Michał Jerzy Winiarski (born 28 September 1983) is a Polish professional

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...

coach and former player. Winiarski was a member of the Poland national team from 2004 to 2014, a participant in the

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; ) are the world's preeminent international Olympic sports, sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a Multi-s ...

(

Beijing 2008 The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes fr ...

London 2012 The 2012 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012, were an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

), 2014 World Champion, and the 2012 World League winner. He serves as head coach for the Germany national team and the Polish

PlusLiga The PlusLiga is the highest level of men's volleyball in Poland, a professional league competition featuring volleyball clubs located in this country. It is overseen by Polska Liga Siatkówki SA (PLS SA). It is currently a 14 teams league from Oc ...

team, Aluron CMC Warta Zawiercie.

Personal life

Michał Winiarski was born in

Bydgoszcz Bydgoszcz is a city in northern Poland and the largest city in the historical region of Kuyavia. Straddling the confluence of the Vistula River and its bank (geography), left-bank tributary, the Brda (river), Brda, the strategic location of Byd ...

, Poland. He graduated from the Sports Championship School in

Spała Spała is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Inowłódz, within Tomaszów Mazowiecki County, Łódź Voivodeship, in central Poland. It lies on the Pilica River, approximately west of Inowłódz, east of Tomaszów Mazowiecki, and ...

. He studied at the Management and Administration College in

Opole Opole (; ; ; ) is a city located in southern Poland on the Oder River and the historical capital of Upper Silesia. With a population of approximately 127,387 as of the 2021 census, it is the capital of Opole Voivodeship (province) and the seat of ...

. On 13 May 2006, he married Dagmara (née Stęplewska). On 28 November 2006, their son Oliwier was born. On 13 March 2014, his wife gave birth to their second son, named Antoni. Michal Winiarski

Career as a player

Club

With

AZS Częstochowa KS AZS Częstochowa SSA was a Polish professional men's volleyball club based in Częstochowa, founded in 1945 as a university team (AZS). They competed in the Polish top league from 1979 to 2017. During its existence, Częstochowa won 6 national ...

, Winiarski is a two–time bronze medallist of the Polish Championship (2004, 2005). He spent the 2005/2006 season as a player of BOT Skra Bełchatów, and won the Polish Championship and Polish Cup with this team. From 2006 to 2009, he played for Italian team Itas Diatec Trentino. With this team, he won the

2008–09 CEV Champions League The 2008–09 CEV Champions League was the 50th edition of the highest level European volleyball club competition organised by the European Volleyball Confederation. Participating teams League round 24 teams will be drawn to 6 pools of 4 teams ...

, and was also named the ''Best Blocker'' of the tournament. He has a gold (2008) and silver (2009) medal from the Italian Championship. In 2009, he returned to

PGE Skra Bełchatów PGE may refer to: * Pacific Gas and Electric Company, commonly abbreviated PG&E * Pacific Gas & Electric (band), an American blues rock band * Pacific Great Eastern Railway, the original name of BC Rail * Parser Grammar Engine, Perl 6 rule compil ...

. They won the Polish Championship in 2010, and 2011. He has a silver medal at the Club World Championship in

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

. In 2010, PGE Skra Bełchatów, including Winiarski, won a bronze medal of the

CEV Champions League The CEV Champions League is the top official competition for men's volleyball clubs from the whole of Europe. The competition is organised every year by the European Volleyball Confederation. Formula (2018–19 to present) Qualification A tota ...

. They improved this result in 2012, when they won a silver medal of the

, after a match against

Zenit Kazan VC Zenit-Kazan (), until 2008 known as Dinamo Tattransgaz Kazan (), is a professional men's volleyball team based in Kazan, Russia. It plays in the Super League (11-time champion). Achievements International competitions * CEV Champions Leag ...

at the Final Four held in

Łódź Łódź is a city in central Poland and a former industrial centre. It is the capital of Łódź Voivodeship, and is located south-west of Warsaw. Łódź has a population of 655,279, making it the country's List of cities and towns in Polan ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

. Michał Winiarski was named the ''Best Receiver'' of the tournament. In 2013, he signed a 2–year contract with

Fakel Novy Urengoy Fakel Novy Urengoy () is a Russian professional men's volleyball team, based in Novy Urengoy, playing in Super League since 2004. International competitions * Club World Championship *:Third place (×1) 2018 * CEV Cup *:Winners (×1) 2007 ...

, but eventually spent only one season in Russia. On 16 June 2014, it was officially announced that Winiarski is returning to Bełchatów, and had signed a two–year contract with

. On 8 October 2014, his team won the Polish SuperCup. On 7 February 2016, he won the Polish Cup after beating ZAKSA in the final. After the

2016–17 PlusLiga The 2016–17 PlusLiga was the 81st season of the PlusLiga, Polish Volleyball Championship, the 17th season as a professional league organized by the Professional Volleyball League SA () under the supervision of the Polish Volleyball Federation ( ...

season, Winiarski decided to end his volleyball career.

National team

In 2003, he captained the Polish national volleyball team to a gold medal at the U21 World Championship. He debuted as a senior national team player on 7 January 2004, in a match against Russia. In 2006, he took part in the

World Championship A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game ...

, where the Polish team finished 2nd. During the course of the Poland–Brazil match for the gold medal, his first son was born. In 2008, he took part in the

, where Poland came in fifth, and Winiarski received an award for the ''Best Receiver'' of the tournament. In 2011, he and the rest of his national team, won a silver medal at the

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the name is ...

. On 8 July 2012, the Polish national team won a gold medal at the 2012 World League with the final tournament held in

Sofia Sofia is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain, in the western part of the country. The city is built west of the Is ...

Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...

. In May 2014, Winiarski was chosen as the new captain of the national team, replacing the previous one,

Marcin Możdżonek Marcin Rafał Możdżonek (born 9 February 1985) is a Polish former professional volleyball player, a member of the Poland national team in 2007–2016, a participant in the Olympic Games (Beijing 2008, London 2012), the 2014 World Champion, 2 ...

. On 21 September 2014, Poland, with Winiarski as the captain, won a title of the

World Champions A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game ...

. On the same day, Winiarski announced his retirement from the

national team A national sports team (commonly known as a national team or a national side) is a team that represents a nation, rather than a particular club or region, in an international sport. The term is most commonly associated with team sports, for exa ...

. On 27 October 2014, Winiarski received a state award granted by the Polish President,

Bronisław Komorowski Bronisław Maria Komorowski (; born 4 June 1952) is a Polish politician and historian who was the fifth president of Poland from 2010 to 2015. Komorowski previously served as Ministry of National Defence (Poland), Minister of National Defence ...

: the Officer's Cross of Polonia Restituta ''for outstanding sports achievements and worldwide promotion of Poland''.

Honours

As a player

2008–09 – with Itas Diatec Trentino ** Silver medal europe

2011–12 – with

* Domestic ** 2005–06 Simple gold cup

Polish Cup The Polish Cup in Association football, football ( ) is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout football competition for Polish football club (association football), football clubs, held continuously since 1950, and is the second most i ...

, with BOT Skra Bełchatów ** 2005–06 Gold medal with cup

Polish Championship, with BOT Skra Bełchatów ** 2007–08 Gold medal with cup

Italian Championship, with Itas Diatec Trentino ** 2009–10 Gold medal with cup

Polish Championship, with PGE Skra Bełchatów ** 2010–11 Simple gold cup

, with PGE Skra Bełchatów ** 2010–11 Gold medal with cup

Polish Championship, with PGE Skra Bełchatów ** 2011–12 Simple gold cup

, with PGE Skra Bełchatów ** 2014–15 Simple gold cup

Polish SuperCup The Polish Super Cup (, ) is an annually held match between the champions of the Ekstraklasa and the Polish Cup winners or, if the Ekstraklasa champions also win the Polish Cup, the Cup's runners-up. As of 2024, the Polish Super Cup has been p ...

, with PGE Skra Bełchatów ** 2015–16 Simple gold cup

, with PGE Skra Bełchatów *Youth national team ** 2003 Gold medal world centered-2