Ahead of the Poland National Team squad is the ever-important fixture against Albania in the 2026 World Cup Play-Offs semi-final, with the winner set to face either Ukraine or Sweden for a place at this summer’s international tournament in North America.
On Friday afternoon, Head Coach Jan Urban announced his 25-man squad ahead of the March international break and the upcoming 2026 World Cup Play-Offs.
The Poland National Team squad are not in unknown territory as they always find themselves in this position after missing out on automatic qualification.
From potential debuts to experienced internationals, Urban has named an impressively strong, youthful and talented squad that should hopefully give the Polish fans something to cheer about come the end of March.
Poland National Team Squad Selection: A Look At The Call-Ups
Ahead of the 2026 World Cup Play-Offs, here’s who Poland Head Coach Jan Urban has decided to call upon ahead of the important fixtures in the March international break.
Goalkeepers: Bartlomiej Dragowski (Widzew Lodz), Kamil Grabara (VfL Wolfsburg), Mateusz Kochalski (Qarabag FK), Bartosz Mrozek (Lech Poznan)
Defenders: Jan Bednarek (FC Porto), Bartosz Bereszynski (Palermo), Matty Cash (Aston Villa), Tomasz Kedziora (PAOK), Jakub Kiwior (FC Porto), Arkadiusz Pyrka (FC St.Pauli), Przemyslaw Wisniewski (Widzew Lodz), Jan Ziolkowski (AS Roma)
Midfielders: Kamil Grosicki (Pogon Szczecin), Jakub Kaminski (1. FC Koln), Jakub Moder (Feyenoord), Oskar Pietuszewski (FC Porto), Filip Rozga (Sturm Graz), Michal Skoras (KAA Gent), Bartosz Slisz (Brondby IF), Sebastian Szymanski (Stade Rennais), Nikola Zalewski (Atalanta BC), Piotr Zielinski (Inter Milan)
Forwards: Robert Lewandowski (FC Barcelona), Krzysztof Piatek (Al-Duhail SC), Karol Swiderski (Panathinaikos)
Poland National Team Squad Selection: The Youth Talents Coming Through
Compared to 2025, there are a lot fewer younger players involved during this international break; however, this is the first of many in 2026.
Head Coach Jan Urban has called up the talented wonderkid Oskar Pietuszewski, who has been tearing Portugal apart, as the young forward looks to be in line for his Poland national team debut.
Alongside the 17-year-old, Poland’s Head Coach has called up Sturm Graz’s Filip Rozga, AS Roma’s Jan Ziolkowski, and FC. St Pauli’s Arkadiusz Pyrka, who complete the line-up of youngsters with little national team experience and are also under the age of 23.
From this Poland National Team squad selection, Urban is looking for a splash of youthfulness to mix in with the experienced professionals.
With this international break being ever so important for Poland’s hopes of reaching the 2026 World Cup, it is the right move not to include so many uncapped youngsters and stick with the tried and tested method of using players reaching their primes and utilising the experienced heads.
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Poland National Team Squad Selection: The Goalkeeper Dilemma
Since the retirements of Lukasz Fabianski and Wojciech Szczesny, there has been a huge dilemma about who will replace the two outstanding shot-stoppers.
Lukasz Skorupski, Poland’s third-choice goalkeeper for a long time whilst Fabianski and Szczesny battled for the number one spot, was given the nod as the White and Reds’ outright number one.
However, with the Bologna goalkeeper out until May with an injury, the debate surrounding Poland’s starting goalkeeper for the March international break gets louder.
Marcin Bulka would have been the likely replacement for Skorupski, as they traded blows in their battle for the number one jersey in 2025; however, the 26-year-old is also injured.
In the latest Poland national team squad selection, Jan Urban has called upon Dragowski, Grabara, Mrozek and Kochalski.
Dragowski will likely be Poland’s number one until Skorupski has recovered from injury, as the Widzew Lodz shot-stopper is the most experienced out of the group of goalkeepers and has made the most caps, one more than Grabara and four more than the uncapped Mrozek and Kochalski.
In terms of consistency and form, however, the other three goalkeepers have the upper hand over Dragowski, who has only just returned to playing regular first-team football after being in and out of the starting XI at Panathinaikos.
Urban will definitely know what he is doing in terms of picking the right goalkeeper for the matches ahead, but it will certainly be a selection headache for him while his more experienced number one is out injured.
Poland National Team Squad Selection: Robert Lewandowski Looks To Lead The White And Reds To The 2026 World Cup
Lewandowski, who is Poland’s all-time leading goalscorer, will look to do what he does best: finding the back of the net and leading the Poles to another major tournament.
The 37-year-old may be in the twilight of his career, but he is still scoring goals for fun as he is enjoying his time at Barcelona.
Hitting double figures in the league every season since the 2011/12 season, the forward looks to add further goals for Poland as he chases down the 100-goal mark for the national team.
He scored four goals and assisted three in the 2026 World Cup Qualifiers, which was definitely one of his quieter qualifying campaigns, but he was ever-present as Poland finished in second place behind the Netherlands.
Appearing at the last six major tournaments for Poland, the Play-Offs beckon for the Poles for the third consecutive time, but the White and Reds’ record is a positive one, so there can certainly be optimism ahead of the March international break for Poland.
Main Photo
Credit: IMAGO / Domenic Aquilina
Recording Date: 17.11.2025
