Adam Buksa Gunning for Greatness with Udinese | OneFootball

Udinese striker Adam Buksa sits down with us to discuss his time in MLS with the New England Revolution, playing for the Poland national team, and the differences in soccer culture in the United States and in Europe.

The notion that MLS is a “retirement league” can easily be debunked with even the most casual scrutiny. Sure, players like Gareth Bale, Giorgio Chiellini, and Bastian Schweinsteiger have ended their careers in the league in recent years, but MLS has also proven to be a springboard for rising talents looking to play in Europe’s top five leagues.

One such talent is Adam Buksa, who joined MLS side New England Revolution in 2020 and signed with Ligue 1 side Lens two years later. Ahead of the 2025 season, Buksa signed with Serie A side Udiense, where he’s featured in 16 matches and has scored one goal.

Born and raised in Kraków, Poland, Buksa’s early footballing journey was beset with hardship, with the striker putting his footballing dreams on halt at 12 years old after a doctor informed him that his knees wouldn’t be able to handle the demands of football. Buksa spent two years away from the game before joining Wisła Kraków’s academy at the end of his first year of high school.

Buksa bounced around from various youth teams before launching his professional career with Lechia Gdańsk in 2014, though he wouldn’t truly break through until joining Pogoń Szczecin in January 2018.

This move proved to be the trampoline that Buksa was looking for to catapult him to stardom, and he emerged as a key figure under manager Kosta Runjaić, scoring 22 goals and 10 assists in 55 appearances for the Pride of Pomerania, and eventually attracting a lucrative transfer. In December 2019, Buksa left Poland and joined the New England Revolution for $4.5 million, becoming the second-most expensive signing in the club’s history behind Gustavo Bou.

“Life in the U.S. was much different than in Poland,” said Buksa in an exclusive Urban Pitch interview. “Everything is bigger and faster, and there’s lot of bureaucracy. Really, that was the biggest issue for me: the bureaucracy. Sometimes it’s very difficult to do things quickly, to have things sorted quickly, especially with visas [and] travel permissions. This is probably the biggest difference if you leave the European Union.”

Buksa would need just one week to become the first ever Polish-born player to score for New England, but he would have to wait another four months to make his next appearance following the pandemic-enforced break. Nevertheless, Buksa managed to cope with this adversity and emerged as a leader in New England’s attack with seven goals and an assist in 28 appearances. New England made it to the 2020 Eastern Conference Finals, where they lost to eventual champions Columbus Crew.

The Revs did even better in 2021, with Buksa scoring a team-high 17 goals to go along with four assists in 32 appearances and leading New England to their maiden Supporters’ Shield, their first trophy since 2007. However, he was unable to lead his team to its first-ever MLS Cup title — after opening the scoring against eventual champions New York City FC, Buksa squandered his spot-kick in a 3-2 penalty shootout defeat.

“My penalty miss against New York City FC in the playoff run in the Eastern Conference semifinal, that was the only thing that I regret,” Buska said. “Besides that, I don’t really see anything that I would have changed from my time at New England.”

Image via RC Lens.

These stellar displays in Massachusetts didn’t just see Buksa earn a maiden call-up to the Polish national team, where he’d feature at the 2024 EUROs, but it also saw him attract interest from a number of European clubs. It was Ligue 1 side Lens who won the race, paying a club-record fee of $10 million for his services.

After missing Lens’ first six matches due to a broken ankle, Buksa came off the bench to make his debut against Troyes, and played four matches before injuring his ankle yet again, which ensured that he would not be taking part in the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar. Buksa would return in late April, playing in four of Lens’ seven matches, as Les Sang et Or enjoyed a historic season that would see them finish second and challenge PSG for the Ligue 1 title.

Buksa was then loaned out to Turkish side Antalyaspor, where he ended a 16-month scoring drought and finished as the team’s top scorer with 16 goals and three assists in 35 appearances. His form would continue into international play at the 2024 EUROs, where he’d score in Poland’s opening match against the Netherlands.

“[Going to Antalyaspor] was crucial, because after one year of not playing in France, I had to find a club where I can bounce back and perform the way I did in the United States,” Buksa said. “That was my goal, and it was a really, really fruitful time in Türkiye. After one full season of playing at my club, I was ready for the challenge with the national team and had a good EURO 2024 with Poland. It was a good time, really good time for me to bounce back and to come back to life after an unsuccessful period in France.”

Rather than reintegrate him into the squad, Lens decided to cut their losses on Buksa and sold him to Danish giants Midtjylland for €4.5 million, where he scored 15 goals in 39 appearances. These superb displays would earn the attention of Serie A side Udinese, who signed the 29-year-old striker to a four-year deal on August 26, 2025, paying €5 million for his services and reuniting him with his former manager Runjaić.

So far, Buksa has made 16 total appearances for Udinese, and his sole goal came on October 25 in a 3-2 win against Lecce. While Buksa hasn’t quite managed to find his best form in Udine, he nevertheless remains an important figure for both Udinese and Poland, having been called up to five of Poland’s last six international windows, only missing the October window after suffering a fracture to the right cheekbone and nasal bones.

All signs point to Buksa playing a key role for Poland as they look to qualify for the 2026 World Cup, facing Albania on March 26. If they win, they’ll face the winner of Ukraine and Sweden in a do-or-die FIFA World Cup qualifier for a spot in Group F alongside the Netherlands, Japan, and Tunisia.

But first, Buksa will be looking to get back to top form with Udinese, who have been mainstays in the middle of the Serie A table for the past decade, and currently sit in 11th through 17 matches thus far.

We sat down with Buksa for a Q&A session, discussing everything from his well-traveled career to his thoughts on MLS versus European leagues.

Photo by Dan Mullan/Getty Images

Urban Pitch: You’ve had the chance to play in Poland, Türkiye, Denmark, Italy, and France. How would you compare these nations’ fanbases and overall stadium atmospheres to Major League Soccer?

Adam Buksa: I really enjoyed playing in the United States, and I respect the league very much, but if you’re talking about the fanbase, it’s a totally different story. If you compare MLS with Türkiye, with Italy, with France, it’s a way different atmosphere. I would say the atmosphere in the United States or in Canada is more family-friendly; people are not that passionate about football. They are passionate, but in a different way.

In some football countries like Türkiye or Italy, the passion is on a different level. The pressure is on a different level, the expectations are on a way different level. In MLS, you don’t have that. You can really enjoy your time there without feeling this extra pressure from the society.

Let’s say you go out to have a coffee or to have a dinner in Italy or in Türkiye, you’re regularly being recognized by the people, and they really care about the team, and they really care about the players. They’re going to wish you good luck, but they’ll also demand you to perform on the highest level. I lived in Boston for two-and-a-half years, and I didn’t have such a situation even once as an MLS player.

It can work both ways; there are some players who like it, and some players who don’t like it. For me personally, football is kind of a mission. If I join the club, it’s a mission for me, so I like to feel this kind of pressure, and I like to feel high expectations from the society and the club to perform, and if you don’t perform, you have to take responsibility for that. That’s what I like, and that’s what I missed the most in the United States.

It’s been nearly two years since you scored in the EUROs against the Netherlands. Where does this rank amongst the best goals of your entire career?

I would say top three. The other two would be my first goal in Serie A versus Lecce and then maybe my first goal with my national team. That was also great feeling in the World Cup qualifiers against Albania when I made my debut alongside Robert Lewandowski…that was a big, big game for me personally, and, it was a good game. I scored a goal, we won 4-1 in a very, very difficult and important match, so I would go with that one as the third.

Lastly, you’re contracted with Udinese until 2029, but can you see yourself potentially returning to the United States and competing in MLS again?

In general, me and my wife, we enjoyed the U.S. very much. You can never say never in football, but if I had to bet on it, I would guess that I will come back to the United States at some point to play professionally. I haven’t lifted the MLS Cup yet, so after four years of my successful adventure and a successful career in Udinese, but I think there is a high chance I’ll be back in the United States.