The Poland national football team () has represented Poland in men's international tournaments football competitions since their first match in 1921. The team is controlled by the Polish Football Association (PZPN), the governing body for football in Poland. Poland have competed at nine FIFA World Cups, with their first appearance being in 1938, where they were eliminated by Brazil. The country's best result was a bronze medal, which Poland won in 1974 and 1982; this era is regarded as the golden era of Polish international football. At the UEFA European Championship, Poland's best result was a quarter-finals appearance at the 2016 tournament before losing to eventual champions Portugal. Overall, they have competed in four European Championship since their debut in 2008. They were co-hosts of the 2012 edition, along with Ukraine. Overall, Poland's best ever result in international football tournament was the gold medal won at the 1972 Munich Olympics, along with winning the silver medal at the 1976 Montreal Olympics and at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. History Before independence The first Polish football clubs were Lechia Lwów (1903), Czarni Lwów (1903), Pogoń Lwów (1904), KS Cracovia (1906) and Wisła Kraków (1906). The Polish national federation, called the Polish Football Union (Polski Związek Piłki Nożnej, PZPN), was founded on 20 December 1919, in Kraków when 31 delegates elected Edward Cetnarowski as the first president. The PZPN joined FIFA in 1923 and UEFA in 1955. In a similar fashion to other European states, football appeared in Poland in the late 19th century. In 1888 Prof. Henryk Jordan, a court physician of the Habsburgs and the pioneer of sports in Poland, opened a sports park in Kraków's Błonia, a large open space surrounding the demolished city walls of that town. The park, along with the Sokół society founded in 1867, became the main centres to promote sports and healthy living in Poland. It was Jordan who began promoting football as a healthy sport in the open air; some sources also credit him with bringing the first football to Poland from his travels to Brunswick in 1890. Other sources mention Dr. Edmund Cenar as the one to bring the first ball and the one to translate The Cambridge Rules and parts of the International Football Association Board regulations to Polish language. On 14 July 1894 during the Second Sokół Jamboree in Lwów at the General National Exhibition a short football match was played