Adam Nawałka

Adam Nawałka ([ˈadam naˈvawka] ; born 23 October 1957) is a Polish professional football manager and former player. From 2013 to 2018, he was the head coach of the Poland national team.

Player career

Club

Nawałka comes from a footballing family. His father, Adam, played for the local team Orlęta Rudawa. Nawałka began his career in 1969 with Wisła Kraków, and made his top-tier debut on 21 May 1975. He played 190 matches in the highest class of Polish association football, scoring 9 goals. He played most of his career for The White Star. He started having recurrent injuries in the fall of 1978, and despite repeated surgeries, he had to retire from professional soccer in 1984. In 1985, he emigrated to the United States where he played semi-professional soccer with Polish-American Eagles, alongside performing manual labor jobs (like trimming trees around high-voltage power lines). In 1990, he returned to Poland and started selling Trabant cars with Volkswagen engines until he received his coaching qualifications in 1995.

National team

He played for the Poland national team (34 matches) and was a participant at the 1978 FIFA World Cup. At the age of 20, he played 90 minutes of every game (except one) that the Polish team played. In the fall of 1978, Nawalka started having recurrent injuries that shortly eliminated him from the national team and shortened his playing career.

International goals

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