page_title: Poland national football team
section_title: 2008: Debut at the Euros
hierarchical_section_title: Poland national football team / History / 2008: Debut at the Euros
caption_attribution_description: Euzebiusz "Ebi" Smolarek
context_page_description: The Poland national football team has represented Poland in men's international football competitions since their first match in 1921. The team is controlled by the Polish Football Association, the governing body for football in Poland.
  Poland has competed at eight FIFA World Cups with their first appearance being in 1938 where they were eliminated by Brazil. The country's best result is a bronze medal which Poland won in 1974 and 1982, with this era being regarded as the golden era of Polish international football. At the UEFA European Championship, Poland's best result was a quarter-finals appearance at the 2016 tournament before losing to Portugal. Overall they have competed in three European Championships with their debut being in 2008. They were co-hosts of the 2012 edition, along with Ukraine. Overall, Poland's best ever result in international football tournaments was the gold medal won at the 1972 Munich Olympics, along with winning the silver medal on two occasions; at the 1976 Montreal Olympics and at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics.
context_section_description: In Euro 2008 qualifying, Poland were drawn into a group with Portugal, Serbia, Finland, Belgium, Kazakhstan, Armenia and Azerbaijan. Poland's campaign began in uncomfortable fashion; suffering a 1–3 defeat to Finland on 2 September 2006 and then drawing 1–1 with Serbia on 6 September. In the third match, on 7 October, Poland won 1–0 over Kazakhstan, with Euzebiusz Smolarek scoring the goal. On 11 October, Poland beat Portugal 2–1 with Smolarek scoring the two goals. On 15 November, they beat Belgium 1–0. On 24 March 2007, Poland beat Azerbaijan 5–0, and on 28 March beat Armenia 1–0. On 2 June, they beat Azerbaijan 3–1 with Smolarek and Krzynówek (2) scoring. On 6 June, Poland lost 1–0 to Armenia, on 8 September drew 2–2 with Portugal, and on 12 September drew 0–0 with Finland. On 13 October, Poland beat Kazakhstan 3–1 with a hat-trick from Smolarek. On 17 November, they beat Belgium 2–0 with two goals from Smolarek, and on 21 November drew 2–2 with Serbia in the final qualifying game; thus qualifying for the tournament as the 1st place team in the qualifying group following Portugal's 0–0 draw with Finland, Poland's first ever Euro appearance.
  At UEFA Euro 2008, they were drawn in Group B; with Germany, Austria and Croatia. The opening match was against Germany on 8 June at the Hypo-Arena in Klagenfurt, a match that Poland lost 2–0 with two goals from Lukas Podolski. In the second game, Poland drew 1–1 with Austria; taking the lead through Brazil-born Roger Guerreiro, before conceding in the third minute of stoppage time following a controversial penalty. The final group game was against Croatia, which Poland lost 1–0, finishing bottom of the group.
caption: Euzebiusz Smolarek, who scored 9 goals during the qualifying phase.
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