UEFA.com works better on other browsers
For the best possible experience, we recommend using Chrome, Firefox or Microsoft Edge.

Lewandowski leads Poland to France

Poland struck 33 goals en route to sealing their third consecutive finals spot, more than any other team so far – and with Robert Lewandowski scoring 13 of them.

Robert Lewandowski leads the qualification celebrations
Robert Lewandowski leads the qualification celebrations ©AFP/Getty Images

Poland's goal tally of 33 is, as of Sunday night, the best in UEFA EURO 2016 qualifying and goes a long way to explaining why they have reached their third consecutive continental finals.

Europe's most in-form striker, Robert Lewandowski spectacularly headed the winner that gave Poland a 2-1 victory against the Republic of Ireland in Warsaw and a ticket to France. It was his 13th goal in qualifying, equalling the record for a single campaign set by David Healy for Northern Ireland eight years ago, and came after he kicked off with four away to Gibraltar last September.

Arkadiusz Milik and Sebastian Mila saw off Germany 2-0 the following month, and in a tough group also containing Scotland, Poland were always involved in the upper reaches. Lewandowski had much to do with that, and he hit a five-minute hat-trick against Georgia in June, before even more crucially striking in the dying seconds against Scotland to equalise on Thursday.

That was his 12th of the campaign and he made it 13 against Ireland. Qualification was of course about far more than one man – Milik assisted six of Lewandowski's goals as well as scoring six himself – but the pre-tournament focus will inevitably be on the man from Bayern München, especially if his current vein of form continues.

Reaction
Adam Nawalka, Poland coach
From the beginning I believed in our success. It never occurred to me that we would not be at the EURO. I had a strategy, a vision of how to conduct our work. In the beginning we had a lot of things to improve. It was a process spread over a longer period, and we remember the words of criticism after the first matches.

The lads did a fantastic job. From the beginning, I believed that the players chosen would meet their own expectations, as well as those of the coaching staff and fans.

Robert gave this team a glow, but all were prominent, every cell functioned. It was a fantastic collective. We're making progress and, I will say immodestly, we have not had our final word ...

©AFP/Getty Images

Key stats
Final tournaments: 2 (most recent 2012)
Best result: group stage 2008, 2012
Coach: Adam Nawalka
Leading scorers: all-time – Włodzimierz Lubański (48); current – Robert Lewandowski (32)
Most appearances: all-time – Michał Żewłakow (102); current – Jakub Błaszczykowski (74)

Record EURO appearances
Overall: Jacek Bąk (28)
Final tournament: Marcin Wasilewski (6)

Record EURO goals
Overall: Robert Lewandowski (14)
Final tournament: Jakub Błaszczykowski, Roger Guerreiro, Robert Lewandowski (1)

Selected for you