Watch: Poland National Football Team Escorted by F-16 Fighter Jets on Way to FIFA World Cup

Poland’s national football team was escorted by F-16 fighter jets in extraordinary scenes as they left for the FIFA World Cup 2022 in Qatar on Thursday. The Robert Lewandowski-led squad is hoping to make it to the knockout round of the showpiece event for the first time since 1986.

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The football squad was given a high-profile escort reportedly in light of two Polish citizens dying as a result of a stray missile landing in Poland. An emergency NATO meeting was held after the tragic incident and Poland President Andrzej Duda said the ‘unfortunate incident’ was likely due to a Ukrainian air defence missile.

“We were escorted to the southern border of Poland by F16 planes! Thank you and greetings to the pilots!” the official Twitter handle of the Polish national football team posted on Thursday.

Poland FIFA World Cup Full Squad

Coach: Czesław Michniewicz

Captain: Robert Lewandowski

Goalkeepers: Wojciech Szczesny, Bartlomiej Dragowski, Lukasz Skorupski

Defenders: Jan Bednarek, Kamil Glik, Robert Gumny, Artur Jedrzejczyk, Jakub Kiwior, Mateusz Wieteska, Bartosz Bereszynski, Matty Cash, Nicola Zalewski

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Midfielders: Krystian Bielik, Przemyslaw Frankowski, Kamil Grosicki, Grzegorz Krychowiak, Jakub Kaminski, Michal Skoras, Damian Szymanski, Sebastian Szymanski, Piotr Zielinski, Szymon Zurkowski

Forwards: Robert Lewandowski, Arkadiusz Milik, Krzysztof Piatek, Karol Swiderski

A series of images shared on Twitter the Polish national team’s plane being flanked by two jets. One of the pictures showed a pilot displaying a sign with the name of the squad.

“When you are a pilot, but also a fan of the Polish national team!” the caption read.

The aircrafts were with the national team’s plane till it left Polish airspace.

Poland begin their FIFA World Cup campaign against Mexico on November 22.

The world cup, being held in Qatar, begins on Sunday when the hosts take on Ecuador.