Meeting in Cologne

As a result of the initiative of the Polish consulate in Cologne, Germany, a second meeting between Polish emigrants and members of Polish Football Association will take place on June 20.

Last year young players in Germany with Polish ethnicity, met with Jerzy Engel and Tomasz Wałdoch who encouraged them to play for Poland. This Saturday's delegation from the PZPN will include coaches Stefan Majewski and Marcin Dorna as well as former national team players; Tomasz Wałdoch, Tomasz Zdebel, and Andrzej Rudy. They will all be present to answer any questions that they young players may have.

In addition to the young Poles in Germany, promising Poles playing in Dutch and Belgian leagues will also be present. In total, nearly 50 candidates have been invited to Cologne. "We will explain to the boys how they can apply for a Polish passport so that they would be able to play for the Polish National Team" explains Maciej Chorazyk, Chief Scout of the PZPN.

Historically, the Polish Football Federation did not acknowledge the talent in other countries. Talents such as Miroslav Klose, Lukas Podolski, Piotr Trochowski and others went either unnoticed or were noticed too late. This is an important step in the right direction. Unfortunately, Poland's current youth development system is poor and it does not look like it will improve any time soon. Therefore, it is becoming increasingly important to scout young players with Polish backgrounds that have been trained and are playing in foreign countries.