This is a record of Poland's results at the FIFA World Cup. They have qualified for the finals on nine occasions, most recently in 2022. The FIFA World Cup is an international association football competition contested by the men's national teams of the members of Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The championship has been awarded every four years since the first tournament in 1930, except in 1942 and 1946, due to World War II.
The tournament consists of two parts, the qualification phase and the final phase (officially called the World Cup Finals). The qualification phase, which currently take place over the three years preceding the Finals, is used to determine which teams qualify for the Finals. The current format of the Finals involves 48 teams competing for the title, at venues within the host nation (or nations) over a period of about a month. The World Cup final is the most widely viewed sporting event in the world, with an estimated 715.1 million people watching the 2006 tournament final.2006 FIFA World Cup TV Coverage (PDF), FIFA.com. Retrieved on 6 June 2007.
In World Cup history, Poland has participated in nine World Cup editions, started with the 1938 World Cup where they lost to Brazil in a 5–6 thriller. It took Poland thirty-six years later to qualify for another World Cup, where they began to stun the world from eliminating former world champions England in 1974 qualification, to finishing third twice, in 1974 and 1982 editions. After participating in 1986, Poland started to decline and lost momentum in global football.
Since the fall of communist rule in Poland at 1989, Poland managed to qualify for 2002, 2006 and 2018 FIFA World Cups, but the team was unable to repeat the feat of the predecessors, went out from the group stage in all three tournaments with two opening losses before gained a consolidating win in the last match. In 2022, Poland, for the first time since 1986, didn't begin the tournament with a defeat, after holding Mexico goalless, and ultimately went on to advance to the knockout stage for the first time in 36 years.
World Cup record YearResultPositionPldWD*LGFGA 1930Did not enter 1934Withdrew 1938Round of 1611th100156 1950Did not enter 1954Withdrew 1958Did not qualify 1962 1966 1970 1974Third place3rd7601165 1978Quarter-finals5th631266 1982Third place3rd7331115 1986Round of 1614th411217 1990Did not qualify 1994 1998 2002Group stage25th310237 200621st310224 2010Did not qualify 2014 2018Group stage25th310225 2022Round of 1615th411235 2026Did not qualify 2030 To be determined 2034TotalThird place9/2238176154950
Poland's World Cup recordFirst Match Poland 5–6 (5 June 1938; Strasbourg, France)Biggest Win 7–0 (19 June 1974; Munich, West Germany)Biggest Defeat 4–0 (16 June 1986; Guadalajara, Mexico) 0–4 (10 June 2002; Jeonju, South Korea)Best ResultThird place in 1974 and 1982Worst ResultGroup stage in 1938, 2002, 2006 and 2018
Match records
1938 FIFA World Cup
First round
1974 FIFA World Cup
Group stage
Second group stage
Match for third place
1978 FIFA World Cup
Group stage
Second group stage
1982 FIFA World Cup
Group stage
Second group stage
Semi-finals
Match for third place
1986 FIFA World Cup
Group stage
Round of 16
2002 FIFA World Cup
Group stage
2006 FIFA World Cup
Group stage
2018 FIFA World Cup
Group stage
2022 FIFA World Cup
Group stage
Knockout stage
Round of 16
Player records Most appearances Władysław Żmuda participated in four World Cups and 21 matches as part of Poland's "Golden Generation", both records for the country.
RankPlayerMatchesWorld Cups1Władysław Żmuda211974, 1978, 1982 and 19862Grzegorz Lato201974, 1978 and 19823Zbigniew Boniek161978, 1982 and 19864Kazimierz Deyna131974 and 1978Henryk Kasperczak131974 and 1978Andrzej Szarmach131974, 1978 and 1982Antoni Szymanowski131974 and 19788Jerzy Gorgoń121974 and 19789Jan Tomaszewski111974 and 1978Stefan Majewski111982 and 1986Józef Młynarczyk111982 and 1986
Goalscorers On 5 June 1938, Friedrich Scherfke made history by scoring Poland's first-ever FIFA World Cup goal, doing so in their opening match against Brazil in Strasbourg.
Player Goals 1938 1974 1982 1986 2002 2006 2018 2022 Grzegorz Lato 10 721 Andrzej Szarmach 7 511 Zbigniew Boniek 6 24 Ernst Wilimowski 44 Kazimierz Deyna 4 31 Włodzimierz Smolarek 2 11 Bartosz Bosacki 2 2 Robert Lewandowski 2 2 Emmanuel Olisadebe 1 1 Paweł Kryszałowicz 1 1 Marcin Żewłakow 1 1 Grzegorz Krychowiak 1 1 Jan Bednarek 1 1 Piotr Zieliński 1 1 Total 42 4 15 7 7 3 2 2 2
Goalscoring by tournament World CupGoalscorer(s)1938 Ernst Wilimowski (4), Fryderyk Scherfke1974 Grzegorz Lato (7), Andrzej Szarmach (5), Kazimierz Deyna (3), Jerzy Gorgoń1978 Zbigniew Boniek (2), Grzegorz Lato (2), Kazimierz Deyna, Andrzej Szarmach1982 Zbigniew Boniek (4), Andrzej Buncol, Włodzimierz Ciołek, Janusz Kupcewicz, Grzegorz Lato, Stefan Majewski, Włodzimierz Smolarek, Andrzej Szarmach1986 Włodzimierz Smolarek2002Paweł Kryszałowicz, Emmanuel Olisadebe, Marcin Żewłakow2006Bartosz Bosacki (2)2018Grzegorz Krychowiak, Jan BednarekFIFA.com2022Robert Lewandowski (2), Piotr Zieliński
Notes
See also Poland at the UEFA European Championship
References
Reports
External links Official website FIFA Official Ranking of all Participants at Finals 1930–2002. FIFA Match Results for all Stages 1930–2002 Poland at the FIFA official site Poland – Record International Players; most capped players & top goalscorers at RSSSF.com