Adam Nawałka (; born 23 October 1957) is a Polish professional

football manager ''Football Manager'', also known as ''Worldwide Soccer Manager'' in North America from 2004 to 2008, is a series of football management simulation video games developed by British developer Sports Interactive and published by Sega. The game beg ...

and former

player Player may refer to: Role or adjective * Player (game), a participant in a game or sport ** Gamer, a player in video and tabletop games ** Athlete, a player in sports ** Player character, a character in a video game or role playing game who i ...

. From 2013 to 2018, he was the head coach of the Poland national team.

Player career

Club

Nawałka comes from a footballing family. His father, Adam, played for the local team Orlęta Rudawa. Nawałka began his career in 1969 with Wisła Kraków, and made his top-tier debut on 21 May 1975. He played 190 matches in the highest class of Polish association football, scoring 9 goals. 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 to the United States where he played semi-professional soccer with Polish-American Eagles, alongside performing manual labor jobs (like trimming trees around high-voltage power lines). In 1990, he returned to Poland and started selling

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cars with

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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 Anniversary#Latin-derived numerical names, quadrennial international Association football, football world championship tournament among the men's senior national teams. It wa ...

. At the age of 20, he played 90 minutes of every game (except one) 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.

International goals

:''Scores and results list Poland's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Nawałka goal''.

Managerial career

After receiving his coaching qualifications he coached the Polish third-tier team Świt Krzeszowice, after which he held numerous positions at his home club of Wisła Kraków, including head of scouting and sporting director, as well as being interim head coach a few times. He went on to manage GKS Katowice and later

Górnik Zabrze Górnik Zabrze Spółka Akcyjna, commonly referred to as Górnik Zabrze S.A. or simply Górnik Zabrze (), is a Polish association football, football club from Zabrze. Górnik is one of the most successful Polish football clubs in history, winning ...

. He was an assistant coach of the Poland national team and the understudy to Leo Beenhakker in 2007 and 2008. On 26 October 2013, the Polish FA president Zbigniew Boniek, announced that Nawałka would replace Waldemar Fornalik as the new manager of the Poland national team. At the time of the appointment, his side

was leading the league table. He remained in Zabrze until 1 November, and focused on the national team after the game against Cracovia. 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 lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

2–0 in their

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Euro 2016 qualifier. He became the first Polish manager to successfully guide 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. During the 2018 World Cup qualifying campaign, Poland performed extremely well, winning eight, drawing one and losing only one match, helping the Poles top the group and qualify automatically for the

2018 FIFA World Cup The 2018 FIFA World Cup was the 21st FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for national association football, football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Russia from 14 June to 15 July 2018, after the country was awarded t ...

. However, much like in the 2002 and 2006 editions of the World Cup, Nawałka's Poland finished bottom of Group H after losing consecutive games against

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and

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. 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 is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

, thus leaving the tournament with just one win. Shortly after the tournament, Nawałka resigned from his role.

Managerial statistics

Honours

Player

Wisła Kraków *

Ekstraklasa (; meaning "Extra Class" in Polish), officially known as PKO Bank Polski Ekstraklasa due to its Sponsor (commercial), sponsorship by PKO Bank Polski, is a professional association football league in Poland and the highest level of the Polish foo ...

: 1977–78 Individual * Polish Newcomer of the Year: 1977

Manager

;Wisła Kraków * Ekstraklasa: 2000–01 * Polish League Cup: 2000–01 Individual * Polish Coach of the Year: 2015, 2016, 2017 *

Coach of the Month: September 2012, October 2012 * ''Piłka Nożna'' Man of the Year: 2014

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 Ekstraklasa managers I liga managers UEFA Euro 2016 managers 2018 FIFA World Cup managers 20th-century Polish sportsmen