Maciej Skorża

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Maciej Skorża
Skorża managing Urawa Red Diamonds in 2023
Personal information
Full name Maciej Skorża
Date of birth (1972-01-10) 10 January 1972 (age 52)
Place of birth Radom, Poland
Position(s) Defender
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1993 Radomiak Radom
1994 AZS-AWF Warsaw
Managerial career
1994–1998 Legia Warsaw (youth)
1997–1999 Poland U21 (assistant)
1998–1999 SMS Piaseczno
1999–2002 Amica Wronki (youth)
2002–2003 Amica Wronki II
2003 Wisła Płock (assistant)
2003–2006 Poland (assistant)
2004–2005 Amica Wronki
2006–2007 Dyskobolia
2007–2010 Wisła Kraków
2010–2012 Legia Warsaw
2012–2013 Ettifaq
2014–2015 Lech Poznań
2017 Pogoń Szczecin
2018–2020 United Arab Emirates U23
2021–2022 Lech Poznań
2023 Urawa Red Diamonds
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Maciej Skorża (Polish pronunciation: [ˈmat͡ɕɛj ˈskɔrʐa]; born 10 January 1972) is a Polish professional football manager and former player. He was recently the manager for J1 League club Urawa Red Diamonds.

Club career[edit]

He was playing as a defender for Radomiak Radom and AZS-AWF Warsaw.

Managerial career[edit]

Early career[edit]

In 1994, he began his coaching career as a youth coach for Legia Warsaw.[1] He managed SMS Piaseczno during the 1998–99 season. From 1999 to 2003, he coached the Amica Wronki youth team and was successful in winning a league title in 2002. He also was an assistant to Mirosław Jabłoński while at Wisła Płock.

In May 2003, Paweł Janas appointed Skorża as an assistant coach for the Poland national football team. However, following Poland's elimination from the 2006 FIFA World Cup group stage, the entire staff, including Skorża, was sacked by the Polish Football Association.

He had a short spell at Wisła Płock as an assistant manager before returning to Amica Wronki as a manager in 2004. In the 2004–05 season, Skorża became the first Polish coach to manage to qualify a Polish football club to the group stage of the UEFA Cup. In the 2006–2007 season, he joined Dyskobolia Grodzisk Wielkopolski and won the Polish Cup and Ekstraklasa Cup.

Wisła Kraków[edit]

Skorża with Wisła Kraków in 2009

On 13 June 2007, Skorża was appointed as the manager of Wisła Kraków which he led twice to a league title, winning Ekstraklasa in the 2007–08 and 2008–09 seasons. In the 2008–09 UEFA Champions League third qualifying round, he managed to beat Pep Guardiola's Barcelona 1–0 in the second leg, but Wisła were knocked out as they lost 4–1 on aggregate.[2] They later had to face Tottenham Hotspur in the UEFA Cup first round, where they lost 3–2 on aggregate.[3] By the start of the next season, on 27 July 2009, he lost the Polish Super Cup against Lech Poznań 3–4 on penalties after a 1–1 draw.

He worked with Wisła Kraków until 15 March 2010, when the Wisła's board of directors fired him after a series of three games without a win, in spite of the club holding the lead of the league.[4]

Legia Warsaw[edit]

Skorża as manager of Legia Warsaw in 2011

On 1 June 2010, Skorża was announced as the new manager of Legia Warsaw.[5] On 30 May 2012, Skorża's two-year spell as the Legia manager came to an end.

Ettifaq[edit]

On 26 September 2012, he became the head coach of the Saudi club Ettifaq. In October, he lost both AFC Cup semi-final matches against eventual winners Kuwait SC by 6–1 on aggregate. In the 2012–13 season, Ettifaq finished sixth in the league, and were eliminated from both the Saudi Crown Prince Cup round of 16 and King Cup of Champions quarter-finals. He Helped Ettifaq get eliminated from Group stage of 2013 AFC Champions League.In June 2013, Ettifaq sacked him for disappointing results.[citation needed]

Lech Poznań[edit]

On 1 September 2014, Skorża began his tenure as manager of Lech Poznań, signing a three-year contract with the club. In his first season in charge, Lech Poznań won Polish Ekstraklasa with a 0–0 draw with Wisła Kraków. This was the third Polish title in his managerial career. This game was watched by 41,545 of fans from the stand, the highest attendance of the entire 2014–15 season in Poland. Lech started the next season with a Polish Super Cup 3–1 home win over Legia Warsaw. The game was attended by 40,088 fans, which is the record for the Super Cup's competition audience size.

Pogoń Szczecin[edit]

In May 2017, Skorża was announced to succeed Kazimierz Moskal at Pogoń Szczecin. However, he was sacked on 30 October 2017 as the club was at last place in the Ekstraklasa.[6]

United Arab Emirates U23[edit]

From 19 March 2018 to 28 February 2020, Skorża coached the United Arab Emirates national under-23 team, in which he led them to win the bronze medal in the 2018 Asian Games, and to reach the quarter-finals of the 2020 AFC U-23 Championship with only 1 win. He got sacked after being defeated 5–1 by Uzbekistan national under-23 team at 2020 AFC U-23 Championship.[citation needed]

Return to Lech Poznań[edit]

On 10 April 2021, he was announced as the manager of Lech Poznań.[7] He officially took over this position on 12 April.[8] In the 2021–22 season, during which the club celebrated its 100th anniversary, Skorża led Lech to its 8th championship and finished as runners-up in Polish Cup.[9][10] On 6 June 2022, he was granted release from his contract, citing personal reasons.[11]

Urawa Red Diamonds[edit]

On 10 November 2022, he ended his hiatus when it was announced he would take over as Urawa Red Diamonds' manager from the 2023 season onwards.[12] At the time of his appointment, Urawa have already qualified to the 2022 AFC Champions League final, which took place over two legs on 29 April and 6 May 2023. Under Skorża's lead, Urawa defeated the defending champions Al Hilal 2–1 on aggregate, making it their third win in the competition.[13] However, after his team was eliminated at the 2023–24 AFC Champions League group stages, he was relieved from the position.

Managerial statistics[edit]

As of 22 December 2023
Managerial record by team and tenure
Team Nat From To Record
G W D L GF GA GD Win %
Amica Wronki Poland 17 June 2004 21 November 2005 45 15 13 17 52 61 −9 033.33
Dyskobolia Poland 16 November 2006 6 June 2007 15 8 5 2 23 11 +12 053.33
Wisła Kraków Poland 13 June 2007 15 March 2010 92 58 16 18 169 76 +93 063.04
Legia Warsaw Poland 1 June 2010 30 May 2012 85 46 17 22 135 82 +53 054.12
Ettifaq FC Saudi Arabia 26 September 2012 13 June 2013 31 10 7 14 38 47 −9 032.26
Lech Poznań Poland 1 September 2014 12 October 2015 59 30 12 17 97 61 +36 050.85
Pogoń Szczecin Poland 1 July 2017 30 October 2017 16 3 3 10 18 28 −10 018.75
United Arab Emirates U-23 United Arab Emirates 19 March 2018 28 February 2020 16 7 4 5 31 28 +3 043.75
Lech Poznań Poland 12 April 2021 6 June 2022 46 29 9 8 90 35 +55 063.04
Urawa Red Diamonds Japan 1 February 2023 30 December 2023 60 25 20 15 77 56 +21 041.67
Career total 465 231 106 128 730 486 +244 049.68

Honours[edit]

Managerial[edit]

Amica Wronki youth

Dyskobolia

Wisła Kraków

Legia Warsaw

Lech Poznań

Urawa Red Diamonds

Individual

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Maciej Skorża: Ekstraklasa". Wirtualna Polska. Retrieved 2009-04-08.
  2. ^ "When Wisla Krakow beat Guardiola's treble-winning Barcelona". Planet Football. 28 August 2022.
  3. ^ Ashdown, John (2 October 2008). "Wisla Krakow 1-1 Tottenham Hotspur (2-3 agg)". The Guardian.
  4. ^ "Maciej Skorża nie jest już trenerem Wisły". wisla.krakow.pl. Retrieved 2010-03-15.
  5. ^ "Skorża oficjalnie trenerem Legii" (in Polish). Polish Press Agency. 1 June 2010. Retrieved 1 June 2010.
  6. ^ "Maciej Skorża nie jest już trenerem Pogoni!" (in Polish). gol24.pl. 30 October 2017.
  7. ^ "Maciej Skorża trenerem Lecha". 90minut. 10 April 2021. Retrieved 10 April 2021.
  8. ^ "Wielki powrót na Bułgarską! Trener Maciej Skorża znów poprowadzi Lecha Poznań". Lech Poznań's Twitter. 10 April 2021. Retrieved 11 April 2021.
  9. ^ "Oficjalnie: Lech Poznań mistrzem Polski. Na kolejny tytuł czekał siedem lat". gol24.pl (in Polish). 14 May 2022. Retrieved 14 June 2022.
  10. ^ "Fortuna Puchar Polski. Raków broni trofeum! Czarna passa Lecha trwa". sport.tvp.pl/ (in Polish). Retrieved 14 June 2022.
  11. ^ "Maciej Skorża na własną prośbę odchodzi z Lecha Poznań" (in Polish). Lech Poznań. 6 June 2022.
  12. ^ "マシエイ スコルツァ監督就任のお知らせ" (in Japanese). Urawa Red Diamonds. 10 November 2022.
  13. ^ "Urawa beats Al-Hilal to win Asian Champions League title". apnews.com. 6 May 2023.
  14. ^ "Urawa Reds edge Al Hilal for historic third title". AFC. 6 May 2023. Retrieved 6 May 2023.
  15. ^ Orlowitz, Dan (6 May 2023). "Urawa beats Al Hilal to capture third Asian Champions League title". The Japan Times. Retrieved 6 May 2023.
  16. ^ "Nagrodzono gwiazdy sezonu w PKO Bank Polski Ekstraklasie" (in Polish). Ekstraklasa. 23 May 2022. Retrieved 29 May 2022.
  17. ^ "Trener Sierpnia 2021: Maciej Skorża" (in Polish). Ekstraklasa. 9 September 2021. Archived from the original on 2021-09-09. Retrieved 9 September 2021.
  18. ^ "Trener Października 2021: Maciej Skorża (Lech Poznań)" (in Polish). Ekstraklasa. 10 November 2021. Retrieved 12 November 2021.
  19. ^ "Nie mogło być inaczej. Maciej Skorża trenerem miesiąca w PKO Ekstraklasie. Szkoleniowiec Lecha Poznań otrzyma tę nagrodę po raz trzeci". gol24.pl (in Polish). 3 June 2022. Retrieved 23 May 2023.

External links[edit]

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