The Eagles spread their wings: Meet the Polish U20 national team’s brightest prospects

In recent years, Polish women’s football has been experiencing a period that gives the domestic audience cause for optimism. The youth national teams are, in fact, measuring themselves against the best in Europe and the world with increasing regularity.

A major breakthrough came in 2024, when the U17s won bronze at the European Championship and, for the first time in history, qualified for the World Cup in their age group, where they went on to reach the last eight.

In addition, these successes were not limited to a single year. The Polish women’s team also competed in two further U17 European Championships and, this year, secured their place at the World Cup for the second time. A generation of players is thus emerging in Poland who, whilst still in their teens, are making their mark in the top domestic league or moving to leading clubs abroad.

Just a beggining...

This is further aided by the gradual transformation of the environment in which young Polish women are growing up. Youth competitions for girls in Poland take the form of voivodeship (regional) leagues, whilst an increasing number of young players are also being given opportunities in the top-flight Ekstraliga. Moreover, the Polish Football Association organises Talent PRO training camps, where the best young female footballers train under the supervision of a specialist coaching team.

The perception of women’s football within Polish society is also changing hand in hand with these developments. “Society’s attitude is shifting. More and more people have a positive view of women’s football, and so the sport is gaining recognition even amongst those who do not usually take an interest in sport. Comments such as ‘nobody’s interested in that’ are now in the minority,” explained Polish sports journalist Milena Romanowska.

Although the system there still has its shortcomings, especially in financial terms, the results of recent years suggest that the work with the next generation is beginning to bear fruit. Although Ewa Pajor remains the current face of Polish women’s football, several exceptionally promising players are already coming through in her shadow, who could one day follow in her footsteps to join the European elite. So which names are worth keeping a close eye on for the future?

Julia Woźniak (Sporting Lisbon)

Woźniak is regarded as the most promising Polish goalkeeping talent of recent years, having already achieved a string of successes despite her young age. She first came to prominence at the 2024 UEFA European U17 Championship, where she made a total of fourteen saves in the group stage without conceding a single goal! The only team to eventually overcome her were North Korea, who knocked the Eagles out in the quarter-finals with a 1:0 victory. On the domestic league scene, she made a name for herself particularly in the 2025 national cup final, where she saved four penalties, thereby securing victory for Czarni Sosnowiec in Puchar Polski.

Her performances on both the international and domestic stages did not go unnoticed by scouts from well-known European clubs, and so Julia eventually left her home country to join Sporting Lisbon, where she recently even earned a place in the Women's Champions League qualifiers. It is now likely that she will be pushing for an increasingly prominent role at the club.

Julia excels above all in one-on-one situations, which makes her an excellent safeguard against a tired defence or inaccurate passing. However, as the Polish football journalist Maja Wójcik once described, her uniqueness goes much further: “Despite her age, Wózniak plays like someone who has already spent a decade between the posts. Her style of goalkeeping has something of the flair that only the young possess: instinct combined with intuition, a lack of calculation, and decisions made faster than anyone around her can even manage to react.‘

Lena Świrska (Pogoń Szczecin)

This Polish talent, born in 2009, is the youngest player in coach Marcin Kasprowicz’s squad. An attacking sensation who, thanks to her performances for Pogoń Szczecin last season, was named the best young player in the Polish top flight, has already made her mark in the U15, U17 and U19 age groups.

Her exceptional talent was evident from a very young age, when, like the vast majority of her teammates on the national team, she took part in the Puchar Tymbarku school tournaments for children, which have now become a tradition in Poland. She was crowned top scorer twice and was even declared the best player of the entire tournament once.

 Lena’s main strengths are her versatility and speed, but also her ability to create chances. Whenever her team launches an attacking move on the pitch, you can very often be sure that Lena was the mastermind behind it.

Zuzanna Witek (HB Køge)

A renowned penalty specialist Witek who made her debut in the Polish first division at the age of fourteen. During her short career so far, she has already won both the Polish league and the Polish Cup, and her performances have ultimately been rewarded with a recent move to Danish side HB Køge, who had been keen to sign her for some time.

Her greatest strengths include, above all, her anticipation, perception and exceptional overview of the game. The young midfielder, who has been regarded as one of the Eagles’s most promising players since her earliest years, now has a few seasons of development ahead of her in Scandinavia. However, she makes no secret of the fact that, if everything goes according to plan, she would one day like to play for Barcelona alongside Polish megastar Ewa Pajor.

Weronika Araśniewicz (Wolfsburg)

“She is an immense talent who has already scored several goals in the Bundesliga. She is characterised above all by her superb technical ability and awareness on the pitch,” says Polish football journalist Leszek Ziętkiewicz, lavishing praise on the hard-working midfielder. Weronika was a member of the aforementioned ‘wonder team’ at the 2024 UEFA European U17 Championship, where the Biało-Czerwone, as the tournament’s dark horses, went on to win bronze medals. It was her performances for the national team that ultimately opened the door to Europe for Araśniewicz, where none other than Barcelona won the race to sign her.

Nevertheless, her spell in Catalonia did not develop as hoped, and after a time spent with Barcelona’s reserves, Weronika eventually agreed to a move to Wolfsburg, initially on loan, which subsequently turned into a permanent transfer. 

In Germany, Araśniewicz is thriving and, as things stand, looks set to spend this season with the first team, for whom she has already managed to score two goals, one in a Bundesliga match against 1. FC Nürnberg and the other in a Women's Champions League qualifier against Inter. If she continues to be given sufficient playing time with the Wolves, this season could mark Araśniewicz’s definitive breakthrough at the highest level in Europe.

How far will the home crowd push Poland?

The strength of the up-and-coming Polish generation is, after all, also being confirmed by the U20 World Cup currently taking place on their home soil. The team coached by Marcin Kasprowicz have won both their opening matches, beating Argentina 3:0 and Mexico 2:1 to secure a full six points and qualify for the round of 16 in first place with a game to spare.

“Kasprowicz’s team is characterised above all by an attacking style of play. The Polish women put their opponents under immense pressure, play aggressively, and once they’ve got them under pressure, they don’t let go. They live by the motto that the best defence is attack, yet they also have a well-organised defence,” says Leszek Ziętkiewicz, describing the current squad’s greatest strengths. If the Biało-Czerwone maintain this form in the knockout stages, their tournament journey so far certainly need not end in the first round of the play-offs.