Jakub Kochanowski is a Polish middle blocker whose senior career has combined major national-team success with an entirely domestic club pathway in Poland. A senior international since 2017, he became a world champion with Poland in 2018, won Olympic silver at Paris 2024 and was selected as one of the tournament’s two best middle blockers. His international development began even earlier: Poland won world titles at both U19 and U21 level with Kochanowski in the team, and he was named MVP of the 2017 U21 World Championship.
At club level, Kochanowski has represented Indykpol AZS Olsztyn, PGE Skra Bełchatów, ZAKSA Kędzierzyn-Koźle, Asseco Resovia Rzeszów and PGE Projekt Warszawa before joining Aluron CMC Warta Zawiercie for 2026–27. His major club honors include the 2021 CEV Champions League with ZAKSA and the 2024 CEV Cup with Resovia. In 2025, he added one of the strongest individual seasons of his career, captaining Poland to Volleyball Nations League gold and receiving both the tournament MVP award and Best Middle Blocker recognition.
Player Information
| Field | Details |
|---|---|
| Full Name | Jakub Kochanowski |
| Date of Birth | 17 July 1997 |
| Age | 29 |
| Place of Birth | Giżycko, Poland |
| Nationality | Polish |
| Gender | Male |
| Position | Middle Blocker |
| Height | 199 cm (6 ft 6 in) |
| Weight | 84 kg (185 lbs) |
| Spike Reach | 353 cm |
| Block Reach | 325 cm |
| Dominant Hand | Right |
| Development Clubs | MOSiR Giżycko; SMS PZPS Spała |
| Previous Clubs | Indykpol AZS Olsztyn; PGE Skra Bełchatów; ZAKSA Kędzierzyn-Koźle; Asseco Resovia Rzeszów; PGE Projekt Warszawa |
| Current Club | Aluron CMC Warta Zawiercie |
| Club Number | 7 |
| National Team | Poland Men’s National Volleyball Team |
| Senior National Team Since | 2017 |
| National-Team Number | 15 |
| Career Status | Active |
| @kuba_kochan |
The current 2026–27 Polish league registration lists Kochanowski at 199 cm and 84 kg, with a 353 cm attack reach and number 7 for Aluron CMC Warta Zawiercie. A recent FIVB World Championship roster lists a 325 cm block reach, while his representative agency confirms that he is right-handed. Measurements have varied slightly between historical profiles, so the table prioritizes the current domestic league listing for height, weight and attack reach.
Early Life & Volleyball Beginnings
Kochanowski was born in Giżycko in northeastern Poland and began playing through the local MOSiR system. His pathway changed significantly at a young age. In an interview given during his breakthrough senior international period, he recalled leaving Giżycko at 13 and moving into a boarding-school environment in Olsztyn, an early move toward the independence required by an elite sports career.
His development later continued through SMS PZPS Spała, Poland’s national sports-school system, while he became part of an unusually successful generation of junior national-team players. That group won the 2015 European U19 Championship, the European Youth Olympic Festival and the U19 World Championship, then added the European U20 Championship in 2016.
The sequence culminated at the 2017 FIVB U21 World Championship. Poland defeated Cuba in the final to win the title, and Kochanowski was named tournament MVP. By then he had already established the qualities that would define his senior career: quick movement through the middle, efficient first-tempo attacking and the ability to influence matches at the net without needing the scoring volume of a wing attacker.
Club Career
Indykpol AZS Olsztyn: First PlusLiga Seasons
Kochanowski’s first sustained experience in Poland’s top professional league came with Indykpol AZS Olsztyn. He spent the 2016–17 and 2017–18 seasons with the club after progressing through the youth and school system.
Those two years were important because they moved him from an elite junior prospect into a starting-caliber professional middle blocker. He was still only 20 during his second PlusLiga season, yet he was already producing enough at the net to finish the 2017–18 campaign among the league’s strongest blockers.
Olsztyn also placed him alongside experienced Polish players from whom he could refine the details of the position. Kochanowski later singled out Daniel Pliński and Paweł Woicki as particularly important influences during his development, explaining that he learned a great deal from having experienced teammates beside him on court.
PGE Skra Bełchatów: A Step into a Title-Chasing Club
In 2018, shortly before becoming a senior world champion, Kochanowski moved to PGE Skra Bełchatów.
The transfer placed him with one of Poland’s most established clubs and brought immediate silverware. Skra won the Polish Super Cup in 2018, while the team also competed deep into the CEV Champions League during Kochanowski’s two seasons in Bełchatów. He appeared in the Champions League semifinals in 2019, gaining experience in the competition before winning it two years later with another Polish club.
His Skra period also overlapped with his rapid rise in the national team. Rather than developing his club and international careers separately, Kochanowski was already dealing with the workload and tactical demands of both elite PlusLiga volleyball and major international competition in his early twenties.
ZAKSA Kędzierzyn-Koźle and the 2021 Champions League
Kochanowski joined Grupa Azoty ZAKSA Kędzierzyn-Koźle for the 2020–21 season. The move lasted only one year, but it became one of the most successful single club seasons of his career.
ZAKSA opened the campaign by winning the Polish Super Cup and later lifted the Polish Cup. The team finished as league runner-up, but its defining achievement came in Europe.
During the Champions League knockout rounds, ZAKSA eliminated both defending European champion Cucine Lube Civitanova and Zenit Kazan in dramatic ties. Kochanowski played a decisive part in the semifinal against Zenit: in the golden set of the second leg, his contest at the net helped produce the point that sent ZAKSA to its first Champions League final.
The Polish club then defeated Trentino in the Super Final in Verona to win the 2021 CEV Champions League. Kochanowski was recognized among the competition’s leading middle blockers, adding Europe’s premier club trophy to a résumé that already included a senior World Championship gold medal.
When he left after the season, ZAKSA summarized his year with the club as one that produced the Polish Super Cup, Polish Cup, national championship silver and Champions League gold.
Three Seasons with Asseco Resovia Rzeszów
Kochanowski moved to Asseco Resovia Rzeszów in 2021 and remained there for three seasons.
His time in Rzeszów developed into a more stable long-term club chapter. Resovia earned a PlusLiga bronze medal in 2022–23, and Kochanowski finished that league season as its leading blocker. The club later noted that he collected 10 match MVP awards during his three years with Resovia.
The biggest team achievement came in 2023–24. Resovia advanced to the CEV Cup final against Germany’s SVG Lüneburg and won both legs in straight sets. The trophy was the first continental title in Resovia’s history and the first men’s CEV Cup victory by a Polish club.
That European success gave Kochanowski a second major continental club trophy after his Champions League victory with ZAKSA, this time in a very different context. At ZAKSA, he had joined a team producing one of the great Champions League runs of its era; at Resovia, he was part of the group that finally delivered the club’s first European title.
PGE Projekt Warszawa
Kochanowski moved from Resovia to PGE Projekt Warszawa in 2024.
His first season in Warsaw produced a PlusLiga bronze medal, and the club repeated that result in 2025–26. Projekt also returned to the upper level of European competition, eventually reaching the Champions League Final Four during Kochanowski’s second season.
Over his two league seasons with Projekt, the club credited Kochanowski with 542 points, including 127 blocks and 63 aces. Those figures illustrate a broader part of his middle-blocker profile: he is capable of producing meaningful scoring value not only through first-tempo attack, but also through sustained blocking and service pressure.
The 2025–26 campaign provides a more detailed statistical view. Volleyball World lists 211 league points for Kochanowski, made up of 146 attack points, 45 blocks and 20 aces. His attack efficiency for the competition was 65.18%.
Projekt announced his departure in June 2026 after two seasons, two PlusLiga bronze medals and a Champions League Final Four appearance.
Aluron CMC Warta Zawiercie
Kochanowski joined Aluron CMC Warta Zawiercie for the 2026–27 season, moving to the reigning Polish champions and taking number 7. The transfer gave him another opportunity to play for a club constructed around domestic and European title ambitions.
His arrival was delayed on court by the knee problem that ended his 2026 national-team season. After surgery and rehabilitation, he made his first appearance for Warta in a preseason match on 2 October, playing two sets. The club’s press service described it as his first match after the injury.
Kochanowski was then in Warta’s starting lineup when the 2026–27 league season opened against GKS Katowice on 16 October. The defending champions lost the match 3–0, but his participation confirmed his return to competitive club volleyball after several months focused on rehabilitation.
Club Career Timeline
| Seasons | Team | Country |
|---|---|---|
| 2016–2018 | Indykpol AZS Olsztyn | Poland |
| 2018–2020 | PGE Skra Bełchatów | Poland |
| 2020–2021 | ZAKSA Kędzierzyn-Koźle | Poland |
| 2021–2024 | Asseco Resovia Rzeszów | Poland |
| 2024–2026 | PGE Projekt Warszawa | Poland |
| 2026–present | Aluron CMC Warta Zawiercie | Poland |
Kochanowski has spent his entire senior professional club career in Poland. That distinguishes him from many of Poland’s other leading internationals, who have spent significant parts of their careers in Italy, Japan or Türkiye. His progression instead connects several of PlusLiga’s most prominent clubs.
National Team Career
From Junior Champion to Senior International
Kochanowski’s national-team career began with an exceptional junior generation.
Poland won the U19 European Championship and U19 World Championship in 2015, the U20 European Championship in 2016 and the U21 World Championship in 2017. Kochanowski’s MVP award at the 2017 U21 Worlds was especially significant because it came immediately before his permanent transition into the senior team.
His senior Poland debut came on 3 June 2017 in a World League match against Italy. By the following year, he was already trusted in the squad for the sport’s biggest senior championship.
2018 World Championship Gold
At the 2018 FIVB World Championship, Poland arrived as defending champions and again reached the final.
The tournament represented Kochanowski’s breakthrough on the senior global stage. Poland defeated Brazil 3–0 in the championship match in Turin, retaining the title won four years earlier and giving Kochanowski a senior world championship barely a year after he had been named MVP of the U21 World Championship.
The speed of that transition is one of the defining features of his early career. From 2015 through 2018, he moved through U19, U20 and U21 championships into a senior world title without a long gap between developmental and elite international volleyball.
Medals Through 2019–2022
Poland remained a regular podium team after the 2018 title, and Kochanowski became part of a deep middle-blocker rotation.
He won bronze in the 2019 Volleyball Nations League and at the 2019 European Championship, while Poland also earned silver at the 2019 World Cup. In 2021, the national team took VNL silver and another European Championship bronze.
The 2022 season brought another global medal. Poland reached the World Championship final on home soil but lost to Italy, finishing with silver. The result meant that by age 25 Kochanowski had already collected both gold and silver medals at the senior World Championship.
European and VNL Champion in 2023
Poland’s 2023 international season produced two major titles.
The team won the Volleyball Nations League for the first time, and Kochanowski was selected as one of the tournament’s Best Middle Blockers. That individual recognition began a run of major tournament awards that continued through the next two international seasons.
Later that summer, Poland defeated Italy in the European Championship final in Rome. The victory gave Kochanowski his first senior continental title and completed a season in which Poland had won both the VNL and EuroVolley.
Paris 2024 Olympic Silver
The Paris Olympics became another major point in Kochanowski’s career.
Poland reached the Olympic men’s volleyball final for the first time since 1976 after defeating Slovenia in the quarterfinal and the United States in a five-set semifinal. France won the gold-medal match, leaving Poland with silver.
Kochanowski scored 49 points across six Olympic matches. Volleyball World recorded 39 attack points, six block points and four aces, with a 79.59% attacking efficiency.
His tournament was recognized individually as well. Kochanowski and American Taylor Averill were selected as the two middle blockers in the Paris 2024 Dream Team.
That Olympic award followed another Best Middle Blocker selection in the 2024 VNL, giving Kochanowski consecutive VNL Dream Team selections in 2023 and 2024 before an even more successful tournament the following year.
VNL 2025 MVP and National-Team Captaincy
The 2025 Volleyball Nations League produced arguably the strongest individual senior tournament of Kochanowski’s career.
With Bartosz Kurek and Aleksander Śliwka unavailable through injury, Kochanowski captained Poland during the decisive stage of the tournament. He appeared in the team’s final seven matches and scored 55 points, including 14 blocks and five aces, while attacking at 69% efficiency.
Poland defeated Italy in straight sets in the final to win its second VNL title. Kochanowski was named both Best Middle Blocker and Most Valuable Player of the tournament. It was his third consecutive VNL selection as one of the competition’s leading middles.
The captaincy also reflected a broader change in his role. By 2025, Kochanowski was no longer simply one of Poland’s younger middle blockers from the 2018 championship generation; he had become one of the players trusted with leadership responsibilities in a roster transitioning toward another Olympic cycle.
2025 World Championship Bronze
Poland entered the 2025 World Championship in the Philippines among the major title contenders and reached the semifinals before losing to Italy.
The team recovered to win the bronze-medal match, giving Kochanowski a third senior World Championship medal after gold in 2018 and silver in 2022.
Individually, he was selected as one of the two Best Middle Blockers in the tournament’s Dream Team. The award extended a remarkable sequence: Best Middle Blocker at the 2023 VNL, 2024 VNL, Paris Olympics, 2025 VNL and 2025 World Championship.
Knee Injury and the 2026 International Season
Kochanowski expected to remain a central figure for Poland in 2026, but a knee problem changed those plans.
The issue developed after the club season and prevented him from participating in the VNL. Initial rehabilitation did not produce enough improvement, and Kochanowski eventually underwent a procedure rather than attempting to continue through the international summer.
He officially ended his 2026 national-team season before EuroVolley, focusing instead on rehabilitation and a return for his new club. Poland subsequently won both the 2026 VNL and European Championship without him; those titles therefore should not be counted among Kochanowski’s personal tournament medals.
His return to club action in October placed the focus on rebuilding full match rhythm with Aluron CMC Warta Zawiercie and, longer term, working toward another national-team season in 2027.
Playing Style & Strengths
Kochanowski is a modern middle blocker whose value comes from the combination of first-tempo efficiency, blocking reads and a serve capable of adding direct pressure. He is not unusually tall for an elite international middle at 199 cm, so his effectiveness depends heavily on timing, speed and positioning rather than simply occupying space above the net.
First-Tempo Attack
One of Kochanowski’s most consistent strengths is his efficiency when the setter can use the middle of the court.
At Paris 2024, Volleyball World credited him with 39 attack points from 49 attempts, an attacking efficiency of 79.59%. During the 2025 VNL, he again operated at an elite rate, finishing with a 69% attack success rate across his seven matches.
Those numbers reflect the nature of elite middle attacking. The player has fewer total swings than an outside hitter or opposite, but each opportunity often comes at high speed and depends on precise synchronization with the setter. Kochanowski’s ability to get available quickly, attack in front of or behind the setter and exploit gaps between blockers helps create value beyond his raw point total.
The middle attack also affects the rest of an offense. When opponents have to respect Kochanowski’s first tempo, their middle blocker cannot simply leave early to close against the wings, creating more room for Poland’s outside hitters and opposites.
Reading the Block
Blocking is the area most strongly associated with Kochanowski’s positional reputation.
His effectiveness is based on reading the setter and attacker early enough to establish the correct position rather than simply jumping high. The middle blocker must decide whether to remain with the opponent’s quick attack, move toward either antenna or react to an imperfect pass that changes the attack pattern.
Kochanowski has repeatedly produced high block totals at club level. Asseco Resovia identified him as the best blocker of the 2022–23 PlusLiga season, while Projekt Warszawa credited him with 127 blocks across his two seasons in the capital.
During the 2025 VNL title run, he added 14 kill blocks in only seven matches. The contribution was substantial enough to accompany the tournament MVP award rather than functioning as a secondary statistic.
Serving
Kochanowski also contributes more from the service line than many middles whose primary value is concentrated at the net.
Projekt Warszawa credited him with 63 aces in two league seasons, while the 2025–26 Volleyball World statistics show 20 aces during that domestic campaign alone.
His serve can create value even without an ace. A strong first contact by the opponent makes it easier to use the middle attack; a pressured pass reduces those options. For a middle blocker, serving therefore creates a direct connection between one skill and the blocking phase that follows.
Mobility and Transition
At 199 cm, Kochanowski gives away some height to the tallest international middles, but he compensates with movement and timing.
A middle blocker must repeatedly move from blocking to transition attack, sometimes after covering several meters laterally at the net. Kochanowski’s ability to become available quickly after a defensive phase makes him especially useful in fast offenses that want to keep the middle involved rather than defaulting to high balls to the wings.
This balance between efficiency, timing and decision-making helps explain why he has been selected to major tournament Dream Teams so consistently. His value is spread across several phases rather than resting on one unusually dominant physical characteristic.
Major Achievements
Kochanowski’s career includes a senior World Championship title, Olympic silver, European Championship gold, multiple VNL medals, two major European club trophies and a particularly strong collection of individual awards for a middle blocker.
Selected National Team Honors
| Year | Competition | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 2018 | FIVB World Championship | Gold Medal |
| 2019 | Volleyball Nations League | Bronze Medal |
| 2019 | CEV European Championship | Bronze Medal |
| 2019 | FIVB World Cup | Silver Medal |
| 2021 | Volleyball Nations League | Silver Medal |
| 2021 | CEV European Championship | Bronze Medal |
| 2022 | Volleyball Nations League | Bronze Medal |
| 2022 | FIVB World Championship | Silver Medal |
| 2023 | Volleyball Nations League | Gold Medal |
| 2023 | CEV European Championship | Gold Medal |
| 2024 | Volleyball Nations League | Bronze Medal |
| 2024 | Olympic Games, Paris | Silver Medal |
| 2025 | Volleyball Nations League | Gold Medal |
| 2025 | FIVB World Championship | Bronze Medal |
His youth record adds another championship sequence: European U19 gold, U19 world gold, European U20 gold and U21 world gold, with the 2017 U21 World Championship MVP award marking the end of his junior international career.
Selected Club Honors
| Season | Competition | Team | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2018–19 | Polish Super Cup | PGE Skra Bełchatów | Winner |
| 2020–21 | Polish Super Cup | ZAKSA Kędzierzyn-Koźle | Winner |
| 2020–21 | Polish Cup | ZAKSA Kędzierzyn-Koźle | Winner |
| 2020–21 | Polish Championship | ZAKSA Kędzierzyn-Koźle | Runner-up |
| 2020–21 | CEV Champions League | ZAKSA Kędzierzyn-Koźle | Champion |
| 2022–23 | Polish Championship | Asseco Resovia Rzeszów | Bronze |
| 2023–24 | CEV Cup | Asseco Resovia Rzeszów | Champion |
| 2024–25 | Polish Championship | PGE Projekt Warszawa | Bronze |
| 2025–26 | Polish Championship | PGE Projekt Warszawa | Bronze |
The Champions League and CEV Cup victories came with three different competitive contexts around him: ZAKSA’s first Champions League-winning team in 2021 and Resovia’s first continental trophy in 2024, followed by two domestic podium seasons with Projekt.
Selected Individual Awards
| Year | Competition | Award |
|---|---|---|
| 2017 | FIVB U21 World Championship | Most Valuable Player |
| 2023 | Volleyball Nations League | Best Middle Blocker |
| 2024 | Volleyball Nations League | Best Middle Blocker |
| 2024 | Olympic Games, Paris | Best Middle Blocker |
| 2025 | Volleyball Nations League | Most Valuable Player |
| 2025 | Volleyball Nations League | Best Middle Blocker |
| 2025 | FIVB World Championship | Best Middle Blocker |
The 2025 VNL MVP is particularly notable because individual MVP awards at major international tournaments often go to high-volume wing scorers or setters. Kochanowski earned it as a middle blocker after captaining Poland and contributing through first-tempo attack, blocking and serving.
Life Away from Volleyball
Kochanowski has described an early move toward independence as one of the formative experiences of his life. He left his family home in Giżycko at 13 to live in Olsztyn while pursuing volleyball, an arrangement that required him to manage school, training and everyday responsibilities at an unusually young age.
In interviews later in his career, he has generally presented himself as someone who values distance from volleyball when the competitive schedule allows it. A 2026 GQ interview, conducted while he was rehabilitating his knee, focused on the pressure created by professional sport, the effects of success and the importance of ordinary downtime away from competition.
He is married, and has also spoken about trying not to make volleyball the only subject of life at home. In a 2025 interview, Kochanowski joked that his wife understands the sport well enough to tell him when a match was poor or uninteresting, even if detailed post-match analysis is not something they want to carry into everyday life.
Kochanowski has also worked as an individual ambassador for Decathlon in Poland. The company’s own announcement described him as one of its volleyball ambassadors, adding another public role alongside his club and national-team career.
Where Is Jakub Kochanowski Playing Now?
As of October 2026, Jakub Kochanowski plays for Aluron CMC Warta Zawiercie in Poland’s top men’s league and wears number 7. He joined the club after two seasons with PGE Projekt Warszawa. The current league registration lists him at 199 cm and 84 kg.
His current status requires an important qualification. Kochanowski missed the 2026 international season because of a knee problem that eventually required a procedure after rehabilitation failed to produce sufficient improvement. He did not participate in Poland’s 2026 VNL or EuroVolley title campaigns.
He returned to match action with Warta in a preseason tournament on 2 October, playing two sets in what the club identified as his first appearance after the injury. On 16 October, he started the opening league match against GKS Katowice.
That return shifts his immediate focus from rehabilitation back toward competitive rhythm. Longer term, Kochanowski has spoken about 2027 as the point at which he intends to resume his national-team career after the first major injury interruption of his senior international run.
Recent Performance Snapshot
The statistics below are competition-specific and should not be interpreted as career totals.
| Competition | Matches / Context | Total Points | Attack Points | Block Points | Aces | Attack Efficiency |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Paris 2024 Olympics | 6 matches | 49 | 39 | 6 | 4 | 79.59% |
| 2025 Volleyball Nations League | Final 7 Poland matches | 55 | 36 | 14 | 5 | 69% attack success |
| 2025–26 Polish League | PGE Projekt Warszawa | 211 | 146 | 45 | 20 | 65.18% |
The three samples show why Kochanowski’s reputation is not based on blocking alone. At Paris 2024 and in the 2025 VNL, he converted first-tempo opportunities at a very high rate, while the 2025–26 club season added 45 blocks and 20 aces to his 146 attack points.
His 2026–27 numbers are not yet meaningful as a season sample. The league had only just begun by mid-October, and Kochanowski was returning from several months of knee rehabilitation.
Frequently Asked Questions
How old is Jakub Kochanowski?
Jakub Kochanowski was born on 17 July 1997 in Giżycko, Poland. He is 29 years old as of October 2026.
How tall is Jakub Kochanowski?
Kochanowski is listed at 199 cm, approximately 6 feet 6 inches, in current Polish league and Volleyball World records.
What position does Jakub Kochanowski play?
He is a middle blocker. His primary responsibilities are first-tempo attacking, blocking through the center of the net and contributing from the service line.
Which club does Jakub Kochanowski play for?
Kochanowski plays for Aluron CMC Warta Zawiercie. He joined the club for the 2026–27 season after two years with PGE Projekt Warszawa.
What number does Jakub Kochanowski wear?
He wears number 7 for Aluron CMC Warta Zawiercie. His established senior national-team number in recent major competitions has been 15.
Has Jakub Kochanowski won the World Championship?
Yes. Kochanowski won the 2018 FIVB Men’s World Championship with Poland. He later won silver at the 2022 World Championship and bronze in 2025.
Has Jakub Kochanowski won an Olympic medal?
Yes. Kochanowski won the silver medal with Poland at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games and was selected as one of the two Best Middle Blockers in the tournament’s Dream Team.
Why did Jakub Kochanowski miss the 2026 national-team season?
A knee problem that developed after the club season did not improve sufficiently through rehabilitation. Kochanowski ultimately underwent a procedure and ended his 2026 national-team season, missing both the VNL and European Championship while focusing on recovery.
References
- Volleyball World — Jakub Kochanowski honored as Most Valuable Player of VNL 2025
- Volleyball World — Jakub Kochanowski Paris 2024 player profile and statistics
- Volleyball World — Paris 2024 men’s Dream Team and individual awards
- Volleyball World — Jakub Kochanowski 2025–26 Polish league statistics
- Volleyball World — 2025 Men’s World Championship Dream Team
- TAURON Liga — Jakub Kochanowski 2026–27 player profile
- TAURON Liga — Jakub Kochanowski leaves PGE Projekt Warszawa
- ZAKSA Kędzierzyn-Koźle — Jakub Kochanowski leaves ZAKSA after the 2020–21 season
- CEV — Kochanowski: To win the Champions League is a dream for every player
- CEV — Asseco Resovia Rzeszów lift the 2024 CEV Cup trophy
- Asseco Resovia Rzeszów — Jakub Kochanowski leaves after three seasons
- TVP Sport — Jakub Kochanowski on the knee procedure and recovery in 2026
