Santos (68 years old) took over as coach of the Polish national team last January. The decision to end his duties came after the 2-0 defeat to Albania in Tirana on September 10.
“The Polish Football Association (PZPN) informs that as of September 13, 2023, coach Fernando Santos has ceased performing his duties as technical director of the Polish national team,” the Polish Football Association (PZPN) said on X (formerly Twitter).
Heavily criticized by the media and fans for not being able to instill a fighting spirit in the Polish national team, which is in deep crisis, the Portuguese led Robert Lewandowski’s side in six matches, including a friendly match with Germany, which Poland won 1-0.
Its record in qualifying for Euro 2024 is two wins (at home to Albania and the Faroe Islands) and three defeats (to the Czech Republic, Moldova and therefore Albania), which places Poland in fourth place of Group E on six points behind Albania. (10 points), Czech Republic (8 and a postponed match), Moldova (8). It leaves him a small margin to qualify directly.
Before Poland, Fernando Santos was Greece’s coach from 2010 to 2014, and led the Lusitania squad in 109 matches since 2014 until his resignation in December 2022 following a disappointing exit at the World Cup in Qatar (exit in the quarter-finals by Morocco). He won the 2016 European Nations Championship and the 2019 European Nations League at the helm of the Portugal national team. He made way for the Spanish Roberto Martinez, the former coach of the Red Devils.
