Poland to appoint former Portugal manager Santos as coach, says FA

Poland will appoint former Portugal manager Fernando Santos as their new coach, Polish FA (PZPN) president Cezary Kulesza said on Monday (Jan 23).

Kulesza shared a picture with Santos on Twitter, after the 68-year-old Portuguese was photographed at Warsaw airport earlier on Monday.

"See you tomorrow at the conference at the @PGENarodowy stadium!" Kulesza wrote along with the photo.

Santos and the Portuguese Football Federation (FPF) agreed to terminate his contract as Portugal coach in December, after their World Cup quarter-final exit to Morocco.

Polish Minister of Sport and Tourism Kamil Bortniczuk had congratulated Kulesza and the FA on the appointment of Santos before the president's announcement.

"Santos is a coach with a very good CV (Greece and Portugal since 2010, and previously top Portuguese and Greek clubs), successes (European Championship), experience in working with great stars, led by @Cristiano," he tweeted on Monday.

Santos led Portugal to success at Euro 2016 and the 2018-19 Nations League with Cristiano Ronaldo as captain. At club level he has managed Porto, AEK Athens, Panathinaikos, Sporting, Benfica, PAOK and he also had a four-year spell as Greece coach.

Former Poland coach Czeslaw Michniewicz left at the end of December after the FA decided not to renew his contract after he had guided the team to their first World Cup knockout stage appearance in 36 years at the 2022 tournament in Qatar.