Dawid Szwarga

Dawid Szwarga (born 7 October 1990) is a Polish professional football manager and former player who is currently the assistant manager of Ekstraklasa club Raków Częstochowa.

Playing career
The son of a former midfielder Mirosław, Dawid Szwarga followed in his father's footsteps and began his footballing career at a hometown club MOSiR. In 2008, he joined Ekstraklasa club Odra Wodzisław Śląski but made no senior appearances, only featuring for their Młoda Ekstraklasa side. He would go on to play for II liga and III liga clubs from the Silesia area such as GKS Jastrzębie, Pniówek Pawłowice, Szczakowianka Jaworzno, Nadwiślan Góra and Skra Częstochowa. In 2012, he went on trial to top division side Korona Kielce.

In total, Szwarga made 29 third division appearances, scoring once, and 147 fourth division outings, during which he managed 10 league goals, before retiring after multiple short stints with lower division clubs.

Assistant at GKS Katowice
Szwarga began his coaching career in June 2018, when he was recommended by Jakub Dziółka to join Jacek Paszulewicz's staff at GKS Katowice. As a match analyst and assistant coach, he was also responsible for conducting training sessions for the senior team. During his three years in Katowice, he also worked under managers Dariusz Dudek and Rafał Górak.

Raków Częstochowa
On 14 June 2021, he was recruited by Ekstraklasa club Raków Częstochowa as their new assistant manager, working with Marek Papszun. During his stay there, Raków won the 2021–22 Polish Cup, the 2021 and 2022 Polish Super Cups, and finished the 2021–22 league season as runners-up. On 26 April 2023, while Raków was en route to their first ever top division title, a week after Papszun confirmed he would be leaving the club at the end of the 2022–23 season, Szwarga was announced as his replacement.

Szwarga's first match as manager came on 11 July 2023, with Raków winning 1–0 over Estonian club Flora in the first qualifying round of the 2023–24 UEFA Champions League, followed by a 2023 Polish Super Cup loss to Legia Warsaw 4–5 on penalties four days later. In their European campaign, the defending Ekstraklasa champions would go on to eliminate Qarabağ and Aris Limassol, before falling short in the play-off round to Danish club Copenhagen, losing 1–2 on aggregate.

Having qualified for UEFA Europa League group stage, Raków faced off against Italian side Atalanta, Portuguese club Sporting and Austrian club Sturm Graz, winning once against the latter, drawing at home to Sporting and losing the remaining games, finishing their first ever European group outing in the last place.

Raków under Szwarga failed to imitate the level of success in domestic competitions enjoyed in previous campaigns. Their record run of 16 consecutive wins in the Polish Cup ended after crashing out of the competition in the quarter-finals against Piast Gliwice, Raków was also unable to hold a top-three position in the table for more than two weeks, despite poor form from potential title rivals. On 9 April 2024, amid calls to replace Szwarga, Raków's owner Michał Świerczewski publicly expressed his and the club's support for the manager. Less than a month later, on 7 May, it was announced Szwarga would leave his post at the end of the 2023–24 season. On 14 June, Raków confirmed Szwarga would remain at the club and return to the role of assistant under Marek Papszun.