Veteran striker Robert Lewandowski has been named captain after being recalled on Friday to the  Poland squad by new national coach Jan Urban for 2026 World Cup qualifers.

In June, Lewandowski, by far Poland’s all-time leading scorer, refused to play for the national team after Michal Probierz stripped the striker of the captain’s armband. 

Probierz resigned in June after his team, without Lewandowski, lost a World Cup qualifier to Finland.

“Robert Lewandowski will be the team captain,” Jan Urban said on the Polish Football Association web site.

Lewandowski, who made his Poland debut in 2008 and turned 37 on August 21, has 85 international goals, 37 more than the country’s second highest all-time scorer, and 158 caps, 49 more than the next most-used player.

Urban said he had consulted with the players before announcing the squad to face the Netherlands on September 4 in Rotterdam and Finland on September 7 in Chorzow, Poland.

“The players have already been informed about this,” he said.

“I spoke to them about it, I wanted them to be the first to know my decision. It is final and I consider the subject of the captain’s armband closed. There will be no further comments on this.”

sw/pb/pi