Władysław Jerzy Engel (; born 6 October 1952 in

Włocławek Włocławek (Polish pronunciation: ; german: Leslau) is a city located in central Poland along the Vistula (Wisła) River and is bordered by the Gostynin-Włocławek Landscape Park. As of December 2021, the population of the city is 106,928. Loc ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

) is a Polish former

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

er and coach.

Biography

Playing career

Engel began his career in football at an early age playing at local youth club Junak Wloclawek, before being promoted to local senior team

Kujawiak Włocławek Kujawiak Włocławek was a Polish football and athletics club based in Włocławek, Poland. Its claim to fame is that the famous Polish singer Maryla Rodowicz and international javelin thrower Zygmunt Jałoszyński used to actively train at t ...

which allow him to move to the likes of Polonia Warsaw 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.

Coaching and managerial career

First spell in club football

With spirits dampened only slightly, he immediately turned to coaching and took over at Polonia Warsaw reserves in the 1975/1976 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 The 1982 FIFA World Cup was the 12th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial Association football, football tournament for men's senior national teams, and was played in Spain between 13 June and 11 July 1982. The tournament was won by Italy national foo ...

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

, helping then national coach,

Antoni Piechniczek Antoni Krzysztof Piechniczek (born 3 May 1942) is a Polish former football player and manager. From 2007 to 2011 he was a Polish senator. Playing career Piechniczek was born in Chorzów. He played for clubs such as Naprzód Lipiny, Legia W ...

, choose the ideal

squad In military terminology, a squad is among the smallest of military organizations and is led by a non-commissioned officer. NATO and US doctrine define a squad as an organization "larger than a team, but smaller than a section." while US Army do ...

. In 1985 Jurek took over at

Legia Warsaw Legia Warszawa (), commonly referred to as Legia Warsaw or simply Legia, is a professional football club based in Warsaw, Poland. Legia is the most successful Polish football club in history, winning record 15 Ekstraklasa champions titles, a ...

, 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 Apollon Limassol FC ( el, Απόλλων Λεμεσού, ''Apollon Lemesou'') is a Cypriot sports club, based in Limassol. It has football, basketball and volleyball teams. Founded in 1954, Apollon FC currently plays in the Cypriot First Divisi ...

, in

Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is geo ...

, an island he stayed on for seven years. He later returned to Legia before taking Polonia Warsaw to runners-up spot in 1998–99.

National team spell

He became manager of the Poland national team in 1999 and after failing to achieve qualification for the

UEFA Euro 2000 The 2000 UEFA European Football Championship, also known as Euro 2000, was the 11th UEFA European Championship, a football tournament held every four years and organised by UEFA, the sport's governing body in Europe. The finals tournament was ...

, was instrumental in securing

Emmanuel Olisadebe Emmanuel Olisadebe (; born 22 December 1978) is a former professional footballer who played as a striker most notably for the Poland national team. He scored 11 international goals in 25 caps between 2000 and 2004, and participated in the 200 ...

's naturalisation as a Polish national. With the side lacking firepower when he took charge, Engel saw the qualities in

Nigerian Nigerians or the Nigerian people are citizens of Nigeria or people with ancestry from Nigeria. The name Nigeria was taken from the Niger River running through the country. This name was allegedly coined in the late 19th century by British jour ...

-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 Qualification is either the process of qualifying for an achievement, or a credential attesting to that achievement, and may refer to: * Professional qualification, attributes developed by obtaining academic degrees or through professional exper ...

matches. Engel steered Poland to their first World Cup finals tournament since

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. **Spain and Portugal ente ...

, when he oversaw their participation at the

2002 World Cup The 2002 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Korea Japan 2002, was the 17th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial Association football, football world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams organized by ...

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

and

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. 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

and

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

. After being knocked out of the tournament and now without any pressure to perform, Poland beat the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

in their final group game for a famous victory.

Second spell in club football

His most recent vocation was at

Wisła Kraków Towarzystwo Sportowe Wisła Kraków Spółka Akcyjna, commonly referred to as Wisła Kraków (), is a Polish professional football club based in Kraków. It currently competes in the I liga, the second level of Polish football league system. It ...

where he was trainer until late-October 2005 and he has also been sports director of

. In December 2005, he moved back in Cyprus and headed the coaching team of

APOEL APOEL FC ( el, ΑΠΟΕΛ; short for Αθλητικός Ποδοσφαιρικός Όμιλος Ελλήνων Λευκωσίας, ''Athletikos Podosferikos Omilos Ellinon Lefkosias'', literally "Athletic Football Club of Greeks of Nicosia") ...

. He led the team into the third place of the

Cypriot Championship The Cypriot First Division ( el, Πρωτάθλημα Α΄ Κατηγορίας) is the top tier football league competition in Cyprus, run by the Cyprus Football Association. Since February 2016, it is sponsored by Cyta and is thus officially ...

, just two points from the top, and won the

Cypriot Cup The Cypriot Cup () is the main cup competition in Cypriot football, run by the Cyprus Football Association (CFA). It began in 1934, the same season with the Cypriot Championship. It is the second most important competition for Cypriot club team ...

as well.

Directorial career

On 25 June 2015 "Polonia Warsaw Co." under the leadership of Jerzy Engel took over the senior team from the MKS Polonia Warsaw Academy, which helped to reinstate Polonia Warsaw back from nonexistence, to the bottom-half of the 4th tier (third league) of professional football in Poland. Under "Engel's Co." the club returned to the emblem, and the sponsor from the Polish Title winning season (1999/2000).

Honours

Manager

Polonia Warszawa * Ekstraklasa: 1999–2000 APOEL *

: 2005–06

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Engel, Jerzy 1952 births Living people Apollon Limassol FC managers Expatriate football managers in Cyprus Polish men's footballers Polonia Warsaw players Polish football managers Wisła Kraków managers Legia Warsaw managers Poland national football team managers 2002 FIFA World Cup managers People from Włocławek Polish people of German descent APOEL FC managers Polonia Warsaw managers Nea Salamis Famagusta FC managers Aris Limassol FC managers Footballers from Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship Men's association football forwards Hutnik Warsaw managers APOP Paphos FC managers Polish expatriate football managers Polish expatriate sportspeople in Cyprus