Jerzy Engel

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Jerzy Engel (born Władysław Jerzy Engel; October 6, 1952) was a Polish footballer and coach. Engel began his career in football at an early age playing at local club Junak Wloclawek, before moving to Polonia Warszawa (1975-76), Hutnik Warszawa (1976-77) and several other clubs.

Engel, nicknamed "Jurek", began playing in midfield or attack before, at the age of 22, being cruelly forced to cut his career short because of injury. With spirits dampened only slightly, he immediately turned to coaching and took over at Polonia Warsaw in the 1976/1977 season.

After a spell with third division teams, he came to the fore once more with his involvement in Poland's third-place finish in the 1982 FIFA World Cup Spain, helping then national coach, Antoni Piechniczek, choose the ideal squad.

In 1985 Jurek took over at Legia Warsaw, leading them to two second place finishes in the Polish Championship in three seasons. Just as he was becoming well known he made the strange decision to move to Apollon Limassol, in Cyprus, an island he stayed on for seven years.

The devout Catholic returned to Legia before taking Polonia Warsaw to runners-up spot in 1998/1999.

He became manager of the Polish national team in 1999 and after failing to achieve qualification for the 2000 European Championships, was instrumental in securing Emmanuel Olisadebe's naturalisation as a Polish national.

With the side lacking firepower when he took charge, Engel saw the qualities in Nigerian-born Olisadebe who was already playing his league football in Poland. He asked the president to speed Olisadebe's papers through and as a result, had a talented forward available for World Cup qualifying. Olisadebe rewarded his coach with eight goals in ten qualifying matches.

Engel steered Poland to their first World Cup finals tournament since 1986, when he oversaw their participation at the 2002 World Cup in South Korea and Japan.

The World Cup did not go well and Poland were eliminated in the first round. The opening two games provided two resounding defeats losing to South Korea and Portugal. After being knocked out of the tournament and now without any pressure to perform, Poland beat the United States in their final group game for a famous victory.

His most recent vocation was at Wisła Kraków where he was trainer until late-October 2005 and he has also been sports director of Legia Warszawa. On December 2005 he moved back in Cyprus and headed the training team of APOEL FC. He led the team into the third place of the local Championship, just 2 points from the top, and won the Cup as well.

Engel's management career:

Poland Poland squad - 2002 FIFA World Cup Poland

1 Dudek | 2 Kłos | 3 Zieliński | 4 Michał Żewłakow | 5 Rząsa | 6 Hajto | 7 Świerczewski | 8 Kucharski | 9 Kryszałowicz | 10 Kałużny | 11 Olisadebe | 12 Majdan | 13 Głowacki | 14 Marcin Żewłakow | 15 Wałdoch | 16 Murawski | 17 A. Bąk | 18 Krzynówek | 19 Żurawski | 20 J. Bąk | 21 Koźmiński | 22 Matysek | 23 Sibik | Coach: Engel
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