Pogon Szczecin is set to appoint Oscar Garcia as its new coach after firing Thomas Thomasberg on Sunday afternoon. The Spanish coach, 53, previously worked in Israel in two separate spells and was among the club’s top candidates before Thomasberg was chosen in September 2025.
The irony highlighted in the report is that just weeks ago, Pogon owner Alex Haditaghi rejected offers from Maccabi Tel Aviv for two of his players, saying he would not negotiate with an Israeli club. Maccabi had wanted defender Dimitrios Keramitsis and left back Leo Borges, but the talks never got off the ground.
Garcia was also a recent head coach at Ajax, where his tenure was not considered successful. He took over in March after being promoted from the reserve team, replacing Fred Grim, who had served as interim coach after John Heitinga’s departure.
Garcia is also familiar to Israeli fans because he coached Oscar Gloukh in the second half of last season. He used the Israeli midfielder sparingly and left him on the bench during the decisive stages of the Dutch campaign.