The fate of Kamil Glik is sealed?! The president has set a tough condition!

Michał Białoński, Polsat Sport: Kamil Glik is a very important figure for Cracovia, a kind of answer to Kuba Błaszczykowski from Wisła. An icon of the Polish national team. However, in terms of health, his adventure with "Pasy" did not go according to the club's plans, and above all Kamil himself. Can you imagine that after the injury is cured, you will present Glik with an offer to extend his contract, which expires in June?

Mateusz Dróżdż, president of Cracovia: I think it will be a decision of the entire sports department. As for Kamil, I can say that for the first time in my life I have seen something like this, where a footballer, after tearing both ligaments, returns to the pitch in less than three months. I wish him the fastest return to the pitch, to regain great form, because then it will be easier for us to talk about a new contract. But let's also remember that sometimes rushing into such serious injuries is a bad advisor. It can cause tearing of other ligaments, as happened to Arkadiusz Milik, for example.

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Do you regret the storm that ensued after your visit to the players' locker room after last year's defeat to Ruch Chorzów? Kamil Glik wrote on platform X that no one had ever humiliated him so much.

I regret one thing, that I didn't know that we were saying goodbye to players who were leaving. That's why the timing of my speech in the dressing room was wrong. It was enough for me to say goodbye to players, but in general it was a good time to say that we will not accept certain things.

And you have to ask Kamil himself about his words. Someone might accuse me of being thoughtless, emotional. But no. It was the last moment, right after the season, for such words.

Warning light coming on?

Exactly. Such a message at the first training session before the new season would not have the right effect, it would have spoiled the atmosphere. On the other hand, sending the players on leave with a message that may have been unpleasant, but gave time for reflection. I only regret that I did not fully respect those who were leaving, but I did not know about this fact beforehand.

President Dróżdż on the election of the PZPN president

In June, we will have elections in the Polish Football Association. Does it surprise you that in the largest and richest Polish association there is only one candidate – the current president Cezary Kulesza?

I think the editor himself is smiling and knows that it won't be like that until the end.

Won't it be election by acclamation?

I think not. There are many things to improve in Polish football. The provincial associations should play a big role in this. From my perspective, it seems to me that they should focus on amateur football and try to help professional clubs at the central level as much as possible. In turn, the Polish Football Association should focus very strongly on professional football.

Although there are many things to improve, I do not want to say that I expect drastic changes. I know Czarek Kulesza, but I would be happy to hear from the rival candidates.

Even Wojciech Cygan? A year ago he assured that he would not start against Kulesza, but after the tensions between the Polish Football Association and Ekstraklasa clubs, this could change.

I don't know what Wojtek's plans are, but he's definitely a person with a lot of experience from a few clubs. From GKS Katowice, from Raków. He's worked in different conditions: he was in a municipal company, now he's with a huge private owner of Raków Częstochowa. He's in the Polish Football Association, he has a lot of knowledge about football. It's definitely worth listening to people like that and using their knowledge. I'm not saying necessarily in the role of the president of the Polish Football Association, but to use it in general, even though it wasn't easy for us to transfer Makuch to Raków.

Don't you think that because the barons, or heads of the provincial associations, are divided, Ekstraklasa has a particularly large say in the voting room? This was demonstrated by the abandonment of the obligation to field a youth player, introduced under the clear dictate of the clubs.

I have always tried not to pay attention to who has how many votes. It is tiring. If we want to move forward with football, and we have a lot of money and even greater potential in the nation, and great infrastructure, so we are really able to do it. Even as a representative of the environment, let's not focus on who has how many sabres and who they know, but what idea they have for football and how they want to develop it. This is the most important thing for me.

If together, as Ekstraklasa, we decide that a given candidate is the best not for Ekstraklasa, but for the whole of Polish football, then such a decision will simply have to be made.

So you think that we can get more out of the entire league: Ekstraklasa, the whole of Polish professional football than we currently do?

I think this is a common position and it is difficult to argue with it.

Mateusz Dróżdż: I want to achieve success with Cracovia as soon as possible

Do you have time in your life for your private passions, having Cracovia and your family on your mind, which you try to reconcile by coming to matches with your son? On top of that, you have lectures at a Warsaw university.

A good question, because sometimes you stop and don't realize that you're totally tired. As managers running the club, we have to have a "clear head" so as not to make hasty decisions, because we are the leaders of this project and we are responsible for it. Sometimes you need to rest, and this rest is often lacking.

Scientific work is my passion, which has been going on for 15 years. As time goes by, it involves more and more sacrifice. Generations of students change, and I constantly commute to Warsaw from different parts of Poland. I often wonder if an unmarked car is following me, because I need to get back to Krakow as soon as possible.

I also take my son to every football and hockey match and to the reserves. We come back home and he starts singing songs from the Cracovia stadium. I can see that the family is united with football. When we drive past the Widzew stadium, my son immediately reacts with a smile and excitement at the sight of the Widzew emblem: "Oh! It's here!"

My work in football is the greatest sacrifice for my wife, who now combines her professional career with childcare. I appreciate it very much and I am proud of her. However, I would like to realize my plans: achieve sporting and management success and create space for my wife to also fulfill her professional dreams. When I succeed, I will take over some of the responsibilities that she now has to deal with. But first, I want to do something good in football.

The time for your wife's career will come on Saint Dygdy, which never comes, or do you give yourself, for example, a five-year old for that?

It's hard to say. I want to achieve success with Cracovia as soon as possible.

Will you say openly that this is about the Polish championship, which "Pasy" have been waiting for since 1948?

Yes. Definitely yes. If nothing unforeseeable happens, we have the conditions to achieve this goal. This year is still experimental, we are creating structures, patterns. For example, Cracovia players must finally start to cope with the fact that they are playing as favorites. In recent matches, they also did not cope because of what was going on in their heads. For example, we go out to play with GKS Katowice and quickly concede a goal. We go out to play with Zagłębie Lubin, it is the 90th minute and you have to know that in Cracovia you have a certain quality, do not give it up, you are the favorite, you have much more value and you have to use it. Start to cope with pressure.

I think that if nothing unpredictable happens, Cracovia, which is already strong this year, will be even stronger next year and will definitely join the fight for the championship.

It's hard to be surprised that fans are impatient. In recent years, national supremacy has been achieved by: Jagiellonia, Piast Gliwice, Zagłębie Lubin, but not the oldest club in Poland, with a beautiful history.

That's why I would really like to win a medal this year, no matter what color. We really still have a chance, but our main goal is the top eight and we will settle accounts with that. We have to break through as soon as possible and start winning. In the Polish league, because it is so equal, which on the one hand guarantees emotions, and on the other, it shows the weakness of the league - in La Liga or Premier League the top has hardly changed for years, the truth is that we need a series of victories. Even five victories and one draw in six consecutive matches.

When I worked at Zagłębie Lubin, I also took a risk with coach Ben van Dael. We were in 13th place when the league was divided in half. And it paid off. In 18 rounds, we had eleven wins, five draws and two defeats. Ultimately, it was only in the penultimate match of the season that we lost our chance for the cups, and Cracovia knocked them out of our heads, when, during coach Probierz's term, they scored a goal in the 90th minute after a mistake by a young player Damian Oko, who was playing a great season. I remember it to this day, because when the score was 1:1, we had a chance for the cups, and after Cracovia's second goal, the cups were over. Everything is possible now. I would like to achieve sporting success. Although the saying "never say never" applies, it seems to me that Cracovia will be my last club in my career as president.

You are aware that the podium means playing for the European cup, and coach Kroczek raises the argument that the squad is too small, despite the transfers of Henriksson and Minczew. The squad for the cups should be built in the winter, so that the team has time to settle in during the spring.

We are working on further transfers, but I agree one hundred percent that managing, in a sporting aspect, a team that plays in the cups is an enormous challenge. When I was chairman of the Supervisory Board at Zagłębie Lubin, we played for the Europa League with Partizan Belgrade, Slavia Sofia and we were eliminated by the Danish Sonderjyske, which threw throw-ins like Puszcza Niepołomice. That is why we sensitized the players to kick out for a corner kick, because there was a lower risk of conceding a goal than from a throw-in.

After this short adventure with the cups, we did tests on the players' bodies in October and November. The results were dramatic. In terms of physical condition, some players were worse than me. That's how much the European matches and the change in the microcycle cost them. That's why I know that fighting in the cups really means having to create two "elevens". And this is associated with costs that cannot be eliminated in football in one day. That's why it's important to do it wisely.

President of Cracovia on the situation of ice hockey

Are you happy with your cooperation with hockey coach Marek Ziętara? There is a risk that Cracovia will be eliminated in the quarter-finals, because they will not be favourites in the clash to four wins with the reigning Polish champion – Unia Oświęcim. They lost two away games, although the first one was rather unlucky, after extra time.

Honestly, I expected a little more from the regular season. This is not a dig at the coach, but at the whole team. We thought it would be better. Especially after the good start.

In fact, the team was close to advancing to the Polish Cup final tournament, in which four teams played. Ultimately, you finished the regular season in sixth place.

That's right. After the win with Katowice, we were even the leader, for two rounds, I think. Let's not kid ourselves, this is a completely new team that is doing what it can. I have a very good conversation with coach Ziętara. We were summarizing before the international break. I can see how much they and Jacek Szopiński are working. There will definitely be time for the final summaries, because the play-offs are something completely different. If we show the hockey we played at the beginning, we will be able to beat anyone, not just Unia Oświęcim.

I emphasize at every turn that Polish hockey requires many changes, and in every field, actually. After Cracovia hockey is separated into a separate company, I will still help, but I will not manage it, if only because there is so much work there that I am physically unable to cope. For example, I have to be at a match in Zabrze at the same time as the hockey team is playing the fourth match in the play-off phase with Unia Oświęcim.

Will the hockey president report to you?

The hockey company will be in the structure of the Comarch Group. Of course, I am available to help and provide ideas. In hockey, I have established good contact with some presidents, such as president Woźniak from Tychy, with whom we are on similar wavelengths. Sometimes it is good when one person comes from the outside, with a fresh perspective. I was at one meeting with the Polish Hockey Federation and I directly articulated the shortcomings: "As a person who came to the world of football, I say that it cannot continue to look like this."

What was that about?

In my opinion, we will not make a product of the current shape of our league, in which there are nine teams, two of which are in a tragic situation, and we insist on playing five rounds. Just because that is how it is played in Europe. Meanwhile, in Slovakia and the Czech Republic, hockey is a national sport. That is why we may need to reduce the number of matches. The costs of organizing matches are so high that we very often contribute to playing each match. This is not just a problem for Cracovia, but a nationwide problem.

At the PZHL meeting I said that we need to make radical changes like the Icelanders once made in football. They said they were focusing on the youth, so they focused less on the league, and the best players left for other countries to develop. Maybe this is what we need to do in Polish hockey, to rebuild the Polish league? Because in this case everything has to be implemented on the basis of a wise and professional strategy.

GKS Tychy also has exemplary organisation of youth training.

For me, it's the best organized hockey club in Poland. On the other hand, hockey cups, like the Continental Cup, generally mean losses, because the costs are often higher than the revenues. The president of Unia Oświęcim told me about it. In football, such situations are rather rare.

Will the hockey company operate from the new season?

Yes. Preparations will begin under the new company. These processes are already underway.

Is the structure of Ekstraklasa clubs' finances already healed? Players' wages no longer consume 75 percent of clubs' budgets.

We try to keep them within 50-60%, because these are the recommendations. Remember that these 50-60%, and in some clubs even 100-110% resulted from the fact that the earnings were influenced by the amounts transferred to the players from transfers. If the player had it written in the contract that he would have 20% from a future transfer, and he was sold for five million euros, then paying one million euros to one player increases the amount that the club spends on paying all the players. The same happens with the amounts for signing a contract. Generally, we also get more money from Ekstraklasa and from other sources. This does not change the fact that players in Poland earn a lot. In this way, we also compete with other countries to win the race for good players with Sweden, Slovakia, Hungary, etc.

Doesn't the spending on managerial commissions in the Ekstraklasa make your blood boil?

These amounts have always amazed me. As a lawyer, where we also served footballers in our law firm, I would have to work for ten years for such a commission, for example for a young player who is transferred abroad. Of course, it should be regulated differently, but it is difficult to do so. If club X wants to pay an agent such money, we cannot forbid it. The activity of football agents was limited by a FIFA resolution, but even domestic courts have recognized the inconsistency of some provisions of this act. This shows that it is difficult to regulate it differently.

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