- The Poles achieved different historical results in the different disciplines of the team – football, basketball and hockey
- Many of them still break records to this day, incl. In terms of points or goals in the respective tournament
- The Italian daily Corriere della Sera wrote after the 7-0 victory over Haiti in the 1974 World Cup, “The match in Munich was a Polish symphony of twenty-two legs, one ball and eleven heads.”
- More similar stories can be found on Onet homepage
Polish basketball players started the qualifying rounds for the 2023 European Championships in Slovenia and Israel in perfect fashion, outperforming Albania in the first game with a 125:19 victory.
– We won big, but maybe everyone counted on such a result. If we hadn’t beaten Albania, we would have had no reason to participate in these qualifiers. I don’t remember such a one-sided match, perhaps when I was playing for the juniors or the apprentices. I think it was a good thing that we played against a weaker opponent in the beginning, but in reality there will only be a real test on Sunday. This match did not show where we are. Only after the meeting with Turkey will we be able to say anything, although the opponents are not as strong as they used to be – as Anisska Skoppel, the winger of the Polish national team, said after the match.
Polish basketball players defeated Albania in Gniezno
The coach of the team, Maros Kovacic, also assessed the match with a very impressive header. – I’m glad we managed to maintain the level of focus, and it’s not easy when driving with a difference of 60 or 80 points. We didn’t make many individual mistakes. However, it was difficult to practice anything today, because after one or two passes we had open throw positions. However, there were times when I got some feedback on the girls’ match, so I asked for time in the fourth quarter. Because while in this match the Albanians did not take advantage of our mistakes, in the match with the Turks such situations will lead to losing points – according to the assessment of the Polish coach.
1955: Poland – England 140:44
Polish basketball players, who could be a big surprise at the EuroBasket tournament in Hungary in 1955, can be a hit. They began the competition with four victories: with Yugoslavia, Austria, England and France. It was the third record-breaking match – to this day the highest win ever for the Polish Whites and the Reds in basketball.
In addition, the Poles set several EuroBasket records, which are still valid today: most points in a match (144), most points in the second half of a match (75) and highest win in the second half (75:13) . Władysław Pawlak scored the most points for Poland – 24.
1974: Poland – Haiti 7-0
This match is remembered by everyone who supported Piao Zeroni in the 1974 World Cup in Germany. After winning 3-2 in the opening ceremony against Argentina, Kazimierz Gorski’s team played for the first time in the World Cup – the Haitian team.
From left: Jerzy Gorgo, Jan Tomaszewski and Kazimierz Dina before the match against Haiti (June 1974)
It was supposed to be a confrontation between the two top scorers: Andrzej Szarmach and Emmanuel Sanon. The Polish remembered this match better, because he was in the net against opponents three times. Grzegorz Lato scored two goals, Kazimierz Dina and Jerzy Gorgo scored a goal each. 7-0 is the Polish national team’s highest win at a world championship or European championship.
“The match in Munich was a Polish symphony of twenty-two legs, one ball and eleven heads,” the Italian daily Corriere della Sera wrote after the match.
1993: Poland-China 21:1
Polish hockey players, although they have played in the world championships regularly since the 1930s, have not achieved much success. The best result was fourth place in 1931.
However, just over 60 years later, a match was held in Eindhoven, which remains a record match for Poland to this day. The Whites and the Reds defeated the Chinese team in a ratio of 21: 1. The hero was 25-year-old Piotr Zdunk, who scored six goals in the match, which to this day remains the record for the Polish team in this regard.
It was only Group B World Championships, but the Poles were on the verge of being promoted to Group A, where the medal issues were fixed. In controversial circumstances, they lost to Great Britain 3:4 and the British were promoted to the elite.
2005: Poland-Azerbaijan 8: 0
England are a good team too, but what the Poles showed today is something much more. During the World Cup, it will definitely go a long way – then-Azerbaijan coach, Carlos Alberto Torres, could not praise himself. It was as if he had forgotten that his team was so weak. True, the Brazilian saw such a high result on the optical board for the first time in his life. – I have played in many places, but I have never seen such a great position for the team – he added.
The formation of the Polish national team for the match against Azerbaijan (March 26, 2005)
Three of the eight goals were scored by Tomas Frankowski, who massively won promotion to the World Championships in Germany. But “Frank” did not go beyond the western borders then, but less than a year later. However, he managed to enter a man’s notebook from the British Isles for a while.
– What is the name of this man? asked Arsenal scout Bobby Bennett, referring to the former Wisla Krakow sniper.
“Frankovsky,” the guide replied.
– How old is he?
– 31.
– It’s a pity – he ended the conversation, then crossed out the name of the Polish striker from the card.
2009: Poland – San Marino 10-0
This is the highest ever win for the Polish national team in an official match. The meeting’s technical staff were silently laughing at Ebi Smallark. The Polish striker did not fully remember how many goals he scored. “I don’t know, I didn’t count,” he joked after the match. But he must have known that a lot had fallen into the net. – He took the ball from that match. We won hard because we were excited after the 2-3 loss in Belfast. Then Leo Beenhakker made a super offensive lineup – he called up Jacek Krzynovic, who played in this match as a left-back.
Polish nationals led by Leo Beenhakker (P) in the match against San Marino (April 1, 2009)
I remember that meeting well. To this day, I have a picture in my room taken on the coach’s bench. Do you know why? Because it’s rare in training games that someone wins this score. And here is the official match for the national team, for points and double numbers. Pre-match briefing? Traditionally, it was. But no strong words were spoken. They couldn’t feed them. The competitor was San Marino – admitted the former assistant of the Pinkhacker Company, Rafai Olatovsky.
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