Lewandowski to boycott national team under current coach
Barcelona striker Robert Lewandowski said Sunday he would not play for his national team Poland so long as coach Michal Probierz remained in charge.
The 36-year-old has played 158 times for Poland, scoring 85 goals, but earlier in the day was replaced as team captain by Piotr Zielinski.
Advertisement
"Taking into account the circumstances and a loss of trust in the coach, I have decided to resign from playing for the Poland national team for as long as he remains in charge," Lewandowski said on X.
But the former Bayern Munich centre-forward left the door open for a return.
"I hope I will still have another chance to play again for the best fans in the world," he said.
Probierz has been Poland coach since 2023, and led them to the Euro 2024 finals where they failed to win a game and were eliminated in the group stage.
Earlier on Sunday, the Polish Football Association announced on its website the coach's decision to replace Lewandowski as skipper.
Advertisement
"The coach has personally informed Robert Lewandowski, the entire team and the technical staff of his decision," the federation said.
Lewandowski is not part of the Polish squad in the current international window. According to Polish news agency PAP, the player asked to be excused to rest.
Lewandoswki has just won a domestic Spanish treble with his club Barcelona.
Poland beat Moldova 2-0 on June 6 in a friendly and faces Finland on Tuesday in Helsinki in Group G of the 2026 World Cup qualifiers.
With two wins from as many matches, Poland top the group.
sw/hpa/bm/dmc/pb
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Barcelona star set for €12 million exit
An altogether noteworthy update on the incoming departure of Barcelona starlet Ansu Fati has this weekend surfaced online. This comes amid claims that, contrary to previous speculation, the 22-year-old's summer exit will come with the certainty of bringing a permanent close to his Blaugrana stint. Advertisement Ansu's name has of course proven a prominent one in the headlines across Europe for several weeks now. This comes after AS Monaco opened talks with their Barcelona counterparts, over bringing the winger to Ligue 1 for next season. After Ansu struggled for game-time under the watch of new boss Hansi Flick in Catalunya's capital this past season, Deco and co. quickly opened to the prospect of a sale. Initially, the understanding was that as much would come by way of a loan, featuring an option to buy. As alluded to above, though, if the latest word stemming from the media on Saturday is anything to go by, Monaco's clause at the end of the 2025/26 campaign will in fact come in the form of a permanent one. Advertisement As per a report from Diario AS: 'In principle, Ansu's departure will be via loan with a mandatory purchase option of 12 million euros. There are still some minor details to be resolved because Barcelona want to include a percentage of a future sale or a possible buy-back option.' Conor Laird – GSFN
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Jordan Seaton Challenged by Deion Sanders' Colorado Staff to Lead by Example
Jordan Seaton Challenged by Deion Sanders' Colorado Staff to Lead by Example originally appeared on Athlon Sports. Jordan Seaton has embraced his new leadership role at Colorado. The former five-star has become the face of the Buffs and leads by example. The latest request from his coaches shows his growth over the past year. CU strength and conditioning coach Andreu Swasey challenged the team to become 'attractive'. He explained his request and how it applies to football. Advertisement 'Become attractive men. In football, to a coach, to your teammates, being attractive is being somebody that people look up to and want to be motivated from. Be attractive men. It will help the team be more successful if you take care of yourself,' Swasey said. Seaton developed in his freshman season. There was no waiting on the sidelines with the one-time IMG Academy product starting immediately. With the absence of names like Shedeur Sanders, Travis Hunter, CamRon Silmon-Craig, and others who have departed the program for life after college, a leadership void was expected. However, Seaton has chosen to fill that void in a big way. Some of the new Colorado players have become adjusted to live in Boulder. Every year the same thing happens. New recruits and transfers arrive in Boulder for summer camp, and some find out very quickly that the elevation and thin mountain air is a real thing. It is not uncommon for new players to face an adjustment period. In today's conditioning periods, multiple players were seen gassed and even in danger of suffering from altitude sickness. Two years ago, a viral video surfaced of former CU five-star Cormani McClain struggling to adjust with none of his teammates helping him out. Today's workout revealed Jordan Seaton has no intention of allowing that to happen. As players began to show signs of sickness, he was there for them. Terrell Timmons, Brandon Davis-Swain and Tyler Brown could be seen assisting players to catch their breath with Seaton nearby off camera. Advertisement Related: Browns OC Sends Clear Message About Shedeur Sanders in QB Battle As doubt and the desire to quit crept in, Seaton had a clear message. He allowed for a breather but would not accept quitting on the conditioning. 'Okay, but he's not quitting, he ain't quitting,' Seaton declared. After each run, he would check back with words of encouragement. Before too long, even those struggling pushed themselves to get back to the line to run the sprint. Related: Deion Sanders Reveals He's Been Battling Health Issues During Offseason Whether it was a new player or an established one coming off an injury, multiple players struggled. Before long players like Seaton and Yahya Attia were asking Swasey to 'blow it' as if they weren't interested in resting between reps. While this team under Deion Sanders has never been 'out for self', there is a strong sense of 'we' over 'me' early in this offseason. While everyone seems to be bought in on the concept, it's becoming very clear that Seaton intends to be the vocal leader of this football team. This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports on Jun 7, 2025, where it first appeared.
USA Today
an hour ago
- USA Today
Robert Lewandowski threatens Poland national team retirement in coach feud
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.
