Sports

Poland Unveils Santos As New National Team Head Coach

Former Portugal head coach Fernando Santos has landed the job of the Polish national team despite calls for his resignation from coaching job.

Resignations and sacks of some coaches that took big footballing nations to the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar was a theme following their disappointing outings in the Gulf.

Brazil’s Tite stepped down, Roberto Martinez left his role as Belgium’s head coach and has since been appointed the new coach of Portugal replacing Fernando Santos.

Santos himself has been appointed as the new head coach of Poland and was unveiled on Tuesday evening by the Polish Football Association.

Santos, 68, led Portugal to victory at Euro 2016 and the 2019 Nations League.

Portugal were eliminated in last year’s Qatar World Cup quarter-finals at the hands of surprise semifinalists, Morocco who became Africa’s first nation to reach the semifinals of the FIFA World Cup.

Commenting on his appointment, Santos said:”It is an honour to continue my work as a trainer here.”

Cezary Kulesza, head of the Polish Football Federation, said: “we have chosen the best” and “the choice was difficult”, as he tasked Santos with qualifying for the 2024 European Championship in Germany.

Izuchukwu Okosi

Izuchukwu Okosi is a Nigerian sports and entertainment journalist with two decades of experience in the media industry having begun his media journey in 2002 as an intern at Mundial Sports International (MSI) and Africa Independent Television (AIT), owners of Daar Communications Plc. In October 2004, Okosi joined Complete Communications Limited, publishers of Complete Sports newspaper and Complete Football magazine as a reporter and later script writer for the Complete Sports studio. He worked there for 13 years until October 2017. Okosi also worked various times as Correspondent, Content creator and Editor at Sports Market International Magazine, Opera News, All Nigeria Soccer Media and Iconic Media Watch. He also undertook freelance writing gigs for some local and international organizations. Okosi is a member of the Actors Guild of Nigeria (AGN), Association of Movie Producers (AMP), Association of Voiceover Artistes of Nigeria (AVOA), Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN) and Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ). He has been part of cast in some Nollywood movies and radio dramas including Blood Money 2, Scores To Settle, Dead End 2, Another Campus Tale and Battle Line. Aside mainstream media and the entertainment industry, he has interests in scouting/unearthing of talents in the sports and creative sectors, exports business and property development.