Waldemar Fornalik (born 11 April 1963) is a Polish professional

football manager ''Football Manager'', also known as ''Worldwide Soccer Manager'' in North America from 2004 to 2008, is a series of football management simulation video games developed by British developer Sports Interactive and published by Sega. The game beg ...

and former

player Player may refer to: Role or adjective * Player (game), a participant in a game or sport ** Gamer, a player in video and tabletop games ** Athlete, a player in sports ** Player character, a character in a video game or role playing game who i ...

who was most recently the manager of

Ekstraklasa (; meaning "Extra Class" in Polish), officially known as PKO Bank Polski Ekstraklasa due to its Sponsor (commercial), sponsorship by PKO Bank Polski, is a professional association football league in Poland and the highest level of the Polish foo ...

club

Zagłębie Lubin Zagłębie Lubin S.A. () is a Polish professional association football, football club based in Lubin. Founded in 1945 as ''OMTUR Lubin'', the club competes in the Ekstraklasa. History The football team was founded in 1945 as OMTUR Lubin by lo ...

. He spent his entire playing career with

Ruch Chorzów Ruch Chorzów () is a Polish professional association football, football club based in Chorzów, Upper Silesia. It is one of the most successful football teams in Poland, having won fourteen List of Polish football champions, Polish Championship ...

. From July 2012 to October 2013, he managed the Poland national team.

Playing career

Fornalik won the 1988–89 Ekstraklasa with

Managerial career

Following the end of his playing career, Fornalik began a managing career. He was manager in

Górnik Zabrze Górnik Zabrze Spółka Akcyjna, commonly referred to as Górnik Zabrze S.A. or simply Górnik Zabrze (), is a Polish association football, football club from Zabrze. Górnik is one of the most successful Polish football clubs in history, winning ...

and Odra Wodzisław. He won the bronze medal (3rd place) with

in the

2009–10 Ekstraklasa The 2009–10 Ekstraklasa was the 84th season of List of Polish football champions, the Polish Football Championship, the 76th season of Sports league, the highest tier domestic division in the Polish football league system since its establishment ...

season. In the 2011–12 season he led Ruch Chorzow to second place, the highest placement since winning the title in 1989. In July 2012, Fornalik became the coach of the

Poland national football team The Poland national football team () represents Poland in men's international Association football, football competitions since their first match in 1921. It is governed by the Polish Football Association (PZPN), the governing body for football ...

after the dismissal of Franciszek Smuda. On 16 October 2013, after a 0–1 loss to

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Kharkiv Kharkiv, also known as Kharkov, is the second-largest List of cities in Ukraine, city in Ukraine.

, which confirmed that Poland would not be going to the

2014 World Cup The 2014 FIFA World Cup was the 20th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's national football teams organised by FIFA. It took place in Brazil from 12 June to 13 July 2014, after the country was awarded the hosting ri ...

finals in

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, and a 0–2 loss to

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Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium, currently branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE Limited, EE for sponsorship reasons, is an association football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Sta ...

the previous night, PZPN sacked Fornalik due to not fulfilling his contract objectives. On 19 September 2017, he became the manager of Piast Gliwice. Under Fornalik's rule, Piast turned into overachievers, consistently competing for spots in the upper half of the table, which resulted in winning the championship at the end of the 2018–19 season, finishing third two years later and two short-lived European campaigns. On 25 October 2022, following a poor start to the 2022–23 campaign, Fornalik left Piast and was replaced by

Aleksandar Vuković Aleksandar Vuković ( sr-cyrl, Александар Вуковић, ; born 25 August 1979) is a Serbian professional football manager and former player who currently manages Polish Ekstraklasa club Piast Gliwice. Club career He started his car ...

two days later. On 29 November 2022, Fornalik was announced as the new head coach of

, agreeing to a contract until the end of the 2023–24 season. He extended his deal for a further year on 26 June 2024. On 22 September 2024, Zagłębie suffered a 1–5 away loss to Raków Częstochowa, leaving the club in relegation zone with eight points after nine rounds of the 2024–25 season. The following day, Fornalik was sacked by Zagłębie's board.

Managerial statistics

Honours

Player

Ruch Chorzów *

: 1988–89

Manager

Piast Gliwice * Ekstraklasa: 2018–19 Individual * Polish Coach of the Year: 2009, 2012, 2019 * Ekstraklasa Coach of the Season: 2011–12, 2018–19 * Ekstraklasa Coach of the Month: April 2011, November 2011, March 2012, March 2017, July 2018, September 2018, March 2019, April 2019, May 2019, July 2023

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fornalik, Waldemar 1963 births Living people Sportspeople from Myślenice Footballers from Lesser Poland Voivodeship Men's association football defenders Polish men's footballers Ruch Chorzów players Ekstraklasa players Polish football managers Polonia Bytom managers Górnik Zabrze managers Odra Wodzisław Śląski managers Polonia Warsaw managers Widzew Łódź managers Ruch Chorzów managers Piast Gliwice managers Poland national football team managers Zagłębie Lubin managers Ekstraklasa managers I liga managers 20th-century Polish sportsmen