Maciej Skorża (; born 10 January 1972) is a Polish former professional footballer. He is currently the manager of J1 League club Urawa Red Diamonds.

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

Managerial career

Early career
In 1994, he began his coaching career as a youth coach for Legia Warsaw. 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

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. They later had to face Tottenham Hotspur in the UEFA Cup first round, where they lost 3–2 on aggregate. 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.

Legia Warsaw

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

Ettifaq
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. In June 2013, he announced that he would not extend his contract and left the club.

Lech Poznań
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
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.

United Arab Emirates U23
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.

Return to Lech Poznań
On 10 April 2021, he was announced as the manager of Lech Poznań. He officially took over this position on 12 April. 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. On 6 June 2022, he was granted release from his contract, citing personal reasons.

Urawa Red Diamonds
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. 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.

Managerial statistics 
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Honours

Managerial
Amica Wronki youth
 Football Junior Championships of Poland: 2002

Dyskobolia
 Polish Cup: 2006–07
 Ekstraklasa Cup: 2007

Wisła Kraków
 Ekstraklasa: 2007–08, 2008–09

Legia Warsaw
 Polish Cup: 2010–11, 2011–12

Lech Poznań
 Ekstraklasa: 2014–15, 2021–22
 Polish Super Cup: 2015

Urawa Red Diamonds
 AFC Champions League: 2022

Individual
 Ekstraklasa Coach of the Season: 2021–22
 Ekstraklasa Coach of the Month: August 2021, October 2021, May 2022

References

External links

1972 births
Living people
Sportspeople from Radom
Polish football managers
Amica Wronki managers
Dyskobolia Grodzisk Wielkopolski managers
Wisła Kraków managers
Legia Warsaw managers
Lech Poznań managers
Pogoń Szczecin managers
Al-Ettifaq FC managers
J1 League managers
Urawa Red Diamonds managers
Ekstraklasa managers
Saudi Pro League managers
Polish expatriate football managers
Polish expatriate sportspeople in Saudi Arabia
Polish expatriate sportspeople in the United Arab Emirates
Polish expatriate sportspeople in Japan
Expatriate football managers in Saudi Arabia
Expatriate football managers in the United Arab Emirates
Expatriate football managers in Japan