Poland coach announces 26-man list for Euro 2008

Poland's Dutch coach Leo Beenhakker on Thursday released a 26-player list from which he plans to draw his final 23-member squad for Euro 2008, the country's first ever European championships appearance.

Beenhakker said he had trimmed six names from the initial 31-member list which he had announced on April 16.

The excluded players, however, will remain on standby in case any of his picks are injured or fail to perform as Poland warm up for the June tournament in Austria and Switzerland.

“Until May 28, I'm totally free to change some players on the standby list in and out,” Beenhakker told reporters, referring to the deadline set by European football's governing body UEFA for announcing teams.

In addition, Beenhakker added a player who had not figured on the April 16 list — Brazilian-born Roger Guereirro, who plays for Legia Warsaw.

Guerreiro received Polish citizenship on April 17, and this week got the green light from world football's governing body FIFA which sets the rules on would-be internationals who change country.

The Polish team is scheduled to spend May 19-31 at a training camp in Donaueschingen in southern Germany, where they will also play friendlies against Macedonia and Albania.

They are due to returning to Poland for a June 1 friendly against Denmark, and are then set to fly to Austria on June 2.

Their training camp there will be based in the resort of Bad Waltersdorf in eastern Austria.

Poland have been drawn in Group B of the 16-nation tournament, and play Germany in their opening game on June 8 in Klagenfurt in southern Austria.

They take on Austria in the capital Vienna on June 12 and return to Klagenfurt to face Croatia on June 16.

Squad

Goalkeepers: Artur Boruc (Celtic/SCO), Lukasz Fabianski (Arsenal/ENG), Tomasz Kuszczak (Manchester United/ENG)

Defenders: Jacek Bak (Austria Vienna/AUT), Grzegorz Bronowicki (Red Star Belgrade/SRB), Pawel Golanski (Steaua Bucharest/ROM), Mariusz Jop (FK Moscow/RUS), Adam Kokoszka (Wisla Krakow), Marcin Wasilewski (Anderlecht/BEL), Jakub Wawrzyniak (Legia Warsaw), Michal Zewlakow (Olympiakos/GRE)

Midfielders: Jakub Blaszczykowski (Borussia Dortmund/GER), Dariusz Dudka (Wisla Krakow), Lukasz Gargula (GKS Belchatow), Roger Guereirro (Legia Warsaw), Jacek Krzynowek (VfL Wolfsburg/GER), Mariusz Lewandowski (Shakhtar Donetsk/UKR), Radoslaw Majewski (Groclin Grodzisk), Rafal Murawski (Lech Poznan), Michal Pazdan (Gornik Zabrze).

Forwards: Wojciech Lobodzinski (Wisla Krakow), Radoslaw Matusiak (Wisla Krakow), Marek Saganowski (Southampton/ENG), Euzebiusz Smolarek (Racing Santander/ESP), Tomasz Zahorski (Gornik Zabrze), Maciej Zurawski (AE Larissa/GRE).

On standby: Wojciech Kowalewski (Korona Kielce, goalkeeper), Arkadiusz Radomski (Austria Vienna/AUT, defender), Michal Golinski (Zaglebie Lubin, midfielder), Dawid Janczyk (CSKA Moscow/RUS, forward), Lukasz Piszczek (Hertha Berlin/GER, forward), Artur Wichniarek (Arminia Bielefeld/GER, forward)