HC KULIGOWSKI TO LEAVE PANTHERS

Craig Llewellyn World Football

The Wroclaw Panthers will be hunting for a new head coach ahead of whatever transpires for the 2026 European professional football season, following news that Craig Kuligowski is to leave the team.

American Kuligowski took up the top job during the 2024 campaign, having initially joined the Panthers as defensive coordinator in Dave Christensen’s staff at the start of the season, but has been unable to guide the Panthers to the European League of Football playoffs despite his side playing solid football on both sides of the ball. Wroclaw remained an outsider for a postseason berth until the penultimate week of the 2025 campaign, but ultimately had too much to do against teams that would go on to win their respective divisions.

Despite eventually finishing third in the East Division, the Polish team ranked among the league’s top individual performers, with linebacker A.J. Wentland once again proving that he is one of the best players in the league, leading the defensive stats with 144 tackles to claim top spot in the category for the third time in his career. On offense, quarterback D.J. Irons ranked third in rushing yards (1,023) and fifth in rushing touchdowns (11), while running back Dawid Brzozowski, with 12 touchdowns, claimed third place in the overall rankings, and wide receiver Darrell Stewart Jr — with 1,098 receiving yards and 13 touchdowns — also secured a spot among the top five pass-catchers.

The Panthers franchise will now embark on the hunt for a replacement for Kuligowski, with GM Jakub Glogowski acknowledging the work the head coach put in over his short tenure.

“We thank Coach for two years of work, first as defensive coordinator and later as head coach,” Glogowski was quoted by the official ELF website. “We truly appreciate the professionalism and great dedication he showed every single day, both on and off the field. We believe that this time working together has been another valuable experience that will certainly help the Panthers continue competing at the highest level in Europe.”