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.
 Skorża managing Urawa Red Diamonds in 2023 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Maciej Skorża | ||
| Date of birth | 10 January 1972 | ||
| 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 | |||
Club career
editHe was playing as a defender for Radomiak Radom and AZS-AWF Warsaw.
Managerial career
editEarly career
editIn 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
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
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
editOn 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
editOn 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
editIn 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
editFrom 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
editOn 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
editOn 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]
At 2023 AFC Champions League, he helped Urawa Reds get eliminated from Group stage and he left the club with that disappointing result.
Managerial statistics
edit- As of 22 December 2023
| Team | Nat | From | To | Record | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| G | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Win % | ||||
| Amica Wronki |  | 17 June 2004 | 21 November 2005 | 45 | 15 | 13 | 17 | 52 | 61 | −9 | 33.33 |
| Dyskobolia | | 16 November 2006 | 6 June 2007 | 15 | 8 | 5 | 2 | 23 | 11 | +12 | 53.33 |
| Wisła Kraków | | 13 June 2007 | 15 March 2010 | 92 | 58 | 16 | 18 | 169 | 76 | +93 | 63.04 |
| Legia Warsaw | | 1 June 2010 | 30 May 2012 | 85 | 46 | 17 | 22 | 135 | 82 | +53 | 54.12 |
| Ettifaq FC |  | 26 September 2012 | 13 June 2013 | 31 | 10 | 7 | 14 | 38 | 47 | −9 | 32.26 |
| Lech Poznań | | 1 September 2014 | 12 October 2015 | 59 | 30 | 12 | 17 | 97 | 61 | +36 | 50.85 |
| Pogoń Szczecin | | 1 July 2017 | 30 October 2017 | 16 | 3 | 3 | 10 | 18 | 28 | −10 | 18.75 |
| United Arab Emirates U-23 |  | 19 March 2018 | 28 February 2020 | 16 | 7 | 4 | 5 | 31 | 28 | +3 | 43.75 |
| Lech Poznań | | 12 April 2021 | 6 June 2022 | 46 | 29 | 9 | 8 | 90 | 35 | +55 | 63.04 |
| Urawa Red Diamonds |  | 1 February 2023 | 30 December 2023 | 60 | 25 | 20 | 15 | 77 | 56 | +21 | 41.67 |
| Career total | 465 | 231 | 106 | 128 | 730 | 486 | +244 | 49.68 | |||
Honours
editManagerial
editAmica Wronki youth
Dyskobolia
- Polish Cup: 2006–07
- Ekstraklasa Cup: 2007
Wisła Kraków
Legia Warsaw
Lech Poznań
- Ekstraklasa: 2014–15, 2021–22
- Polish Super Cup: 2015
Urawa Red Diamonds
Individual
- Polish Coach of the Year: 2007, 2011[16]
- Ekstraklasa Coach of the Season: 2021–22[17]
- Ekstraklasa Coach of the Month: October 2011,[18] August 2021,[19] October 2021,[20] May 2022[21]
References
edit- ^ "Maciej Skorża: Ekstraklasa". Wirtualna Polska. Retrieved 2009-04-08.
- ^ "When Wisla Krakow beat Guardiola's treble-winning Barcelona". Planet Football. 28 August 2022.
- ^ Ashdown, John (2 October 2008). "Wisla Krakow 1-1 Tottenham Hotspur (2-3 agg)". The Guardian.
- ^ "Maciej Skorża nie jest już trenerem Wisły". wisla.krakow.pl. Retrieved 2010-03-15.
- ^ "Skorża oficjalnie trenerem Legii" (in Polish). Polish Press Agency. 1 June 2010. Retrieved 1 June 2010.
- ^ "Maciej Skorża nie jest już trenerem Pogoni!" (in Polish). gol24.pl. 30 October 2017.
- ^ "Maciej Skorża trenerem Lecha". 90minut. 10 April 2021. Retrieved 10 April 2021.
- ^ "Wielki powrót na Bułgarską! Trener Maciej Skorża znów poprowadzi Lecha Poznań". Lech Poznań's Twitter. 10 April 2021. Retrieved 11 April 2021.
- ^ "Oficjalnie: Lech Poznań mistrzem Polski. Na kolejny tytuł czekał siedem lat". gol24.pl (in Polish). 14 May 2022. Retrieved 14 June 2022.
- ^ "Fortuna Puchar Polski. Raków broni trofeum! Czarna passa Lecha trwa". sport.tvp.pl/ (in Polish). Retrieved 14 June 2022.
- ^ "Maciej Skorża na własną prośbę odchodzi z Lecha Poznań" (in Polish). Lech Poznań. 6 June 2022.
- ^ "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.
- ^ "Urawa beats Al-Hilal to win Asian Champions League title". apnews.com. 6 May 2023.
- ^ "Urawa Reds edge Al Hilal for historic third title". AFC. 6 May 2023. Retrieved 6 May 2023.
- ^ Orlowitz, Dan (6 May 2023). "Urawa beats Al Hilal to capture third Asian Champions League title". The Japan Times. Retrieved 6 May 2023.
- ^ "Laureaci". pilkanozna.pl (in Polish). Retrieved 21 June 2024.
- ^ "Nagrodzono gwiazdy sezonu w PKO Bank Polski Ekstraklasie" (in Polish). Ekstraklasa. 23 May 2022. Retrieved 29 May 2022.
- ^ "Skorża i Celeban najlepsi we październiku" (in Polish). Archived from the original on 2011-11-26.
- ^ "Trener Sierpnia 2021: Maciej Skorża" (in Polish). Ekstraklasa. 9 September 2021. Archived from the original on 2021-09-09. Retrieved 9 September 2021.
- ^ "Trener Października 2021: Maciej Skorża (Lech Poznań)" (in Polish). Ekstraklasa. 10 November 2021. Retrieved 12 November 2021.
- ^ "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.