Robert Lewandowski threatens Poland national team retirement in coach feud

USA Today

4 hours ago

Robert Lewandowski threatens Poland national team retirement in coach feud
We're roughly one year away from the 2026 Men's World Cup in the United States, and one of this generation of soccer's biggest stars, Robert Lewandowski, might not participate. In fact, Poland's all-time leading scorer (85 goals) and the seventh-leading all-time scorer in men's soccer history (673 goals) may have played his last game for the Poland national team.
Why, you might ask? Because he's picked a petty fight with Poland's coach, Michał Probierz. In a word: oof.
It started with Lewandowski electing to sit out Poland's current international window, which includes a crucial 2026 World Cup qualifier with Finland this Tuesday. In deciding to opt out, the 36-year-old Lewandowski claimed he was mentally and physically tired after a long Barcelona season.
Note that Lewandowski is the only major Polish player voluntarily sitting out. This is key.
MORE STARS SITTING OUT: Mauricio Pochettino called out USMNT stars for skipping their duties
In response to Lewandowski deciding not to make himself available to his national team, Probierz stripped the prolific striker of his long-time captaincy and awarded it to veteran midfielder Piotr Zieliński. This move was enough for Lewandowski to jump onto his X page and say he would never play for Poland again as long as Probierz was the team's coach. Translated, Lewandowski cited a "loss of trust" in Probierz for stripping him of the captaincy while pandering to Poland's fans, saying he'd hope to get to play for them again. Sure, buddy.
In effect, one of the greatest soccer players ever has essentially threatened his international soccer retirement:
On the one hand, it's easy to understand Lewandowski's perspective. For years, despite Lewandowski dominating in European domestic leagues, the Poland men's national team has consistently failed to build a squad worthy of supporting and complementing their talisman's incredible talent.
With Lewandowski leading the charge, Poland's best finish at the World Cup was a Round of 16 berth in 2022. Its best finish at the European championships was a quarterfinals berth in 2016. Notably, four of Poland's five all-time appearances at the Euros came with Lewandowski at the forefront. Given this context, as Lewandowski enters the twilight phase of his career with a lot of mileage on his tires, it wouldn't be too much to assume he views his international duties like more and more of a burden.
You can see why Lewandowski might paint playing for Poland as something that isn't worth his time if he doesn't have the captaincy. If any of us put ourselves in his shoes, we'd probably be rightfully frustrated, too.
Still, the Polish men's national soccer team program is not obligated to gift Lewandowski anything by default. No matter his backlog and history of service. Full stop. If Lewandowski is healthy and able, which he appears to be, the baseline expectation should be that he's available to play for the team in matches that matter for its World Cup journey. If every other major Polish player is around after extended domestic seasons, why should Lewandowski get special treatment and an exception?
You're either the leader, a.k.a. the captain of your team, in a pivotal moment, or you're not. In this case, Lewandowski decided not to be there for his team. So, he's no longer the captain, and he pouted about it.
By no means has Probierz earned the goodwill to throw his weight around like this with one of the best players ever. But he does deserve credit for putting his foot down with a superstar who literally didn't want to play ball because he's trying to foster a healthy team atmosphere where no one is above the greater goal. Not even the player with the most appearances and goals ever for his country.
Given Lewandowski's age and Probierz's current (mostly) safe job status, we really might have seen the last of the best Polish player ever to don a white and red uniform. It may have happened because of something pretty anticlimactic and overdramatic, but it's definitely not out of pocket.