Former Rev Adam Buksa Eyeing Serie A Success With Udinese
"I would say that my national team performances were at their best while I was with the Revolution, which confirmed that I was doing a good job and enjoying an impressive run of form."
This article originally appeared on R.org Sports. The Blazing Musket would like to thank Zach for allowing us to share his interview with our audience. Make sure to give him a follow on social media and read more of his work at R.org Sports as well as on Breaking The Lines.
It has been an auspicious start to the 2025/26 season for Udinese Calcio. The Zebrette have won four league matches (beating two of Italy’s biggest hitters in Inter and Atalanta along the way), they’ve drawn twice, and apart from their losses to Juventus and Milan, their only defeat has come at newly promoted Sassuolo. Having avoided defeat in four of their last five matches, Udinese currently sit ninth in the Serie A table, and they are on track for their first top-half finish since 2012/13. Udinese will be looking to make it three wins from four on Sunday when they travel to the Italian capital to face off against Roma, who sit six points above in fourth place, and they’ll be counting on Adam Buksa to deliver with another clutch display in attack.
“We’ve already proven that we can put Italy’s top teams in trouble…we showed that against Inter and Atalanta,” stated Buksa in an exclusive R.Org interview. “Now, I would say that the bar is raised, because we are facing a very good team in their own stadium. Just like us, Roma want to win, and they are in a very good position in the league. So we respect that, but we also have our own plan for the upcoming game, and we want to surprise them hopefully with a win.”
Cutting his Teeth in Poland
Born and raised in Kraków, Poland, Buksa was six years old when he started learning English, adding German and Italian to his repertoire later on, but the number one language that he was preoccupied with was the beautiful game of football. However, when a doctor told him that his knees wouldn’t be able to handle the demands of football, he decided to put his dreams on the back burner and focus on his studies.
After two years off the pitch, Buksa decided to give it another go and join Wisła Kraków’s academy at the end of his freshman year of high school, spending time with Hutnik Kraków and Garbarnia Kraków before eventually making his professional debut with Lechia Gdańsk on July 25, 2014, in a 1-0 win against Podbeskidzie Bielsko-Biała. One year later, Buksa scored his first-ever senior goal in his 11th appearance for Lechia Gdańsk, only to injure his foot immediately after and abruptly halt his progress, forcing him to wait another 17 months before finding the back of the net again.
“When I was first becoming a teenager, I thought that I would never make it as a footballer. I had serious issues with my knees when I was 12-14 years old, and some really good orthopedists told me that I would never make it as a player because of that, so my focus mostly went to school. The only thing I could do was try to learn different things besides football. Football has always been my dream, but at that time, I thought it would be very difficult to make it happen due to some imbalance in my body that caused my issues.”
“It was a serious issue that caused me to stop thinking about my football career, but I think it helped me grow even more. At this point in my life, when you’re 12, 13, 14, you need to focus mostly on school, and if I didn’t have that injury, I wouldn’t have really focused on school that much. I would have prioritized football over school, which would not have been a good idea. But fortunately for myself, my knees got better, and year by year, I was getting back to my normal fitness level. I treat it as a sign from God that I really had to put more attention to school, and that’s what I did, believing that eventually football would come if I healed well, and I’m very glad that was the case.”
Making the Move to New England
After starting his senior career with one goal and an assist in 17 appearances for Lechia Gdánsk and four goals and one assist in 31 appearances for Zagłębie Lubin – winning the 2016/17 IV liga Lower Silesia West with the latter – Buksa made the move to Pogoń Szczecin in January 2018. It was here on the banks of the Oder River where Buksa finally got his career up and running, establishing himself as one of the brightest young strikers in Poland under the watchful eye of Kosta Runjaić, racking up 22 goals and 10 assists in 55 appearances. These stellar displays in attack earned the attention of several teams from Serie A, Liga Portugal, and the EFL Championship, but it was MLS side New England Revolution who won the race for Buksa. They paid a reported transfer fee of $4.5 million and making him the second-most expensive signing in the club’s history behind Gustavo Bou.
“From the very beginning, it’s been my dream to become a professional footballer. For as long as I can remember, football was the only thing that interested me, to be honest. But on the other hand, it was also a bit boring for me personally, and also for other children, because if I had to pick one thing to do after school, it was always football. Some of my colleagues wanted to do something else, but I was always like, ‘Let’s play some football. That’s the only thing that made me happy. However, the road to becoming a top-level professional football player was still extremely long. I don’t know the exact statistics, but I would guess 90-95% of the young kids who want to become top-level footballers don’t end up achieving that because of different factors.”
“It wasn’t until my 18th birthday when I signed my first professional contract with Lechia Gdansk have I realized, ‘Okay, I can make it. I’ve always wanted to achieve more, more than just the Polish Ekstraklasa, more than simply being happy with signing a contract. I wasn’t that kind of player, I’ve always felt like I can do more and more and more, and the transfer to Major League Soccer was the moment where I thought, ‘Ok, I’m going in the right direction’….that was my first success story. I would say that leaving the Ekstraklasa for MLS was the achievement that I appreciate the most from my early stage of the professional career.”
He made his MLS debut on February 29, 2020, becoming the first Polish-born player to play for New England in 22 years and the third overall after Rob Jachym and Janusz Michallik. One week later, Buksa became the first Polish-born player to score for New England after opening the scoring in a 1-1 draw vs. Chicago Fire. Little did he know it, but that would be his final appearance in four months, as a deadly pandemic waged terror on his newly adopted country. However, this didn’t stop him from emerging as a crucial figure in New England’s attack, racking up seven goals and an assist in 28 appearances as New England made it all the way to the 2020 Eastern Conference Finals, where they lost to eventual champions Columbus Crew.
Going from North America to Europe
Buksa did even better in 2021, going from the Revolution’s second-top scorer to their top scorer and registering 17 goals and four assists in 32 appearances as New England finished with the best record in the league and claimed their first-ever Supporters’ Shield, ending a 14-year trophy drought. These stellar displays earned the attention of the Polish national team, with Buksa making his international debut three years after being called up for the first time. He scored on his debut vs. Albania before bagging a hat-trick in the following match vs. San Marino. In total, he’s scored seven goals and tallied one assist in 24 appearances for Poland, and apart from last month when he missed out due to injury, he has been included in each of the last five national team squads.
“[Debuting for Poland] was one of my goals, of course. If you perform well, if you keep scoring goals, then you await the call-up to the national team. I could have made my debut a bit earlier, but I couldn’t travel to Europe due to the pandemic, so my first official game took place 1.5 years into my spell in New England. I would say that my national team performances were at their best while I was with the Revolution, which confirmed that I was doing a good job and enjoying an impressive run of form. Even though I had to deal with jet lag and all the long flights, it didn’t really bother me at this time. It was 100% a dream come true, and since that time, I actually haven’t been out of the national team. I’m regularly being called up, and only if I’m injured will I not play. But if I’m healthy, I’m always there, and I can say that these regular call-ups started during my time in New England.”
One year after scoring the game-winning goal against Supporters’ Shield winners Philadelphia Union in the MLS Cup Playoffs, Buksa looked set to emulate his goal-scoring heroics after breaking the deadlock vs. New York City FC. However, New York would equalize and force a penalty shootout, where Buksa’s spot-kick was saved in a 3-2 defeat to the eventual champions. Nevertheless, Buksa bounced back in stellar fashion by scoring in seven straight matches, becoming their 11th all-time scorer with 35 goals and 7 assists in 73 appearances, and eventually attracting the attention of Ligue 1 side Lens, who paid a club-record fee of $10 million.
Whilst Lens enjoyed a historic 2022/23 campaign and valiantly challenged Paris Saint-Germain for the league title, the same could not be said for Buksa, who was limited to just eight appearances due to a series of ankle injuries. He was sent out on loan to Turkish club Antalyaspor, where he ended a 16-month scoring drought and registered a team-high 16 goals and three assists in 35 appearances, earning himself a call-up to the 2024 European Championship in Germany. He started in their first two matches, opening the scoring in their opener vs. the Netherlands, before riding the bench in their third match vs. France. Buksa then transferred to Danish side Midtjylland for €4.5 million, where he racked up 15 goals and two assists in 39 appearances. And after just one year in Scandinavia, he was on the move again, joining Udinese for €5 million on August 26, 2025, and signing a contract through June 30, 2029.
“First of all, I wasn’t in a situation where I had to find a different club. I had a four-year contract and I was a regular starter at Midtjylland, but I got a call from Udinese manager Kosta Runjaić in the beginning of July, who I know very well from my time at Pogoń Szczecin. I was really happy to have received that call, because the time that I spent with Coach Kosta in Poland was very successful, and I felt that the chance to join Udinese was a step in the right direction. But it’s not like I was under pressure to find a different club; there were also some different options, but they were not nearly as concrete as Udinese’s interest. It took some time to find solutions for different things…as always, transfers take time. But at the end of the day, I moved to a new club, because we really wanted to make this transfer happen. Midtjylland accepted my will, even though they didn’t have to, so I’m grateful for that. I’m now here and more than motivated ever to show every single day that I deserve to be here and play, and when I get a chance to play, I want to perform at my best level.”
When Buksa first joined Italy, he was a precocious teenager who didn’t even know if he had a chance of becoming a professional footballer; after playing for Novara’s Primavera squad between 2013 and 2014, he returned to Poland, where he made his senior debut shortly after. Fast-forward to today, and he’s now a grown man with a wife and an established professional career that has seen him play for eight different professional clubs across six different countries, represent the Biało-Czerwoni at the U-16, U-17, U-18, U-19, U-21 and senior level and compete for them in the Euros.
Earning His Stripes with the Zebras
After coming off the bench in wins vs. Inter and Pisa and a defeat to Milan, Buksa made his first start for Udinese, leading the line alongside Nicolò Zaniolo as the Zebrette brushed past second-tier Palermo 2-1 and booked their ticket to the Coppa Italia Round of 16, where they will visit Juventus on December 2. But although Buksa was able to play over an hour, it wasn’t all glamorous in his full debut: he suffered fractures to his right cheekbone and nasal bones, forcing him to undergo surgery and miss the next two matches vs. Sassuolo and Cagliari as well as Poland’s friendly match vs. New Zealand and their World Cup qualifying match vs. Lithuania. Buksa returned to the pitch after a month out, coming on for the final half-hour of Udinese’s 1-1 draw at Cremonese, before replacing Zaniolo at the hour-mark in their match vs. Lecce.
“He’s been doing great these last few weeks,” says Buksa of his attacking partner Zaniolo. “It’s not a surprise because he’s a great player, a great talent, and he found his place here in Udinese. He’s been showing the quality that he has as a player, so we’re happy to have him. For me personally, having a striker like him in the line-up is also easier for me, because he’s always being marked by at least one or two defenders. As a striker, you’re happy with that because you can find more space up front as he’s drawing so much attention. I wish him all the best, and I hope he gets his first national team call-up after a long absence…he deserves to return to the Azzurri.”
As the visitors desperately chased an equalizer, Lecce found themselves exposed after losing possession and allowing Vakoun Issouf Bayo to charge forward on the counter and tee up Buksa at the edge of the box, who expertly breezed past two opponents before cheekily dinking it into the right corner to put the seal on victory.
“[My debut goal] was very important. It’s not a big secret that every goal makes strikers very happy, because it’s a confirmation of your good work, and it fulfills the expectations that people have…it was definitely a good reward. I had a difficult start to my Udinese career due to the fascial injury that I suffered in the Coppa Italia, but after a few weeks, I got back on the pitch and scored my first goal. I would say that was the official beginning of my career in Italy, but it’s in the past. I had 2-3 days after this game where I was very happy, but my approach has always been to focus on the next match…I don’t want to look too much into the past.”
Buksa replaced Keinan Davis in the 38th minute of their 3-1 defeat at Juventus before making his first-ever start in Serie A on November 1 as Udinese pulled off their first win against Atalanta since October 29, 2017. Next up, he’ll be looking to end a five-match losing streak to Roma and spearhead Udinese to their first win against the Giallorossi since September 4, 2022, before heading off for international duty with Poland. Poland must win their final two matches vs. the Netherlands and Malta in order to finish atop Group G and automatically qualify for the 2026 FIFA World Cup. They sit three points behind the Netherlands and three above Finland (who have one game left vs. Malta), and unless they can pull off a shock victory against the Oranje, they will likely be competing in March’s World Cup qualifying playoffs.
“I’ve never had a chance to play in such a tournament like the World Cup, so I will be more than happy to take part in that…obviously, my desire to participate in that tournament is very big. But there’s still a long way to go – we’ll probably have to go through playoffs, which are never easy, but I think it’s more than possible to qualify for the World Cup, and it would be great to come back in the United States with my national team of Poland.”
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