Poland U20

Against Germany U-20 there is no shortage of fixtures — the two meet often in the UEFA U-20 Elite League. Ukraine U-20 provides the other recurring test, though nothing here carries the weight of a named derby.

The team plays wherever the calendar sends it — Białystok, Łomża, Opole, Nieciecza have all hosted matches, and preparation has run through camps in Rączna, Krosno and Pruszków.

Its best finish came in Mexico in 1983, where Poland took bronze at the World Youth Championship, four years after finishing fourth in the same tournament. Later generations reached the round of 16 in 2007 and again in 2019, when Poland hosted the FIFA U-20 World Cup and went out at that stage on home soil.

What the age group is really for shows in the names it has sent upward. The 2007 squad carried Wojciech Szczęsny, and the same production line later passed through Grzegorz Krychowiak, Łukasz Piszczek and Piotr Zieliński. More recently Nicola Zalewski moved through the same age groups on his way to the first team.