How Two Young Soccer Stars Are Forcing Poland To Talk About Race

-Analysis-

WARSAW — Two soccer players, a 19-year-old Polish-Nigerian and a 24-year-old Polish-Ghanaian, are making their debut on the international stage as members of the Polish national team — opening a new era in soccer and beyond.

Maximillian Oyedele and Michael Ameyaw also represent a trend that can observed on Poland’s streets. Even without delving into the latest statistics, we know that the number of immigrants — mainly from Ukraine, Asia, and Africa, but also from South America — has been increasing in Poland. In large cities, when you order an Uber or food from a delivery service, more often than not the person working is not a Pole.

I experienced this myself as I was researching and writing this article. I took a taxi driven by Thulani, a South African citizen, who had a hard time in Siedlce “because few people knew English” in the small city. He moved to Warsaw and is delighted with life in the capital. He intends to stay forever, marry a Polish woman and raise children here.

Later, at a kebab shop in Warsaw’s Mokotów neighborhood, I enjoyed falafel prepared by Sohel, a newcomer from Bangladesh. He had spent two decades in Saudi Arabia and Qatar but didn’t like either because in both countries people from Bangladesh are treated badly, “like servants.” He said Poles are different and respect everyone.

Who knows, maybe one day Thulani’s son or daughter will play in Poland’s red and white uniform?

Maximillian Oyedele and Michael Ameyaw, who currently play on the national team, have stories similar to the one the South African taxi driver wanted for himself. Both have Polish mothers and non-Polish fathers. What sets them apart is that Oyedele was born in Salford, England, and can play for three national teams (Poland, England and Nigeria).

Ameyaw was born in Łódź, was raised in Poland, and is 100% local. He has only been to Ghana once, as a toddler but, as he told the website Widzew.com, “remembers practically nothing from the visit.” He supports teams from both his parents’ home countries, but many years ago said that if they played against each other, he would have no problems deciding: he would support the Polish team.

Poland’s own

In recent years, Poland has been getting used to players being called up to the national soccer team who might not look or sound like the average Polish citizen.

In the early 2000s, we welcomed the Nigerian attacker Emmanuel Olisadebe to our team. But while many were happy to have him, he faced many challenges and racist attacks. Some fans threw bananas at him from the stands.

Then we had Brazilian-born Roger Guerreiro, who heard that “he will never be a Pole,” despite being granted Polish citizenship. Most recently, Matthew Cash, a player with a Polish mother who spent his entire life in Great Britain, represented Poland as a defender on the pitch. At a certain point (when Franciszek Smuda was the team’s manager), we were trying to find anyone with any sort of Polish roots who could manage to kick the ball with some sense.

Many Poles among us are still convinced that Black Poles are an exotic occurrence.

Yet those players were, falsely attached to the team, so to speak: They were naturalized citizens, and needed help from the passport office. Often they had nothing to do with Poland; they came for their careers, to play for Polish soccer teams.

Oyedele, who plays for Legia Warszawa, and Ameyaw, who plays for Raków Częstochowa, are different. Especially Ameyaw, who was born here and grew up running around the streets of Łódź. His father was also a soccer player, but after an episode at Petrochemia Płock FC left him with a contusion, he went to university and became a teacher.

A new era

Until now, only one non-white Poland-born player to play country’s national soccer team at any level was Robert Mitwerandu (who died at age 30 in 2000), the son of a Zimbabwean citizen studying in Poland. He was born in the city of Chorzów, played soccer in community spaces and spoke fluent Polish as well as Silesian, a regional language in Poland. But even he was only called up to the junior team.

Called up to the senior team, Ameyaw along with Oyedele are opening a new era for Poland. Our one uniform society is quickly becoming more and more diverse, and the presence of children of immigrants (or the presence of the children of Polish immigrants on, for example, the English national team), now seems unavoidable.

Yet as I type those words, I realized that in the third decade of the 21st century it is no longer appropriate to bring so much attention to one’s skin color. Head Coach Michal Probierz, who is rebuilding the national team, called up those two young talents them to prove themselves on the field — end of story.

Unfortunately, many Poles among us are still convinced that Black Poles are an exotic occurrence, and not a reality that is becoming all the more common. Some are still unconvinced about how modern Poland will look, and what it looks like today.

Double standards

On Polish TV at the end of August, Ameyaw was “complimented” on how well he speaks our language, asked whether or not he understood a Polish word, and quizzed on important dates in Poland’s history. He was also the subject of jokes about his skin color, when someone said “you’re in Silesia, you look like a miner,” referring to the region’s long coal mining tradition and the appearance of miners coming up to ground level with coal dust on their faces.

Ameyaw responded with class and patience. But he must have been embarrassed. From his first response, it was clear that Polish is his native language. And he learned the same history curriculum as the other players on the national team, who were not quizzed about it on camera.

When I score, I’m French, when I don’t, I’m an Arab.

Therefore, it can be assumed that the presence of both debutants in the national team, no matter the tournaments they play in (for now they are only participating in the trainings prior to the nation’s league matches with Portugal and Croatia), will be their own type of test.

This test will allow them, and us, both as Poles, to assess at which stage of social development our country is at. How, for example, will fans in the stands react, if Oyedele makes a mistake allowing our opponent to score a goal?

Other soccer players from Western countries with an immigrant background have spoken about the double standards they face on the field. French player Karim Benzema summarized this when he said: “When I score, I’m French, when I don’t, I’m an Arab.”

A test and an opportunity

We face a test but also an opportunity. Europe’s national teams have frequently showcased the continent’s ongoing demographic changes, because immigrants and the children of immigrants for obvious reasons possess the necessary traits to excel in the world of sport.

They or their parents took risks, left their country, they have to deal with the difficulties of living in a foreign culture, they crave the opportunity to advance in society, and therefore they place themselves on a pedestal of determination and persistence.

At this year’s European Championships, the percentage of players with immigrant roots, with a complicated identity, were at record highs. Not only this, but the percentages of such players in the national teams were sometimes higher than the percentages of immigrants in the countries they were representing.

As idols for our youth, these players can help to eradicate prejudices.

And two of the heroes of Spain’s national team, the reigning European champions, were Lamine Yamal, who painted the flags of Equatorial Guinea (his mother’s homeland) and Morocco (in honor of his father) on his shoes, and Nico Williams, whose Ghanaian parents walked across the Sahara Desert to change their fates.

Immigrants can also take Polish football to greater heights. And as idols for our youth, these players can help to eradicate prejudices still present in some sections of Polish society.

While racist incidents have occurred in our soccer stadiums, a certain evolution of behavior has been noticed as well. In response to racist behavior, for example, certain ultras of the Warsaw-based club Legia Warszawa chanted not to boo Black players.

While there is still a long way to go in Polish soccer, this evolution may be a sign that little by little, change is already occurring.