowed to remain in charge of Poland during the 2018 World Cup qualifying campaign, and Poland performed extremely well, winning eight, drawing one and losing only one match, helping the Poles top the group and qualify automatically for the Russia
2018 FIFA World Cup The 2018 FIFA World Cup was the 21st FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's national Association football, football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Russia from 14 June to 15 July 2018, after the country was awa ...
. However, like in the 2002 and 2006 editions of the World Cup, Nawałka's Poland finished bottom of Group H losing consecutive games against
Senegal Senegal,; Wolof: ''Senegaal''; Pulaar: 𞤅𞤫𞤲𞤫𞤺𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤭 (Senegaali); Arabic: السنغال ''As-Sinighal'') officially the Republic of Senegal,; Wolof: ''Réewum Senegaal''; Pulaar : 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣𞤭 ðž ...
and
Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...
. With their exit from the tournament sealed after the opening two games, Poland rounded off the group with a 1-0 victory over
Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
, thus leaving the tournament with just one win. Shortly after the tournament, Nawałka resigned from his role.


Managerial statistics


Honours


Player

;Wisła Kraków *
Ekstraklasa Poland Ekstraklasa (), meaning "Extra Class" in Polish, named PKO Ekstraklasa since the 2019–20 season due to its sponsorship by PKO Bank Polski, is the top Polish professional league for men's association football teams. Contested by 18 cl ...
: 1977–78


Manager

;Wisła Kraków *Ekstraklasa: 2000–01 *League Cup: 2000–01


References


External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Nawalka, Adam 1957 births Living people Men's association football midfielders Polish men's footballers Polish expatriate men's footballers Poland men's international footballers Polish football managers 1978 FIFA World Cup players Wisła Kraków players Footballers from Kraków Ekstraklasa players Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States Polish expatriate sportspeople in the United States Wisła Kraków managers Zagłębie Lubin managers Jagiellonia Białystok managers Sandecja Nowy Sącz managers Górnik Zabrze managers GKS Katowice managers Poland national football team managers Lech Poznań managers UEFA Euro 2016 managers 2018 FIFA World Cup managers