No one could have expected such a huge fuss to ensue after Poland's first World Cup group exit in 36 years. It turns out that the whole environment around the Polish national team is now arguing about big money.
The WP SportoweFakty portal reported on Monday that Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki had promised the footballers a gigantic bonus for exiting the group. It was supposed to amount to PLN 30 million to be distributed to the entire team and staff. It later emerged that this was not a formal and officially proposed bonus at all. According to reports, during a meeting with the Prime Minister before the World Cup, the players were said to have approached the topic as a joke and the final amount was not agreed between them.
Over time, however, more and more information began to emerge about the sordid atmosphere surrounding the stinking money. Tomasz Włodarczyk of Meczyki.pl wrote the most on the matter.
It turned out that the topic of bonuses was supposed to be discussed during the World Cup inside the locker room of the Polish national team. Various kinds of friction occurred because of it. According to some reports, the team assumed that 10 per cent of the sum would go to the coaching staff, but Michniewicz, during a meeting with all the players, informed about 20 per cent, to which Robert Lewandowski openly disagreed.
The second issue concerned the question of distribution to the players themselves. Some wanted the money to be divided according to the number of minutes played by the players at the World Cup. Here, too, Lewandowski was said to disagree, who expected a fair distribution, equally for each of the 26 called up.
The Polish fan may therefore be irritated by two issues - the very idea of such a high bonus for the players just for getting out of the group and the emerging information that instead of focusing on the matches, the players were arguing about money.
In addition, Michniewicz's job is said to be under threat by the whole situation, as PZPN president Cezary Kulesza is furious that the bonus is to be paid directly to the national team members, bypassing the national federation.
What does the Polish government make of all this? Its spokesman Piotr Muller said yesterday that, yes, the bonus is to be granted, but it is not about funds for the players, but about supporting Polish football, i.e., for example, youth training or sports infrastructure for children.
The situation is therefore very complex and does not bring a good image to everyone connected with the Polish national team. The topic is to be continued today. Mateusz Borek on Channel Sportowy reported that the Polish Prime Minister will meet with the captain of the Polish national team today on the issue.
The latter is currently away from Poland. Szymon Jadczak - a WP journalist - wrote that according to his information Lewandowski has no official meetings scheduled for today. It is possible, however, that there will be a telephone conversation.
