NewsNational Team A
Jan Urban: My Main Focus Right Now Is Albania
Poland head coach Jan Urban took part in today’s 2026 FIFA World Cup group-stage draw in Washington. Should the national team win the play-offs, they will be placed in Group F, where their opponents would be Tunisia, the Netherlands and Japan.
“It looks like we’ve been placed in a fairly strong group, assuming, of course, that we make it to the World Cup. I hope we do. I can even joke that the Netherlands seem to be following us around, as we played them twice recently in the World Cup qualifiers. We know that opponent very well. Japan are a side capable of anything. They can be beaten, but they can also surprise anyone. As for Tunisia, they’re the team we know the least about at this stage,” Urban told Łączy Nas Piłka shortly after the ceremony.
But the Poland head coach is firm about his priorities. “My main focus right now is Albania. We need to keep our attention on what we can actually deliver in the play-offs. That’s the priority. There are four months left until the match, and hopefully everything will come together for us. The entire staff will work on adequate preparation for the matches. Between now and March, we have to concentrate on the three teams we might meet in the play-offs: Albania, who we’ll face in the semi-final in Warsaw, and then Ukraine or Sweden as potential opponents in the final.”
“Hopefully, after the play-offs, our "problem" will be analysing the three teams in our World Cup group. Or rather two, because we know the Netherlands inside out. It would be great to face them for a third time – this time at the World Cup,” Urban concluded.
