Robert Lewandowski has accused Poland’s national team manager of ‘betraying him’ after being stripped of the captaincy, as he explained why he has quit the national team.

Poland coach Michal Probierz made the decision to replace Lewandowski as national team captain with Piotr Zielinski. ‘The coach personally informed Robert Lewandowski, the entire team and the training staff of his decision,’ the Polish Football Federaton said.

Lewandowski’s responded on social media within 39 minutes, declaring he would no longer play under Probierz.

‘I hope I will have the chance to play again for the best fans in the world.’

Lewandowski has since expanded on his decision to walk away from the national team in an interview with Polish outlet Sportowefakty.

Robert Lewandowski claimed he was axed as captain by head coach Michal Probierz in a surprise call

Lewandowski accused the Poland national team boss of ‘betraying my trust’ amid his axe 

Lewandowski said he was informed of the decision in a call as he put his children to sleep

‘I got a surprise call from coach Michał Probierz with the information that he had decided to take away my armband, I was not prepared for it at all, I was putting my children to sleep,’ he said.

‘I didn’t even have time to inform my family or talk to anyone about what had happened, because a few moments later a message appeared on the PZPN website.

‘The way in which it was communicated to me is really surprising to me. It seemed to me that such matters should be dealt with differently.

‘Everything was communicated over the phone, it really shouldn’t have been like this. The coach betrayed my trust.’

Lewandowski claimed Probierz had ‘bowed to media pressure’ and accused Poland’s head coach of breaking agreements.

Poland’s record goalscorer said he had agreed with Probierz not to attend their training camp ahead of a friendly with Moldova on June 6, allowing him to get rest.

Lewandowski said he had informed only Poland’s head coach that he would attend the match to surprise Kamil Grosicki, who was making his 95th and final appearance for the national team, only for the news to be leaked.

The 36-yer-old said he had met with Probierz following the match on Friday and had been given no indication he would be stripped of the captaincy.

Lewandowski appearance at a Poland friendly honouring Kamil Grosicki on Friday has been the source of controversy with the legendary forward having asked to be rested for the match

Probierz confirmed he had agreed to rest Lewandowski but that his appearance was a surprise

Lewandowski has scored 85 times for Poland and has been captain of the team since 2014

Speaking at a press conference on Monday, Probierz confirmed he had agreed to rest Lewandowski but had been taken by surprise by his decision to attend the friendly.

Probierz claimed Lewandowski had asked for the Polish FA to say he had resigned the captaincy rather than have the honour stripped from him, a request he rejected.

‘After talking to the players and members of the coaching staff, I had a day to think about it. After this analysis, I came to the conclusion that there would be a change of captain,’ said Probierz. ‘Robert is a great player, but I decided that it was a good time for a change. 

‘In my opinion, changing the captain will change a lot. Robert says otherwise. After talking to Piotr Zielinski, I also passed on the message to Cezary Kulesza and the rest of the team. 

‘The team congratulated Piotr, and his speech confirmed that we can go in the right direction. 

‘Robert wanted the information to go out that he had resigned from being the captain. I did not agree to that because it was my decision. I want to thank Robert for playing in the national team, I wish him luck, no one closed the door on him.’ 

A report from Polish outlet Onet had suggested that the rest of the playing squad had ‘already had enough of his swagger’ and that had the captaincy been decided by popular vote, it would not have ended up with Lewandowski. 

Things seem to have come to a head in March when Poland laboured to a 2-0 win over minnows Malta with Lewandowski on the bench due to his fitness. 

Lewandowski and wife Anna – who formerly competed in Karate – have been married 12 years

Reports claim he would however ‘storm into the locker room’ after the game and berate both players and coaching staff, before publicly voicing his criticisms, stating he would not ‘sugarcoat’ the state of play. 

He had criticised the lack of young players in the squad at the time, hinting that there were perhaps either no pathways for youngsters, or not enough quality was coming through from the youth teams to improve the side going forward. 

‘Look, we have matches with Lithuania and Malta, and there should be five 18, 19, 20-year-olds at the training camp,’ he said.

‘And apart from Kacper Urbanski, there probably weren’t any. This also shows that we have what we have. We have to focus on this material, develop it and get the most out of it.’

There had already been suggestions that the former captain was saving himself for Barcelona’s title run-in, and he later withdrew from the June camp, too. 

Another Polish legend in Zbigniew Boniek didn’t react to well to seeing Lewandowski on the sidelines on Friday despite insisting he couldn’t feature for his side.

‘If you are the captain of the team, you are responsible for it. It is not just about taking the team out and putting on the armband,’ the former Polish FA president said.

Piotr Zielinski, right, has been confirmed as Lewandowski’s successor as Poland captain

‘I think that coming to Grosicki’s farewell match was an image parachute.’

Lewandowski is Poland’s highest goal scorer with 85 goals for his country in a record 158 appearances, and had held the captaincy since 2014.

Probierz replaced the sacked Fernando Santos as Poland manager in 2023, taking them to Euro 2024 where his side were the first team to be eliminated.

Poland defeated Moldova 2-0 in a friendly on Friday and are away to Finland in a World Cup qualifier on Tuesday, taking them top of their group, though Netherlands have played one fewer game.