England v Poland background

England have had the better of their past matches with Poland and will hope to continue that record as the teams conclude their Group A campaigns.

Previous meetings
• The sides have played in 14 previous matches, England winning seven to Poland's four with three draws; England have scored 29 goals to Poland's 17.

• England have won three of the last four fixtures, including both in qualifying for the 2006 finals – a 3-1 away victory in Rybnik and a 4-1 home triumph in Sheffield.

• Poland's last win came in September 1999, a 3-1 home success in Plock in the preliminaries for the 2000 finals.

• Perhaps the teams' most significant meetings came in the 1982 quarter-finals, won 4-3 on aggregate by England. Paul Goddard (9) and David Hodgson (87) gave the visitors a 2-1 first-leg victory in Warsaw either side of Kazimierz Buda's 54th-minute reply for the hosts.

• England quickly extended their aggregate advantage thanks to two early goals from Mark Hateley (6, 20) in the second leg at London's Boleyn Ground. Poland fought back on the night with strikes from Jaroslaw Biernat (61) and Krzysztof Baran (79), but England held on to progress.

Match background

England
• England are contesting the finals for the sixth successive edition – although in each of the last three tournaments, they failed to get out of the group stage. Champions in 1982 and 1984, they got to the final under Stuart Pearce in 2009 – losing to Germany – and have been semi-finalists on a further five occasions, most recently in 2007.

• This time, England recorded six wins and two draws to finish four points clear at the top of qualifying Group 9 – one of six countries to reach the finals unbeaten. They won all four home games with a 17-2 goal difference, but managed just three goals in four away fixtures – nevertheless winning two and drawing the other two. Their three goals against was the joint lowest in qualifying, along with Denmark and Italy.

Poland
• Poland qualified automatically as hosts.

• The Poles are participating in the finals for the first time since 1994. That year, they progressed to the quarter-finals, equalling their best ever performance in the competition; they were also in the last eight in 1982, 1984, 1986 and 1992.

• Poland's 1994 squad included Jacek Bąk, Tomasz Hajto, Piotr Świerczewski, who all won over 50 caps for the senior national side, while Tomasz Rząsa was a 2002 UEFA Cup winner with Feyenoord.

Coach and player links
• Bartosz Kapustka joined Leicester City in August 2016; Maksymilian Stryjek is at Sunderland.

• Jordan Pickford was in the England team that beat Poland 1-0 in European U17 Championship qualifying in October 2010. Tomasz Kędziora played for Poland.

Coach profiles

Aidy Boothroyd, England
A lower-league defender whose longest stay was with Mansfield Town, Boothroyd moved into coaching in 1998 with the youth teams at Peterborough. Spells in the youth ranks at Norwich City and West Bromwich Albion followed before he stepped up to become first-team coach at Leeds United in 2004.

Boothroyd's first managerial stint followed a year later, when he took over at Watford aged 34. He guided the Hornets to promotion to the Premier League in his first full season, 2005/06, but left in 2008 with the club back in the Championship. Shorter stops ensued with Colchester United, Coventry City and, from 2011–13, Northampton Town. Boothroyd moved into England's youth set-up in February 2014, stepping up to take charge of the Under-21s in October 2016 following Gareth Southgate's appointment to the senior side.

Marcin Dorna, Poland
Dorna started his coaching career while still a physical education student, working with children aged between nine and 11 at UKS GOSIR Dopiewo, a small club near Poznan. He proceeded to work in the youth system at Lech Poznań, training the teams from U10 to U15 level over a period of six and a half years.

He joined the Polish Football Assoction (PZPN) in 2008, initially coaching the U15 to U18 sides and steering the U17s to the semi-finals of their UEFA European Championship in 2012. Dorna took charge of the U21s in January 2013.