Henry Wizgier

Poland’s appointment of Waldemar Fornalik has split opinion. A relatively young boss, Fornalik has never managed outside his homeland and faces a challenge steering the team to the 2014 World Cup.

Polish club football has long suffered from a lack of investment and withered away from the spotlight. Euro 2012 has brought new stadiums and shone a light onto the country however – Poland must take advantage.

Poland’s failure to emerge from Euro 2012’s Group A has led to an inquest in the country and coach Franciszek Smuda is under the microscope. The veteran boss however always faced a tough task in charge of the co-hosts.

Polish football has endured a turbulent history as the country suffered through the long communist era. Now though Euro 2012 is set to see the nation finally step into the limelight and allow football to flourish.

Euro 2012 co-hosts Poland have emerged as dark horses for the tournament, thanks in no small part to a number of young talents performing at the highest level of European football. And with an entire country behind them, the sky is the limit.

The re-election of Sepp Blatter as FIFA President for another four-year term is yet another blow to the English Football Association. However, having failed to win the right to host the 2018 World Cup, have the English overreacted?

Barcelona’s continued dominance of club football has allowed football to live up to the tag of “the beautiful game”. The Spanish side are living up to a fine tradition of supreme sides, from Brazil of the 1950s to Ajax of the 1970s.

Dynamo Kyiv and Shakhtar Donetsk have dominated Ukrainian football since the country formed its own league. The two have established an ‘Old Firm’ of sorts, though there are pretenders to the throne.

Sir Alex Ferguson’s achievement of a 12th Premier League title is epic in scale, and the 69-year-old shows no signs of slowing down. Key to Ferguson’s continued drive must be a desire to equal Bob Paisley’s three European Cup wins.

Legia Warsaw beat Lech Poznan in the Polish Cup final recently, but the game was marred by fan riots. And while the authorities have pledged to crack down, the league is at least an entertaining race.