The current Poland's U17 youth national team is a European power to behold. The team led by Marcin Włodarski reached the semi-finals of UEFA U-17 European Championship earlier this year - presenting a brilliant style that brought them high praise from numerous experts around the world.
Enough said, since mid-2022 the young Poles managed to score impressive 5-0 wins both against England and Belgium - also beating Sweden 5-2, Republic of Ireland 5-1 and Wales 7-2, among others.
Through their EURO U17 performance, the young Poles qualified for the U17 World Cup - and were hailed as one of the favourites to reach the latter stages of the tournament. However, on November 6, a scandal shook the team as four players were sent home from Indonesia for "unsporting behaviour". The youth left the hotel on Bali without permission, and were under the influence when the coaching staff members found them.
As if losing four first-choice players, including the team's top scorer Tomczyk and top assistant Wolczyk, wasn't enough - so far FIFA did not allow Poland to replace them with an emergency call-up of other players. And this left only 14 field players (plus 3 goalkeepers) at the national team manager's disposal for the whole tournament. The Polish Football Association is still in discussion with FIFA to let the substitute players join the squad, but for now - the light remains red.
Poland will start the U17 World Cup facing peers from Japan (Nov 11), Senegal (Nov 14) and Argentina (Nov 17) in the group stage games. Two best teams out of four will make it to the knockout stage, and for the third a "lucky loser" qualification might still be possible as well.
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Source: weszlo.com