I am amused to read the news on sports portals as Extraklasa develops, due to the fact that the evidence number of football players from the same league will play this year's mundial. First of all, it is not true, second of all, but this statistic shows the opposite.
No, it's not, due to the fact that on the '74 or ’78, the full Polish staff came from native clubs, so I don't know how our sports journalists got there. Is it that there was no authoritative name for “Extreklasa” at the time? You can be so specific, but what's that statistic for? We'll get to that. For a reader who has the right not to know this, the name “extraclass” for the designation of the highest football league was utilized in the athletics Review already... before planet War II.
So how many of these players from Extraclass will play on the mundial (although it should be said not about the “game” but about “calling to the staff” if we are to be so thorough)? Five. Hussein Ali (Pogoń Szczecin), Amir Al-Ammari (Cracovia), Steve Kapuadi (Vidzew Łódź), Alex Paulsen (Lechia Gdańsk) and Samed Bazdar (Jagiellonia Białystok). Paulsen and Lechia fell out of the league, so the stubborn 1 should be the 1st league to ask for his part of cake.
Ali Gholizadeh from Lech Poznań would have besides gone to the museum, but he was excluded from injury. On the another hand, it is hard to look for a typical of the Polish league in any representation that has a chance at something circumstantial at this tournament. It is crucial that we are talking about the minute erstwhile the number of participants in the tournament increased by 50% compared to the last one, so the feat (also, and especially in the edition of Probierz and Urban's eagles) was not to get to this Mundial. Yes, Europe has received less extra seats than another continents, but I will remind you that in 2018 and 2022 we played at the championships, despite the comparatively hard way of promotion.
So how many Extraclassists would there be if it wasn't for so many teams? It is hard to judge, but the RD Congo, Steve Kapuadi and Iraq Ali and Al-Ammari advanced after intercontinental barracks, while Bosnia and Herzegovina Bazdara (though eliminating Italians) after barracking in the UEFA zone. fresh Zealand is promoted from the OFC mainly due to the fact that due to the deficiency of competition, Australia's representation moved to the AFC. So – yes, so beloved – in the old format, 32-team could be all zero!
Or possibly the statistic are disturbed due to the fact that Poland did not advance? Well, first of all, there aren't any Italians in the community either, and the league represents 66 footballers, and second, how many of our leaguers could we find in this team? There were 3 in Qatar. There most likely wouldn't be more in North America, due to the fact that who would? But now that we're in the another leagues, let's make it a method. The Premier League sent... 154 footballers, Bundesliga 94, and French Ligue 1 – 78. This is what the first 3 look like. But that's unattainable, so let's go down below. The Turkish league, which we are chasing in the UEFA ranking, has sent as many as 42 players, although 15 are national representatives, but there is inactive a immense difference. The Czech and Greek leagues are almost ahead. And how do we compare? The Czech League has 17 players, but this is hard to compare, due to the fact that they represent the Czech Republic, but there are no Greeks on the mundial as well as us, and this "nearly weaker" Greek League sent 11 footballers, which is more than twice as many as Extraclass. 10 players are in the league... Cyprus. 3 places below Poland in the UEFA league ranking.
Is our league 5 truly specified a reason to enjoy and open champagne? I dare uncertainty it. I do not compose this absolutely with any disdain for our home league games, due to the fact that I love them with inexhaustible love, but it is not due to the fact that it is attributed to her by the propaganda of success "a increasing level", but simply due to ours.
Tomasz Jankowski
Think Poland, No. 27-28 (5-12.07.2026)
