Jerzy Brzęczek

Jerzy Józef Brzęczek (; born 18 March 1971) is a Polish professional football manager and former player. He currently manages the Poland national under-21 team.

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.

Managerial career Clubs On 17 November 2014, Brzęczek became the coach of Lechia Gdańsk, and 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. On 11 July 2017, Brzęczek became the coach of Wisła Płock.

Poland On 12 July 2018, Brzęczek was announced as the new head coach of the Poland national team.

His tenure didn't start off well, with Poland finishing last in their 2018–19 UEFA Nations League A group, 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.

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

Wisła Kraków On 14 February 2022, Brzęczek was appointed head coach of Wisła Kraków, replacing Adrián Guľa. 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. With five wins and two draws in 12 games at the start of Wisła's 2022–23 league campaign, Brzęczek left the club.

Poland U21 On 8 August 2025, Brzęczek became the new manager of the Poland national under-21 team.

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.

Career statistics International

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

+ List of international goals scored by Jerzy BrzęczekNo.DateVenueOpponentScoreResultCompetition 1 17 March 1993 Ribeirão Preto, Brazil 1–0 2–2 Friendly 2 17 May 1994 Katowice, Poland 2–2 3–4 Friendly 3 10 October 1998 Warsaw, Poland 1–0 3–0 UEFA Euro 2000 qualifying 4 27 March 1999 London, England 1–2 1–3 UEFA Euro 2000 qualifying

Managerial statistics

Honours Player Lech Poznań Ekstraklasa: 1992–93

Tirol Innsbruck Austrian Bundesliga: 2000–01, 2001–02 December 2017,