Sixth Lech player at World Cup

Of course, the statistic is referring to players who, when received a call-up for the tournament, were representing the Polish club. The first footballer to represent both Poland and Lech, and travel to a World Cup, is Roman Jakóbczak who received a surprising call-up in 1974 for the competition which was taking place in the Federal Republic of Germany. The Poles won a bronze medal, however, Jakóbczak didn’t appear on the pitch, which was unsurprising considering that the player had only played for the Polish National Team once before.

The two following Lech Poznań players who received a call-up for the World Cup – Mirosław Justek in 1978 (Argentina) and Piotr Mowlik in 1982 (Spain) – also didn’t make an appearance on the pitch. However, the latter came home with a bronze medal after his teammates beat France 3:2. It wasn’t until 1986 that a Lech representative got minutes during a World Cup. Krzysztof Pawlak was called up by coach Antoni Piechniczek for the tournament in Mexico. The player regularly made appearances for the national team and also got an opportunity to perform during the World Cup in two group phase games – against Portugal (1:0) and England (0:3). The Poles went through to the round of 8 but they were eliminated by Brazil (0:4).

Lech Poznań fans had to wait for another 20 years, that is until the year 2006, for their player to score during the World Cup. During that tournament, Bartosz Bosacki received a last-minute call-up after one of his teammates was ruled out due to an injury. In the third group phase game, against Costa Rica (2:1), Bosacki beat the keeper twice following corner kicks. The red-and-white team also appeared on the 2018 World Cup in Russia, but their squad didn’t include any Lech Poznań players. Fast forward to 2022 and Michał Skóraś will represent the club from Greater Poland during the prestigious tournament. We will keep our fingers crossed for the winger!

Skóraś can also be classified as a Lech Poznań homegrown player. A total of 7 former or current Lech players have traveled to Qatar to represent Poland. Of course, Robert Lewandowski is the best-known one – the current FC Barcelona player left Lech back in 2010. During his time in Poznań, he won the Polish Cup, Polish Super Cup, the Polish Championship title, and an award for the top goal scorer. Jan Bednarek, Robert Gumny, Jakub Kamiński, Bartosz Bereszyński, and Krystian Bielik are also Lech’s homegrown players, and they were called up for the tournament in Qatar.