Franciszek Smuda

Infobox Football biography
playername = Franciszek Smuda


dateofbirth = birth date and age|1948|6|2
cityofbirth = Lubomia
countryofbirth = Poland
currentclub =
position = Defender, Stopper
youthyears = 1962-1967 1967-1969
youthclubs = Unia Racibórz Odra Wodzisław Śląski
years = 1970 1970-1971 1971-1974 1975 1975-1977 1978 1978 1978 1980-1982 1982
clubs = Stal Mielec Piast Gliwice Wisla Garfield Harford Beicentennials Legia Warszawa Oakland Stompers Los Angeles Aztecs San Jose Earthquakes SpVgg Furth VfR Coburg
manageryears = 1983 1984-1987 1988 1989-1990 1990-1992 1993 1993-1995 1995-1998 1998-1999 1999-2001 2001-2002 2002 2002-2003 2003-2004 2004 2005 2005-2006 2006-
managerclubs = VfR Coburg ASV Forth FC Herzogenaurach Altay S.K. Konyaspor FFV Wendelstein Stal Mielec Widzew Łódź Wisła Kraków Legia Warszawa Wisła Kraków Widzew Łódź Piotrcovia Widzew Łódź AC Omonia Odra Wodzisław Śląski Zagłębie Lubin Lech Poznań

Franciszek Smuda (born 22 June 1948 in Lubomia) is a former Polish footballer and a current coach. He is considered to be one of the most talented managers in Poland currently. He first played at Unia Raciborz and later at Odra Wodzislaw Slaski. Since May 17th 2006, Smuda is the manager of Lech Poznan.

Playing career

As a player, he played as a defender mostly. He began his career at Unia Racibórz. Later, he was a player of Odra Wodzislaw and Ruch Chorzow. He got his debut in the Ekstrlasa playing for Stal Mielec during the 1970/1971 season. He also played for Piast Gliwice, and also had a short spell at Wisla Garfield in the USA and also participated in the NASL Hartford Bi-Centennials . In 1975 he returned to Poland to play for Legia Warsaw. In 1978 he returned to the USA again to play for 3 other NASL clubs. He finished his career as a player in Germany soon after becoming a manager.

Coaching career

He began his coaching career successfully in the lower leagues in Germany. During the late 1980s, he was appointed as a managerin Turkey. He coached Altay Izmir and Konyaspor for a total of 4 years. 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.

Widzew Łódź

In May 1995 he was appointed as the manager of Widzew Lodz and finished in 2nd place behind Legia Warsaw in the 1994/1995 season. The following season Smuda managed to not lose a single league game. The 1995/1996 season was another successful one with Widzew's Marek Koniarek scoring the most goals in the league at 29. Widzew qualified for the Champions League competition for the 1996/1997 season. Smuda managed the team to eliminate the Danish champions, Brøndby IF. Widzew were drawn into a difficult group containing Atlético Madrid, Borussia Dortmund and Steaua Bucharest. Widzew finished the group in 3rd place. The team from Lodz were able to repeat their feat of winning the Polish Ekstraklasa again. The next season was not as promising as the Widzew management sold some of their key players and were eliminated in the qualifying phases of the Champions League. Widzew finished in the 4th place that year and were unable to qualify for any European competitions. Shortly after, Smuda moved to Wisla Krakow where he had much success. He returned to Widzew on short spells in 2002, 2003 and 2004 during Widzew's crisis.

Wisła Kraków

After gaining popularity and value, Smuda was appointed as the manager of Wisla Krakow at the end of the 1997/1998 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 unfortunately Wisla Krakow 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 Wisla for losing one single game. He was hired as manager again on June 2001 after Wisla lost to Legia Warsaw. He failed to defeat FC Barcelona in the 3rd Qualifying Phase of the Champions League. After losing to Polonia Warsaw and Legia Warsaw in march 2002, he was replaced by Henryk Kasperczak.

Other Clubs

Smuda also managed Piotrcovia Piotrków Trybunalski in Poland as well as the Cypriot team Omonia. He was also a potential candidate for the head coach position of the national football team of Gabon. Since 2004 he has been coaching in the Polish Ekstraklasa. He helped keep Odra Wodzislaw from being relegated. A year later he finished in 3rd place with Zaglebie Lubin earning a spot in the UEFA Cup for the next season. In may 2006 he was hired as the manager of the new merger of Lech Poznan and Amica Wronki.

Polish National Football Team

Franciszek Smuda has been enquired as a candidate multiple times for the National side. After the resignation of Antoni Piechniczek in 1997 he was linked as the next manager. However Janusz Wójcik received the position. In the fall of 1999 he was again linked as being the next manager after the resignation of Janusz Wojcik. He was unable to take the position at the time because of his binding contract with Legia Warsaw and inturn Jerzy Engel was hired. His name was brought up again as a replacement for Pawel Janas after the poor results of the national team in the 2006 World Cup in Germany.

Achievements

* Polish Championship 1996 and 1997 with Widzew Łódź
* Qualified for Champions League Group Stage in 1996 with Widzew Łódź
* Polish Championship 1999 with Wisła Kraków
* 3rd place in Cypriot league with AC Omonia
* 3rd place in Polish league with Zagłębie Lubin