Ten Ekstraklasa clubs have changed their sporting director in 2026, meaning there has been more turnover in the boardroom than in the dugout in the Polish top flight this year.
In an ideal model, a manager is changed more frequently than a club's strategy, which the sporting director represents and guards. However, in an environment where sporting directors are intended to provide long-term stability and institutional memory, more than half the league has replaced the person in charge of their football strategy over the past nine months. A third of the clubs in the division have changed both their manager and their sporting director in that time.
Only six clubs currently employ a sporting director who has been at the club longer than their manager.
Just a few years ago, having a sporting director was not a given in Poland. Many clubs entrusted transfer policy to their managers, while some expansive chairmen took the responsibility upon themselves, listening only to advisors. The Polish Football Association (PZPN) has been running special courses for sporting directors in recent years to improve standards. The role is now less frequently given to unemployed managers waiting to replace a struggling boss, or completely unprepared former players hired for their image, but stability remains elusive.
Table reflects turnover
After nine rounds of the new season, the league table shows a clear divide. Teams that have kept the same manager since the start of 2026 sit in the top half, while those who made a change in the past nine months are in the bottom half.
The only exceptions are Pogoń Szczecin, who sit in the top half despite Oscar Garcia only taking charge in June, and promoted Śląsk Wrocław, who are near the relegation zone despite a long-term coaching setup.
High managerial turnover is a trend in modern football, where the era of figures like Sir Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger has passed. In the English Premier League, almost half the clubs changed managers between seasons. However, data from the CIES Football Observatory shows that clubs which have not changed their manager in 2026 possess squads that are on average almost five months more stable than those that have. A new manager brings a new vision, different player profiles, and new transfer whims.
Ownership changes and chaos
A wave of ownership changes across Polish football has fuelled the high turnover in personnel.
At Pogoń Szczecin, Alex Haditaghi's arrival in the spring of 2025 prompted a tornado of changes across various roles in the club.
Korona Kielce have kept manager Jacek Zieliński, but everything else at the club has changed, including their place in the league's food chain.
Widzew Łódź have seen a rotation of sporting directors and managers since Robert Dobrzycki arrived at the club. The club is near the bottom of the league for squad stability and has recorded disappointing results despite fielding high-class players. Widzew recently secured a major boardroom signing by bringing in sporting director Łukasz Masłowski from Jagiellonia Białystok.
At Legia Warszawa, Michał Żewłakow lost his job as sporting director, but the club maintained some continuity by handing his duties to Fredi Bobić, who was already working at the capital club in a similar role.
Górnik Zabrze, the current Ekstraklasa leaders, are a different proposition. While the club theoretically underwent a recent ownership change, Lukas Podolski acted as an informal boss even while playing, meaning little has changed structurally for years. Górnik have had the same two board members for two years, their sporting director for two and a half years, and their manager is in his second season.
The Jagiellonia model
Before leaving for Widzew, Masłowski spent four years as sporting director at Jagiellonia, working with three managers: Piotr Nowak, Maciej Stolarczyk, and Adrian Siemieniec.
The club's model showed that an unsuccessful managerial hire from the market can buy time to assess structures and discover a generational talent like Siemieniec working in the reserves. The continuity allowed Jagiellonia to build a squad for a specific style of play over six transfer windows. Despite numerous changes, the core of the team remained intact. Today, Jagiellonia have the most stable squad in the league, with players spending an average of more than 29 months at the club, nearly a full season above the league average.
Lech Poznań boast similar stability. Sporting director Tomasz Rząsa has been in the role for eight years, having previously served as first-team assistant manager and youth coordinator. He has hired six managers and, despite some misses, built a squad that has won the Polish championship three times.
Lech rank third in the league for squad stability, with players averaging 26 months at the club. The club has not changed ownership in 20 years, allowing them to win the long race even if they lose at individual stages.
Contrasting fortunes for promoted sides
Wisła Kraków have enjoyed a painless return to the Ekstraklasa and a surprisingly successful start to the season after spending nothing on summer transfers.
Sporting director Vullnet Basha has been in his post for over two years, slightly longer than manager Mariusz Jop, who is outranked by only four managers in the league for tenure at a single club. Wisła played the first stage of the season largely with their I-liga squad, with goalkeeper Marcel Łubik the only new arrival to immediately secure an indisputable starting spot. The squad's stability is above the league average at 21 months, meaning players average two seasons at the club. While others are forming a style of play, Wisła have well-developed solutions.
Fellow promoted side Śląsk Wrocław are struggling at the bottom of the table despite keeping the tandem of manager Ante Simundża and sporting director Rafał Grodzicki, who have worked together since early 2025 and oversaw both relegation and promotion.
The Lower Silesia team faces the challenge of constantly rebuilding the squad from scratch. Simundża changed his formation in the winter, and the squad underwent major rebuilds both after relegation and promotion. Śląsk rank higher than only three teams in the league for average player tenure.
Meanwhile, Wieczysta Kraków sit second from bottom in the Ekstraklasa despite impressive investments and high-profile signings by owner Wojciech Kwiecień and sporting director Sławomir Peszko, who previously managed the team.
The club has gone through four managers in a year and has the lowest squad stability in the league, with players averaging less than nine months at the club. Success in football can be bought, but not with immediate delivery.
