A legendary figure among Polish football fans, it was under Górski’s charge that the national side enjoyed its heyday. Assuming stewardship of the team in 1970, Górski masterminded Poland’s famous draw at Wembley, a result that denied England, the 1966 World Cup winners, a place at the 1974 World Cup.
Having already scooped a gold medal at the 1972 Olympics, Górski’s team went on to stun the planet at the ’74 World Cup tournament with their swashbuckling brand of football. Having appeared at the finals just once before in 1938, Poland’s unfancied team recorded epic wins over Argentina and Italy in the group stages, whilst also handing out a 7-0 spanking to a shellshocked Haiti.
Pitted against the hosts in the semi-final, the Poles fell narrowly short against West Germany in a game forever remembered as ‘the water battle of Frankfurt’ on account of its almost comically waterlogged pitch. Finishing the tournament on a high after beating Brazil in the third-place play-off, the team – and Górski – returned to a heroes’ welcome.
Posthumously awarded the Grand Cross of Polonia Restituta and FIFA’s Order of Merit, Górski died in 2006 at the age of 85. Depicting him in his trademark tracksuit, the mural was realized after 21-days of work.
Spanning an area of 240 sq/m, and created using 40 liters of paints and 1,060 ceramic elements, the XL artwork also features one of the trainer’s most famous quotes: “the ball is round and there are two goals”.