Interview with Jakub Samel – "Introduce Solid Football Foundations"

In the 2025 season, the Panthers Wrocław football players will compete not only in the European League of Football but also in the Polish Football League. This is not about the junior section, which will begin its new challenges only in September, but about the senior team being prepared for modified competitions on the domestic level. More and more is being revealed about the topic of “Panthers Wrocław PFL,” and head of development and scouting, Jakub Samel, shares his thoughts.

At the beginning of October, you organized recruitment for both senior and junior teams. What were the results?

Jakub Samel:

• We were very pleased with the turnout, as nearly 150 people showed up. From that, we recruited 60 players for both the junior and senior sections. For now, the new players are training once a week on the field – both groups separately – and they also have motor training. We are introducing them to the basics of football, teaching fundamental techniques in defense, offense, and special teams so that by January, they will be able to join a larger group that will compete in the Polish league – both senior and junior. These sessions will continue until the end of December. It's still too early to draw conclusions, as joint training has only been happening for a month, but so far, we are pleased with their involvement, and I believe they have a future in this sport.

Do the newly recruited players have any football experience?

• Most of them have never trained American football, although there are a few with backgrounds in football or basketball. They are not players from other football teams, for example.

And will they realistically be considered for the roster for the 2025 season?

• I don’t think it's hard to prepare a player recruited in October to play in the Polish league after a few months. We still have plenty of time until the season starts, which will likely happen in the last weekend of March. We already have a training schedule planned, so there will be enough training sessions for the new players to prove themselves on the field. Preparing each player is an individual matter – some may know exactly what to do after a few practices and quickly adapt to a role, while others may require more time, but once they master the knowledge, they will become high-level players. So, we approach this issue both as a team and individually.

What age range are we talking about?

• Most of the players are of university age, which is what we expected, although there are also some guys under 26 and even some close to thirty.

Will there be further recruitment?

• We don't plan any more senior recruitment since we already have a large group to prepare. However, we will announce junior recruitments because this section has a bit more time for training. The season will start only in the fall.

So, the Panthers B team will be a mix of newly recruited players, juniors who will soon turn senior, and those who spent last season with the Jaguars Kąty Wrocławskie?

• I’ll start by saying that we won’t refer to this team as Panthers B – it was the case when two Panthers teams participated in the Polish league. Now, there will be one team competing under the name Panthers Wrocław PFL in the domestic league. We would like the majority of the team to be made up of players from the junior section, young players who want to try playing at a higher level of training in Poland or those who didn’t have the opportunity to play football as juniors and want to try their skills at the senior level. This will not be a place for older players, veterans who want to peacefully end their careers. We want to provide another stage of development for young players before potentially entering the European league.

What can you say about the coaching staff of Panthers Wrocław PFL?

• I will be the head coach, and regarding the coaching staff – we will announce it soon, and it will be made up of names well-known in the country.

Which exact league will you participate in?

• This has not been officially announced yet, but the first and second leagues will be combined into one competition class with northern and southern groups. Opponents will be selected based on this year’s rankings – teams currently in the first league will mostly compete against each other, but they will also play two games against second-league teams. The same will apply to current second-league teams. The top four teams from each group will advance to the playoffs.

What are the goals for Panthers Wrocław PFL?

• We want to introduce solid football foundations among the players. The results will come as a result of the appropriate strategy and training approach.

Is the internal coaching school already in place?

• We start on Wednesday, November 20th. These will be the first sessions for all football coaches at Panthers Wrocław.

How do you evaluate the junior team’s performance in the finished season?

• Evaluating each junior year group should be done after a few years because you don’t know how many of these players will join the senior team. The most important thing right now was to play as many games as possible, which we succeeded in...

...except for the walkover against Tychy Falcons.

• That’s true. But we did everything we could to play the maximum number of games, as we reached the final and gave the young players as many opportunities to gain experience as possible. Regarding the final, we have to admit that the team from Warsaw played much better, especially in the first half. They set up the game very well and held the lead until the end. We are happy with the players’ performance in the second half, as we saw better gameplay and execution of tactical assumptions. It’s a plus that the players change their attitude halfway through the game and refocus.

What are the plans for the end of 2024?

• We need to close organizational matters regarding signing players, organizing coaching staffs, and planning the calendar for the football sections. We are also starting the coaching school I mentioned earlier.

Can we expect reinforcements for the first team soon?

• Yes, and we are also pleased to have already signed three American players, so there is still one spot left to fill. This is a very good result for November.