Cracovia, is a Polish professional football club based in Kraków. The club is five-time and also the first Polish champion, winner of the Polish Cup and the Polish Super Cup in 2020. Founded in 1906, Cracovia is the second longest existing Polish club.
The Poland national football team represents Poland in men's international football competitions since their first match in 1921. They are known by the nicknames "The White-Red" and "The Eagles", symbolized by their coat of arms featuring a white eagle on a red background.
Stal Rzeszów is a Polish football club based in Rzeszów, Poland, as part of a multi-sports club.
The Polish Football Association is the governing body of association football in Poland. It organizes the Polish football leagues, the Polish Cup and the Poland national football team. It is based in the Polish capital of Warsaw.
LKS Pogoń Lwów is a former Polish professional sports club which was located in Lwów, Lwów Voivodeship, and existed from 1904 until the outbreak of World War II in 1939. It was the second oldest Polish football club behind other teams from Lwów – Czarni and Lechia. With numerous departments, among them football, ice hockey and track and field, Pogoń was a major force of Polish sports in the interbellum period; its football team was never relegated from the elite Polish Football League. The club ceased to exist in September 1939, following German and Soviet aggression on Poland. On 2 July 1939, Pogoń played last pre-war official home game, drawing 1–1 with AKS Chorzów. The last pre-war game of the Pogoń's football team took place in Warsaw on 20 August 1939. Lwów's side lost 1–2 to Polonia Warsaw, scorer of the last goal was the 20-year-old forward Piotr Dreher. A club under the same name wishing to continue its traditions was formed in 2009.
The interwar period of Polish football began in the late fall of 1918 after First World War, when Poland regained independence, which had been lost at the end of 18th century (see: Partitions of Poland). The newly created country soon started to organize its administration and several national organizations. Among them was the PZPN – Polski Zwiazek Pilki Noznej, which was created on 20 and 21 December 1919 in Warsaw. According to some sources, several officials representing around 30 Polish Football clubs were then present in Warsaw, but the list of them has been lost.
In the Second Polish Republic, there was not a national, Second Division, as we know it today, although the creation of the second division was proposed on several occasions. On Sunday, 26 September 1937 in Częstochowa, a conference of regional teams from across the nation took place, to discuss the creation of the league. Officials of several clubs arrived, such as Brygada Częstochowa, Gryf Toruń, Śmigły Wilno, Rewera Stanisławów, Dąb Katowice, Unia Sosnowiec, Strzelec Janowa Dolina, and WKS Grodno. Also, invited were officials of HCP Poznań, Podgorze Kraków, Naprzód Lipiny and Union Touring Łódź, but for unknown reasons they did not show up. The officials talked about creation of a National B-League, but nothing came out of this project. Instead, in the years 1921-1939, several Voivodeships held their own games and those leagues were known as A-Classes. In 1927, the elite Polish Football League was created, which by the late 1930s consisted of 10 teams. The teams that did not make it to the Ekstraklasa, played in the A-Classes.
I liga, currently named Fortuna I liga due to its sponsorship by Fortuna, is the men's second professional association football division of the Polish football league system, below the Ekstraklasa and above the II liga via promotion/relegation systems. Run by the Polish Football Association (PZPN) since its inception on 30 May 1948. The league was renamed from Second League to First League in 2008. It is currently contested by 18 teams, from 2002 all clubs onwards must have a licence, issued by the Association.
Maciej Stolarczyk is a Polish professional football manager and former player who played as a defender. He was most recently in charge of Ekstraklasa side Jagiellonia Białystok.
Tarnovia Tarnów is a Polish sports club, founded in 1909 in the southern city of Tarnów. With white and red hues, the club's founders wanted to emphasize their patriotism, during the time when their homeland was divided into three powers. Tarnovia was based on two smaller teams, which had been created by students of local high schools in 1906 and 1908. These organizations, called Bialo-Czerwoni and Pogon, merged in 1909, creating Tarnovia. In the interbellum period its soccer team played in Kraków's A-Class.
Lwowski Klub Sportowy Sparta Lwów was a football club based in Lwów, Lwów Voivodeship, Second Polish Republic.
Poland Ekstraklasa, meaning "Extra Class" in Polish, named PKO Bank Polski Ekstraklasa since the 2019–20 season due to its sponsorship by PKO Bank Polski, is the top Polish professional league for men's association football teams.
On September 1, 1939, the armed forces of Nazi Germany invaded Poland from the west initiating World War II. Two weeks later, on September 17, Soviet Union joined Germany in their attack on the Second Polish Republic. By early October, Poland was defeated. The occupied Poland was the only country in Europe where the Nazis had introduced a total ban on regional sports clubs. Football was allowed to be practised only by the Germans in the annexed areas of Upper Silesia. Polish activists and players risked their lives by organizing clandestine football competitions in Kraków, Warsaw and Poznań.
The 2012–13 Polish Cup was the fifty-ninth season of the annual Polish football knockout tournament. It began on 18 July 2012 with the first matches of the extra preliminary round and ended on 3 May 2013 with the final. The winners qualified for the second qualifying round of the 2013–14 UEFA Europa League.
The 2020–21 Polish Cup was the 67th season of the annual Polish football knockout tournament. It began on 8 August 2020 with the first matches of the preliminary round and ended with the final on 2 May 2021 at Arena Lublin. The 2020–21 edition of the Polish Cup was sponsored by Fortuna, making the official name Fortuna Puchar Polski. Winners of the competition qualified for the second qualifying round of the 2021–22 UEFA Europa Conference League.
The 2020–21 season was the 96th season of competitive football in Poland.
The original Polish Football Association, abbreviated ZPPN, also known in Austria as German Football Association for Poland was the governing body of association football in the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria, the Cisleithanian crown land of Austria-Hungary. Founded on 25 June 1911 in Lwów it organised the Galician Football Championship and the Galicia national football team. The association was part of the federal Austrian Football Association, it was however not a member of FIFA. After Poland regained independence following World War I, the organization was renamed to Lesser Poland Football Association and joined the modern Polish Football Association as a regional association for Lesser Poland. The organization was dissolved on May 16, 1920 and therefore it is not the same entity as the current-day Lesser Poland Football Association.
