Poland coach loses job after team’s World Cup performance

By The Associated Press

Poland's head coach Czeslaw Michniewicz gestures during the World Cup round of 16 soccer match between France and Poland, at the Al Thumama Stadium in Doha, Qatar, Sunday, Dec. 4, 2022. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)[ASSOCIATED PRESS/Natacha Pisarenko]

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — The Polish soccer association says it will not extend the contract of national coach Czesław Michniewicz after an analysis of the team’s performance at the World Cup in Qatar. Michniewicz’s contract ends on Dec. 31. The soccer association says it will soon start looking for a new coach. The association acknowledges that Michniewicz took over at a difficult time and says he has achieved some success. He led the team to the knockout rounds of the World Cup for the first time in 36 years. But it also says it considers others issues. Those include the “further functioning of the national team and the direction of its development.”