Fans assessed the Polish team’s chances for the World Cup. Telling results of the survey

This will be the most important match of the year for the Polish national football team. It is difficult to approach the challenge facing coach Jan Urban’s team in any other way. The semi-final play-off match will be the first – hopefully of two steps – that the Polish team has to take. The opponent will be Albania, which Poland has encountered very often in the recent past.

Fans have their say in the poll! Will the Polish national team go to the World Cup?

Although it might seem that the Poles are the favorite, the Thursday (i.e. March 26) start at the PGE National Stadium in Warsaw promises to be a tough battle. The coach himself talked about it in WPROST.

– I expect a demanding rival who is very well organized. Additionally, he concedes few goals and against whom it is difficult to create favorable situations. It is not easy for Albania’s opponents to have clear opportunities to score during the matches. Albania certainly looks good in this respect. On the other hand, although they are a team that defends very well, they also do not score many goals. This focus on defensive actions often means that there are fewer arguments from the front. There is no doubt that we cannot look at our closest rival as: This is only Albania, a team that we can definitely cope with. Nothing like this! What other arguments should we use, since they recently defeated us and won the qualifying group for Euro 2024? Moreover, during the tournament in Germany they showed their best side. Yes, they lost 0:1 against Spain and 1:2 against Italy. They also drew 2-2 with Croatia. It was an incredibly demanding group. However, the Albanians showed that they can play football. There is also a lot of stability in this team in terms of composition. In addition, there is a coach who has been working in the national team since the beginning of 2023. He knows what players he has at his disposal and at what level they can play. And this work is simply visible – said the Polish coach.

Interestingly, on behalf of WPROST, the SW Research agency conducted a survey asking a question about the mood before the start of the play-offs for promotion to this year’s World Cup. The question was: Will the Polish national football team advance to the 2026 World Cup?

What is the mood in the nation? The optimistic scenario assumes 34.3 percent. asked. It just answered YES to the question. However, we decided to dig deeper, asking specifically about the two phases of the 2026 World Cup play-offs. And here we are less optimistic, 19.9%. respondents admitted that Poland would lose to Albania in Thursday’s semi-final.

In addition, 19.1 percent assumes that the Poles will win against the Albanians in Warsaw, but a few days later – in the final battle – they will not be able to win tickets to the 2026 World Cup. Let us add that the final is a competition on the opponent’s territory from the Polish perspective. Either with Ukraine (in Valencia) or with Sweden (Stockholm). The match directly to qualify for the World Cup will take place on March 31.

The research was carried out on March 25, 2026 by the SW Research agency using the method of online interviews on the SW Panel online panel. As part of the study, 811 interviews were conducted with a representative sample of Polish women and men over 18 years of age in terms of the total distribution of gender, age and size of town.

Poland – Albania. Where and when to watch the semi-final of the 2026 World Cup play-offs?

It is worth adding that coach Urban’s team has had a really good series. In the second half of 2025, since the former distinguished representative, participant of the World Cup (1986), has been leading the team, the Polish national team has not lost a match.

In September, there was a draw with the Netherlands in Rotterdam (1:1) and a victory against Finland (3:1) in Chorzów. In October, a win in a friendly match against New Zealand (1-0), a participant of the 2026 World Cup – again at the Superauto.pl Silesian Stadium – and a qualifying victory against Lithuania (2-0) in Kaunas. And the last representative window, i.e. a November draw at the PGE Narodowy with the Dutch (1:1) and a slightly tired away victory over the much lower ranked Malta (3:2).

The Poland-Albania match will be broadcast on TVP1 and TVP Sport. Additionally, you will be able to use the TVP Sport website and the station’s specially dedicated mobile application.

The first whistle of the match is at 8:45 p.m. at the PGE Narodowy in Warsaw. The match will be officiated by experienced English referee Anthony Taylor.