Why is Robert Lewandowski not playing for Poland against New Zealand in friendly ahead of 2026 World Cup?

Poland are set to face New Zealand in a friendly on Thursday in Chorzów before resuming their campaign in the UEFA 2026 World Cup qualifiers next week. As lineups were confirmed for both sides at the Silesian Stadium, eyebrows were raised when star forward Robert Lewandowski was nowhere to be seen in the starting XI.

Lewandowski will start the game against New Zealand on the bench, a technical decision made by head coach Jan Urban. The Polish striker has been dealing with fitness issues since the start of the 2025–26 season, and with this being only a friendly, the former Osasuna manager decided to give his star forward some rest.

After suffering a hamstring injury during preseason, Lewandowski missed several games for FC Barcelona, featuring for only 431 minutes so far in the 2025–26 campaign. With the striker still regaining full fitness, coach Urban has opted to start former AC Milan forward Krzysztof Piątek up front instead.

Why is Poland playing a friendly and not a World Cup qualifier?

No European nation has yet qualified for the 2026 World Cup, as UEFA qualifying remains in progress. Some qualifying matches are being played during the same international window in which Poland face New Zealand. So why isn’t Lewandowski’s team playing a qualifier despite not yet booking their ticket to the tournament?

Poland are part of Group G in the 2026 UEFA World Cup qualifiers, alongside four other national teams. With Finland facing Lithuania and the Netherlands taking on Malta, Poland had no opponent scheduled for the first matchday of the October international break, which is why they arranged the friendly against New Zealand.

Led by captain Robert Lewandowski, Poland currently sit second in the group with 10 points from five games, trailing the Netherlands by just one point. On Sunday 12, Poland will return to qualifying action against Lithuania, aiming to take over the top spot and secure direct qualification to the 2026 World Cup, avoiding the playoff route.

Confirmed lineups for Poland and Australia

Poland’s confirmed lineups (3-4-2-1): Bartlomiej Dragowski; Przemyslaw Wisniewski, Jan Ziólkowski, Tomasz Kedziora; Przemyslaw Frankowski, Jakub Piotrowski, Piotr Zielinski, Michal Skoras; Sebastian Szymanski, Kacper Kozlowski; Krzysztof Piatek.
Head coach: Jan Urban.

New Zealand’s confirmed lineups (4-2-3-1): Alex Paulsen; Tim Payne, Finn Surman, Michael Boxall, Francis DeVries; Ryan Thomas, Marko Stamenic; Callum McCowatt, Sarpreet Singh, Matthew Garbett; Ben Waine.
Head coach: Darren Bazeley