Jerzy Brzęczek

Jerzy Brzęczek

Brzęczek in 2015
Personal information
Full name	Jerzy Józef Brzęczek
Date of birth	(1971-03-18) 18 March 1971 (age 53)
Place of birth	Truskolasy, Poland
Height	1.74 m (5 ft 9 in)
Position(s)	Midfielder
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1987–1988	Raków Częstochowa
1988–1992	Olimpia Poznań	108	(8)
1992–1993	Lech Poznań	29	(3)
1993–1994	Górnik Zabrze	46	(6)
1994–1995	GKS Katowice	15	(3)
1995–1998	Tirol Innsbruck	85	(11)
1998–1999	LASK	33	(2)
1999–2000	Maccabi Haifa	47	(11)
2000–2002	Tirol Innsbruck	62	(7)
2002–2003	Sturm Graz	35	(2)
2003–2004	FC Kärnten	13	(0)
2004–2007	Wacker Tirol	79	(8)
2007–2008	Górnik Zabrze	42	(5)
2008–2009	Polonia Bytom	9	(0)
Total		602	(66)
International career
	Poland Olympic
1992–1999	Poland	42	(4)
Managerial career
2010–2014	Raków Częstochowa
2014–2015	Lechia Gdańsk
2015–2017	GKS Katowice
2017–2018	Wisła Płock
2018–2021	Poland
2022	Wisła Kraków
Medal record Representing  Poland Men's football Olympic Games 1992 Barcelona Team
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Jerzy Józef Brzęczek (Polish pronunciation: [ˈjɛʐɨ ˈjuzɛv ˈbʐɛnt͡ʂɛk];^[A] born 18 March 1971) is a Polish professional football manager and former player.

In a professional career which spanned nearly 20 years and brought 42 caps with the Poland national team, Brzęczek played for clubs in Poland, Austria and Israel. From 2018 to 2021, he was the head coach for the Poland national team.

Club career

During his career, Brzęczek played for Raków Częstochowa, Olimpia Poznań, Lech Poznań, Górnik Zabrze (two spells), GKS Katowice, Tirol Innsbruck (later Wacker Tirol), LASK Linz, Maccabi Haifa, Sturm Graz, FC Kärnten and Polonia Bytom, retiring in 2009 at age 38. Brzęczek picked up championship medals in both Poland (with Lech Poznań in 1993) and Austria (with Tirol Innsbruck in 2001 and 2002).

International career

With 42 caps for the Poland national team to his credit, Brzęczek also represented the national team at the 1992 Summer Olympics, winning silver.

Career statistics

International

Appearances and goals by national team and year

National team	Year	Apps	Goals
Poland	1992	7	0
	1993	11	1
	1994	5	1
	1995	0	0
	1996	2	0
	1997	4	0
	1998	7	1
	1999	6	1
Total		42	4

International goals

Scores and results list Poland's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Brzęczek goal.

List of international goals scored by Jerzy Brzęczek

No.	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	17 March 1993	Ribeirão Preto, Brazil	Brazil	1–0	2–2	Friendly
2	17 May 1994	Katowice, Poland	Austria	2–2	3–4	Friendly
3	10 October 1998	Warsaw, Poland	Luxembourg	1–0	3–0	UEFA Euro 2000 qualifying
4	27 March 1999	London, England	England	1–2	1–3	UEFA Euro 2000 qualifying

Coaching career

Clubs

On 17 November 2014, he became the coach of Lechia Gdańsk, and he was sacked on 1 September 2015. Then, from the end of September 2015, he was a manager for GKS Katowice. On 20 May 2017, after losing a game against MKS Kluczbork and losing the chances of promotion to the Ekstraklasa, he resigned.^[1] On 11 July 2017, he became the coach of Wisła Płock.^[2]

Poland

On 12 July 2018, he was announced as the new head coach of the Poland national team.^[3]

His tenure didn't start off well, with Poland getting relegated from the 2018–19 UEFA Nations League A, following two losses and two draws. Poland's UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying was more impressive, with the team managing to win four opening matches without conceding a goal. However, after a 2–0 away defeat to Slovenia and a home draw to Austria, Brzęczek faced heavy pressure from the fans calling for his dismissal. Despite this, he managed to keep the team on track with two final wins over Latvia and North Macedonia, eventually qualifying for the UEFA Euro 2020 from the top spot in their group.^[4]

Brzęczek was sacked on 18 January 2021,^[5] five months before Poland's first match at the UEFA Euro 2020 and succeeded by the Portugal's Paulo Sousa.^[6]

Wisła Kraków

On 14 February 2022, Brzęczek was appointed head coach of Wisła Kraków, replacing Adrián Guľa.^[7] Achieving only one win in 13 league games, he was not able to save Wisła from relegation to I liga, their first since they returned to the top division in 1996.^[8] With five wins and two draws in 12 games at the start of Wisła's 2022–23 league campaign, Brzęczek left the club.^[9]

Personal life

Brzęczek's nephew is a footballer, winger Jakub Błaszczykowski, who has most notably represented Wisła Kraków, Borussia Dortmund and VfL Wolfsburg. His sister, Błaszczykowski's mother, was murdered by her husband which caused family separation.

Managerial statistics

As of 3 October 2022^[update]

Managerial record by team and tenure

Team	From	To	Record
			G	W	D	L	Win %
Raków Częstochowa	9 February 2010	4 November 2014	171	57	50	64	033.33
Lechia Gdańsk	17 November 2014	1 September 2015	30	11	9	10	036.67
GKS Katowice	28 September 2015	20 May 2017	56	25	14	17	044.64
Wisła Płock	11 July 2017	11 July 2018	38	17	6	15	044.74
Poland	12 July 2018	18 January 2021	24	12	5	7	050.00
Wisła Kraków	14 February 2022	3 October 2022	27	7	9	11	025.93
Total			346	129	93	124	037.28

Honours

Player

Lech Poznań

• Ekstraklasa: 1992–93

Tirol Innsbruck

• Austrian Bundesliga: 2000–01, 2001–02

Poland Olympic

• Olympic silver medal: 1992^[10]

Manager

Individual

• Ekstraklasa Coach of the Month: September 2017,^[11] December 2017,^[11] April 2018^[12]

Notes

1. In isolation, ''Józef" is pronounced [ˈjuzɛf].

References

1. 1. liga. GKS Katowice bez trenera. Jerzy Brzęczek podał się do dymisji‚ sport.pl, 20 May 2017
2. Jerzy Brzęczek trenerem Wisły Płock, 90minut.pl, 11 July 2017
3. "Jerzy Brzęczek is named Poland's new national team manager - but who is he?". www.thefirstnews.com. Retrieved 22 May 2019.
4. "El. Euro 2020: Polska - Macedonia Północna. Kto bohaterem biało-czerwonych? [OCENY]". Polskieradio24.Pl.
5. "Jerzy Brzęczek przestał być trenerem piłkarskiej reprezentacji Polski". www.rmf24.pl. Retrieved 18 January 2021.
6. "Portugal's Paulo Sousa named new Poland coach". France 24. 21 January 2021. Retrieved 15 February 2022.
7. "Jerzy Brzęczek nowym trenerem Białej Gwiazdy". Wisła Kraków. 14 February 202. Retrieved 14 February 2022.
8. "Przed Wisłą Kraków kolejna stypa. Jak wyglądały pożegnania w 1985 i 1994?". sport.tvp.pl (in Polish). 20 May 2022. Retrieved 3 October 2022.
9. "Komunikat TS Wisła Kraków SA" (in Polish). Wisła Kraków. 3 October 2022.
10. "XXXXXX". 90minut.pl (in Polish). Retrieved 2 August 2024.
11. "Jerzy Brzęczek wybrany trenerem grudnia". petronews.pl (in Polish). 10 January 2018. Retrieved 9 May 2024.
12. "Jerzy Brzęczek - dziękujemy!" (in Polish). Wisła Płock. 23 July 2018. Retrieved 9 May 2024.

External links

• Maccabi Haifa profile and short bio^{[permanent dead link‍]} (in Hebrew)
• Jerzy Brzęczek at National-Football-Teams.com