Is this the new captain of the Polish national team? Important words were said referring to “Lewy”

It is worth recalling that during the November (2025) draw of the UEFA play-off zone, Poland was placed in the second “four” among the drawn teams. The quartet consists of two semi-finals: Ukraine (from pot 1) – Sweden (4) and Poland (2) – Albania (3).

The Poles will play the semi-final of the play-offs against the Albanians at home, on Thursday, March 26 (8:45 p.m.), at the PGE Narodowy in Warsaw.

The final is a competition on the opponent’s territory, either against Ukraine (in Valencia) or against Sweden (Stockholm). The match directly to qualify for the World Cup will take place on March 31.

Jakub Kamiński about his favorite club. Is this the future captain of the Polish national team?

An important figure in the national team’s offensive, also under the direction of coach Jan Urban, is Jakub Kamiński. The footballer, who has been playing on German pitches since 2022, admitted in an interview with Channel Sportowy which club he would like to play for in the future. Currently, he defends the colors of FC Köln.

– Barcelona has always been in my heart. In Germany, however, Borussia Dortmund – admitted Kamiński.

The Polish footballer is achieving his goals step by step, although it must be admitted that he is currently playing his best season on German pitches. The move to Cologne benefited Kamiński, although the representative is (for now) on loan from VfL Wolfsburg.

Consistency on German pitches, and then in European cups, brought Robert Lewandowski a transfer to the Spanish league. Certainly, Polish fans would not mind another Pole in the ranks of FC Barcelona (remembering Wojciech Szczęsny) in the future.

Kamiński has been aiming high for a long time. The representative did not hide the fact that he would like to become the captain of the Polish national team one day. Will this be a natural successor for Lewandowski – or those in line for this role – Piotr Zieliński or Jan Bednarek? This cannot be ruled out.

– I think I have leadership qualities and leadership qualities. I will want to show them (…) For many years I have been following the example of Kuba Błaszczykowski, who was the captain for a long time, so the armband is also my dream. I think that it is every boy’s dream to not only play in the Polish national team, but also wear the captain’s armband. It’s obviously too early for that, but I believe that in the future I will run for captain of the national team. I will not hide the fact that this is my goal – said “Kamyk” with conviction in August 2023 in an interview with Onet and “Przegląd Sportowy”.

World Cup 2026: Poland is a play-off specialist. A good series for the Urban team

In recent years, Polish football players have become specialists in winning tickets to large tournaments, competing through the so-called a second, play-off chance. This series started with the previous World Cup that was played in Qatar (2022).

After excluding the Russians from the competition, who were the Polish team’s opponents, due to their brutal attack on Ukraine, Poland immediately played in the final against the Swedes. In Chorzów, after goals by Robert Lewandowski and Piotr Zieliński, the team won a relatively certain 2-0. It was also a great success for the then coach Czesław Michniewicz. The Pole was brought in in an emergency after a stormy breakup between the Polish Football Association and the Portuguese Paulo Sousa.

Two years later, a similar story happened to the team led by Michał Probierz. Paradoxically, at that time the Pole was “cleaning up” after the Portuguese, when Fernando Santos had a disastrous term in Poland. Touchstone managed to lead the team to the Euro 2024 play-off zone. However, the Poles had to overcome two obstacles. It started with a high victory at the PGE Narodowy against Estonia (5:1) in the semi-final. In the play-off final, Poland defeated Wales in Cardiff after a series of penalties (0-0 in regular time and overtime). The hero of the match was goalkeeper Wojciech Szczęsny, who saved the decisive penalty in favor of the Poles.

For the third time in a row, Poles will enter the play-offs at the end of March this year. This time, coach Jan Urban took over the team during the qualifying rounds after Probierz’s unsuccessful campaign.

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).