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CHARLOTTE – Charlotte FC’s long-awaited designated player, Kamil Jóźwiak, is finally back in town and here to stay. He had his first full training session with the rest of the team yesterday. 

“First impressions were very good, everything, in my opinion, was very professional around the football. We have everything that we need and the guys were nice to me the first time they met me. So like I said, first impression was very, very good. I hope in the next days, weeks we will know each other and that it happens with our relations on the pitch.” 

Jóźwiak had been recovering from an injury that has now just about completely healed. He is making sure to be cautious and patient to make sure not to reinjure his ankle. According to him, the likelihood of playing all 90 minutes the weekend is unlikely but they will reassess within the next few days. 

“I don’t think I can play 90 minutes, maybe a little less time. But it’s not my decision, for sure we will speak with the coach in these next few days and we will make the decision together.” 

During his time in Poland where he was awaiting the completion of his VISA process to come to the States, Jóźwiak got to witness his nation, Poland, qualify for the World Cup. He played a key role in the earlier World Cup qualifying games for them and is determined to make the roster for the World Cup in November. 

“That’s something amazing for us, I have never been in the World Cup, that was always my dream. I think that is ever player’s dream, to play for their country. Unfortunately, I couldn’t play in the last games of qualification, but I played a lot of games in qualification. So, that was something big for me because I was big part of this. So I’m really happy. I hope I can be with this team in Qatar and I hope I can play with the guys. I think we can achieve a lot.” 

Speaking of Poland, in Charlotte FC’s previous match against Atlanta United, CLTFC's supporter's groups debuted the “The Poznań” celebration. Jóźwiak was at Bank of America Stadium to witness it just as he was there when it became famous in a match between the Polish side Lech Poznań and Manchester City.

“I think it got famous after the game Lech Pozan played against Manchester City that was probably 10 years ago. I was at the stadium when they did it for the first time. I know this is very popular in the world, this kind of celebration. It was very nice and I hope fans will have a lot more occasions to do it again.”