Richard Orlowski is a Polish-American soccer coach.[2]
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Richard Patrick Orlowski | ||
| Birth name | Ryszard Orłowski | ||
| Date of birth | (1957-03-25) 25 March 1957 (age 65)[1] | ||
| Place of birth | Lodz,[1] Poland | ||
| Position(s) | Forward | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| Gofabet | |||
| – | ZKS Piotrcovia-Piotrkow Tryb | ||
| Teams managed | |||
| 2013 | Nepal (assistant) | ||
| 2015 | Anguilla | ||
| 2016–2018 | Belize | ||
| *Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
In his native Poland, Orlowski played as a forward[3] for clubs such as Gofabet Gorzkowice, Piotrcovia Piotrków Trybunalski and WKS Grunwald Poznań.[4] Later, in 1984, he fled to Austria to escape from the political regression and the Soviet subjugation of his home country.[3][4] He was then granted refugee status in New York, anglicized his name from Ryszard Orłowski to Richard, and settled in Pennsylvania.[3][4] While living in the United States, he played for a succession of Polish-American teams and even had a stint in the Cayman Islands.[4]
Orlowski was selected as Nepal national football team assistant coach along with Polish-American Jack Stefanowski- who was head coach.[5][6] Their best result was a 2-1 victory over India in the 2013 SAFF Championship, before getting knocked out by Afghanistan en route to the final.[4]
Orlowski was assigned the Anguilla head coach role in 2015,[7] taking ownership of a team composed of construction workers, bankers, teachers, and boat builders.[3] During his time there, he brought increased professionalism and tactical intuition to the country.[3] Also, he recorded three friendly wins- two against the British Virgin Islands and one versus a non-FIFA nation, Saint Martin by galvanizing the players with the possibility of moving up the World Rankings into performing well.[3] Those three triumphs were Anguilla's first wins in the space of fourteen years.[3]
But when the FIFA World Rankings were updated, Anguilla had not received any points even though the British Virgin Islands were a FIFA nation. FIFA never rectified the error and, when Anguilla had to play Nicaragua for a 2018 World Cup qualifier, they lost twice on a combined score of 8-0;[4] Orlowski resigned after eight months in charge.[4]
Assigned Belize manager ahead of the 2017 Copa Centroamericana, he led the Jaguars to a 0-0 draw with Panama in their opening fixture.[4][8] However, his team lost all their remaining group stage matches after that.[4] His main ambition for the national team is to get youth involved in soccer at a much younger age and also wants more friendlies against better opposition as it would be beneficial to the teams chemistry and quality of play.[4]
He is also involved with the youth sides of the Belize national team from the under-15 level.[4] On account of this, he has drafted some younger players into the senior squad.[4]
Anguilla national football team – managers | |
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Belize national football team – managers | |
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