Karol Nawrocki revealed what happened with the Poland-Albania match. Will there be controversy?

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.

Karol Nawrocki about the Poland-Albania match. An important decision has been made

In recent days, we have informed about an unusual situation in the stands, including: PKO BP Ekstraklasa. The President of Poland was on the fans’ lips, although not in a positive way – which is a definite change in the mood in the stands. There were also banners, some more and less vulgar.

Despite the more difficult moment of relations between Nawrocki and football fans – at least based on the previously given examples – the Polish president will appear in the stands of PGE Narodowy. The news on this matter was reported by Radio ZET journalist Mateusz Ligęza on the X portal.

The unanswered question remains whether in the case of the Polish national team’s match – without organized doping – any controversial banners will be displayed or slogans against Nawrocki will be heard.

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).