Franciszek Smuda

Franciszek Smuda (born 22 June 1948) is a Polish football coach and former footballer who also holds a German passport.

As a player, he spent his career playing for clubs in Poland, the United States and Germany.

He got his debut in the Ekstraklasa playing for Stal Mielec during the 1970–71 season.

He also played for Piast Gliwice, followed by a short spell at Vistula Garfield in the USA.

He also participated in the NASL Hartford Bi-Centennials.

In 1975 Smuda returned to Poland to play for Legia Warsaw.

In 1978, he returned to the USA again to play for three other NASL clubs.

He finished his career as a player in Germany then shortly after becoming a manager.

Smuda began his coaching career successfully in the lower leagues in Germany.

During the late 1980s, he was appointed as a manager in Turkey.

He coached Altay Izmir and Konyaspor for a total of four years.

In 1983, he turned to coaching, becoming the manager of Widzew Łódź, Wisła Kraków, Legia Warsaw and Lech Poznań, among others.

He has won three Polish league titles.

In 1993, Smuda returned to Poland to help save Stal Mielec from relegation.

During the seasons in Mielec, he managed to maintain the team in the Ekstraklasa.

In May 1995, Smuda was appointed as the manager of Widzew Łódź and finished in second place behind Legia Warsaw in the 1994–95 season.

The following season, Smuda managed not losing a single game in the league.

The 1995–96 season was another successful one with Widzew's Marek Koniarek scoring the most goals in the league at 29.

Widzew qualified for the UEFA Champions League competition for the 1996–97 season.

Smuda managed the team to eliminate the Danish champions, Brøndby IF and advanced to the group stage.

Widzew were drawn into a group containing Atlético Madrid, Borussia Dortmund and Steaua Bucharest.

Widzew finished the group in third place.

The team from Łódź were able to repeat their feat of winning the Ekstraklasa again.

The next season was not as promising as Widzew's management sold some of their key players and were eliminated in the qualifying phases of the Champions League.

Widzew finished in 4th place that year and were unable to qualify for any European competitions.

Shortly thereafter, Smuda moved to Wisła Kraków where he had much success.

Smuda was appointed as the manager of Wisła Kraków after the 1997–98 season.

His goal was to build a team that would be not only be successful in Poland but also in European cups.

Smuda won the Polish League the following season, however, Wisła was ejected from European tournaments due to a fan throwing a knife at Dino Baggio during a UEFA Cup match against Parma F.C. In September 1999, Smuda was dismissed as manager of Wisła after team's first defeat in the 1997–98 season.

After leaving Wisła in September 1999, Smuda was hired as manager of Legia Warsaw replacing Dariusz Kubicki.

However, he did not win any trophies, nor qualify for any European competitions.

After a 4–0 defeat by Zagłębie Lubin in March 2001, Smuda was sacked.

In June 2001, Smuda was re-hired as a coach of Ekstraklasa champions Wisła Kraków.

He failed to defeat FC Barcelona in the third qualifying round of the UEFA Champions League.

After losing two league matches to Polonia Warsaw and Legia Warsaw in March 2002, he was replaced by Henryk Kasperczak.

Subsequently, Smuda managed Widzew Łódź, Piotrcovia Piotrków Trybunalski as well as the Cypriot team Omonia.

Since 2009 he was the manager of the Poland national team, but resigned on 16 June 2012, following their elimination from Euro 2012.

Smuda was born in Lubomia, Wodzisław County, Poland, as a son of Gerard, a railway worker, and Marta.

As a player, Smuda played as a defender.

He began his career at Unia Racibórz and later played for Odra Wodzisław Śląski.