Jerzy Józef Brzęczek (; born 18 March 1971) 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 ...

. In a professional career which spanned nearly 20 years and brought 42

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Java ...

with the Poland national team, Brzęczek played for clubs in Poland,

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

and

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

. From 2018 to 2021, he was the head coach for the Poland national team.

Club career

During his career, Brzęczek played for Raków Częstochowa, Olimpia Poznań,

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

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 ...

(two spells),

GKS Katowice GKS Katowice (; GKS stands for , ) is a Polish professional football club based in Katowice. They currently compete in the Ekstraklasa in the 2024–25 season after gaining promotion from the I liga in 2024. History In 1963 in Katowice a spe ...

, Tirol Innsbruck (later Wacker Tirol),

LASK Linz Linzer Athletik-Sport-Klub, commonly known as LASK (), or Linzer ASK, is an Austrian professional football club based in Upper-Austrian state capital Linz. It is the oldest football club in that region, and plays in the Austrian Football Bundes ...

, Maccabi Haifa, Sturm Graz,

FC Kärnten FC Kärnten was an Football in Austria, Austrian association football club based in Klagenfurt, Carinthia (state), Carinthia. It was founded in 1920 under the name of KSK Klagenfurt. History Austria Klagenfurt Austria Klagenfurt played success ...

and Polonia Bytom, retiring in 2009 at age 38. Brzęczek picked up championship medals in both

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

(with Lech Poznań in 1993) and

(with Tirol Innsbruck in 2001 and 2002).

International career

With 42 caps for the Poland national team to his credit, Brzęczek also represented the national team at the

1992 Summer Olympics The 1992 Summer Olympics (, ), officially the Games of the XXV Olympiad (, ) and officially branded as Barcelona '92, were an international multi-sport event held from 25 July to 9 August 1992 in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. Beginning in 1994 ...

, winning silver.

Career statistics

International

International goals

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

Coaching career

Clubs

On 17 November 2014, he became the coach of

Lechia Gdańsk Lechia Gdańsk () is a Polish football (soccer), football club based in Gdańsk. As of the 2025–26 Ekstraklasa, 2025–26 season, they compete in the Ekstraklasa. The club was founded in 1945 by people Polish population transfers (1944–1946 ...

, and he was sacked on 1 September 2015. Then, from the end of September 2015, he was a manager for

. On 20 May 2017, after losing a game against MKS Kluczbork and losing the chances of promotion to the

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 ...

, he resigned. On 11 July 2017, he became the coach of Wisła Płock.

Poland

On 12 July 2018, he was announced as the new head coach of the Poland national team. His tenure didn't start off well, with Poland getting relegated from the 2018–19 UEFA Nations League A, following two losses and two draws. Poland's

UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying The UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying tournament was a football competition that was played from March 2019 to November 2020 to determine the 24 UEFA member men's national teams that advanced to the UEFA Euro 2020 final tournament, intended to be playe ...

was more impressive, with the team managing to win four opening matches without conceding a goal. However, after a 2–0 away defeat to

Slovenia Slovenia, officially the Republic of Slovenia, is a country in Central Europe. It borders Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the south and southeast, and a short (46.6 km) coastline within the Adriati ...

and a home draw to

, Brzęczek faced heavy pressure from the fans calling for his dismissal. Despite this, he managed to keep the team on track with two final wins over

Latvia Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east and Belarus to t ...

and

North Macedonia North Macedonia, officially the Republic of North Macedonia, is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe. It shares land borders with Greece to the south, Albania to the west, Bulgaria to the east, Kosovo to the northwest and Serbia to the n ...

, eventually qualifying for the

UEFA Euro 2020 The 2020 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2020 or simply Euro 2020, was the 16th UEFA European Championship, the Anniversary#Latin-derived numerical names, quadrennial international men's association footb ...

from the top spot in their group. Brzęczek was sacked on 18 January 2021, five months before Poland's first match at the UEFA Euro 2020 and succeeded by the Portugal's Paulo Sousa.

Wisła Kraków

On 14 February 2022, Brzęczek was appointed head coach of

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

, replacing Adrián Guľa. Achieving only one win in 13 league games, he was not able to save Wisła from relegation to

I liga I liga (, ), currently named Betclic I liga due to its sponsorship by Betclic, is the men's second professional association football division of the Polish football league system, below the Ekstraklasa and above the II liga via promotion/rel ...

, their first since they returned to the top division in 1996. With five wins and two draws in 12 games at the start of Wisła's 2022–23 league campaign, Brzęczek left the club.

Personal life

Brzęczek's nephew is a footballer, winger

Jakub Błaszczykowski Jakub "Kuba" Błaszczykowski (; born 14 December 1985) is a Polish businessman and former professional Association football, footballer who played as a winger (association football), winger. He is a part owner of Polish football club Wisła Krak� ...

, who has most notably represented

Borussia Dortmund Ballspielverein Borussia 09 e. V. Dortmund, often known simply as Borussia Dortmund () or by its initialism BVB (), or just Dortmund by International fans, is a German professional sports club based in Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is ...

and

VfL Wolfsburg Verein für Leibesübungen Wolfsburg e. V., commonly known as VfL Wolfsburg (), is a German professional sports club based in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony. The club grew out of a multi-sports club for Volkswagen workers in the city of Wolfsburg. I ...

. His sister, Błaszczykowski's mother, was murdered by her husband which caused family separation.

Managerial statistics

Honours

Player

Lech Poznań *

: 1992–93 Tirol Innsbruck *

Austrian Bundesliga The Bundesliga ( , "Federal League"), also known as Admiral Bundesliga for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Austria and the highest level of the Austrian football league system. The competition decides the A ...

: 2000–01, 2001–02 Poland Olympic * Olympic silver medal:

1992 1992 was designated as International Space Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 – Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt replaces Javier Pérez de Cuéllar of Peru as United Nations Secretary-General. * January 6 ** The Republ ...

Manager

Individual *

Coach of the Month: September 2017, December 2017, April 2018

Notes

References

External links

Maccabi Haifa profile and short bio
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Brzeczek, Jerzy 1971 births Living people People from Kłobuck County Footballers from Silesian Voivodeship Men's association football midfielders Polish men's footballers Poland men's international footballers Olympic footballers for Poland Footballers at the 1992 Summer Olympics Olympic silver medalists for Poland Olympic medalists in football Medalists at the 1992 Summer Olympics Ekstraklasa players Austrian Football Bundesliga players Israeli Premier League players Raków Częstochowa players Olimpia Poznań players Lech Poznań players Górnik Zabrze players GKS Katowice players FC Tirol Innsbruck players LASK players Maccabi Haifa F.C. players SK Sturm Graz players FC Kärnten players FC Wacker Innsbruck (2002) players Polonia Bytom players Polish expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Israel Polish expatriate sportspeople in Israel Expatriate men's footballers in Austria Polish expatriate sportspeople in Austria Polish football managers Lechia Gdańsk managers GKS Katowice managers Raków Częstochowa managers Wisła Płock managers Poland national football team managers Wisła Kraków managers Ekstraklasa managers I liga managers 20th-century Polish sportsmen