English Section

Exhibition in European Parliament pays tribute to former Poland football boss

17.11.2022 20:00
The European Parliament is hosting an exhibition that pays tribute to former Poland football manager Kazimierz Górski, who led the national team during its glory days in the 1970s.
Audio
Kazimierz Górski, pictured in May 1974.
Kazimierz Górski, pictured in May 1974.Photo: PAP/Chris Niedenthal

The Brussels event is part of a series of tributes that began last year to mark the 100th anniversary of the birth of Górski, who is widely remembered as the most successful and most respected coach in Polish football history.

Kazimierz Górski (front) and former Poland players Jerzy Gorgoń, Jan Domarski and Jan Tomaszewski; Oct. 18, 1973. Kazimierz Górski (front) and former Poland players Jerzy Gorgoń, Jan Domarski and Jan Tomaszewski; Oct. 18, 1973. Photo: PAP/PA Archive

There are over 100 photographs on display, tracing Górski's life as a football player, coach and official.

Apart from the photographs, the exhibition features huge posters with some of the best known quotes from the legendary coach, of which the most famous are "The ball is round and there are two goals" and "When the ball is in play anything can happen."

Górski was born on March 2, 1921 in the then-Polish city of Lwów, now Lviv in Ukraine. He managed the national team from 1970 to 1976.

He led the Polish team to its celebrated 1-1 draw with England at Wembley in 1973, which closed England's door to the 1974 World Cup, an event that has gone down in the history of football in both Poland and the UK.

He was in charge when Poland won gold during the 1972 Olympics in Munich, when they finished third in the 1974 World Cup in West Germany, and when they grabbed silver in the 1976 Olympics in Montreal.

After 1976, Górski coached Panathinaikos and Olympiacos in Greece before returning to Poland to manage Legia Warsaw, where he had started out as a player.

After the fall of communism in 1989, he took charge of Poland's soccer association PZPN, which he headed from 1991 to 1995 and was then its honorary president until his death in 2006.

Górski died in Warsaw on May 23, 2006 after losing a long battle with cancer.

Radio Poland’s Agnieszka Bielawska has this report.

Click on the audio player above to listen.