Gwardia Opole

Corotop KPR Gwardia Opole
Full name	Klub Piłki Ręcznej Gwardia Opole
Founded	1945;80 years ago (1945)
Arena	Stegu Arena
Capacity	3,378
President	Paweł Dołhańczuk
Head coach	Bartosz Jurecki
Captain	Mateusz Jankowski
League	Superliga
2021/22	9th
Club colours
Home Away
Website Official site

Gwardia Opole is a men's handball club from Opole, Poland, that plays in the Superliga.

The current name of the club is Corotop Gwardia Opole due to sponsorship reasons.

Opole

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Location of Gwardia Opole

Gwardek – the official mascot of Gwardia Opole.

History

The team was founded in 1945. In 1962, it was promoted to the first league. In his debut season in the top league, he took 4th place. In the 1963/1964 season, the team led by Edward Hyla won the bronze medal of the Polish championship (behind AZS Katowice and Sparta Katowice). In the following years, Gwardia continued to play in the first league. They were relegated in 1980, but returned to the 1st after a year when they won the 2nd league by eight points ahead of second-placed Posnania Poznań. In the 1981/1982 season, it was relegated to the second league again, where it spent the next ten years. The Opole team returned to the first league in the 1992/1993 season - again only for one year - when coached by Henryk Zajączkowski. The club was in the third division in the 1997/1998 season, where it played for three consecutive years. In the 2002/2003 season, the Opole team won the second division and returned to the top division after 10 years. In the 2003/2004 season, the team won only two and drew three, thus relegating it to the first league. In the years 2004-2013, Gwardia played in the first league. In this period, he achieved second place twice (2006/2007, 2010/2011) and third place twice (2007/2008, 2011/2012). In the 2012/2013 season, when Marek Jagielski was the coach, the team won the first division and got promoted to the Superliga. In the 2013/2014 season, the team won five, drew one and lost 16, finishing 11th and relegated to the First Division. During the season, in December 2013, there was a change of coach: Marek Jagielski was replaced by Tadeusz Jednoróg. ^[1] In 2014, Rafał Kuptel became the new coach of Opole. In the 2014/2015 season, Gwardia dominated the second division: they won all 26 of their matches, thus once again promoted to the Superliga. The team's new home, the "Okraglak" hall, was handed over in September 2017, and since 2018 the facility has been called the Stegu Arena. ^[2] In the 2017/2018 season, the team debuted on the international cup circuit, when they were eliminated in the third round against RD Koper of Slovenia in the EHF Cup. In the 2018/2019 season, Opole finished the regular season in 4th place. In the semifinals of the playoffs, they lost to the favorite Vive Kielce (32:31; 28:37). However, a one-goal victory (32:31) ^[3] in the first meeting was a sensation: Gwardia's victory ended Kielce's 103-match winning streak since March 2016. ^[4] In the race for 3rd place, Gwardia faced MMTS Kwidzyn. He lost the first match 25:26, but won the rematch 26:24 and won the bronze medal of the Polish championship. The team's top scorers in the 2018/2019 season: Patryk Mauer (149 goals), Mateusz Jankowski (120 goals) and Antoni Łangowski (116 goals). For the third time in a row, Adam Malcher received the award for the best goalkeeper in the league, and for the second time in a row, Rafał Kuptel was recognized as the best coach in the Superliga.

Crest, colours, supporters

Kits

HOME
2017–18	2018–20

AWAY
2017–18	2018–19	2019–20

THIRD
2017–18	2019–20

Sports Hall information

Home hall: Stegu Arena 2012

• Arena: - Stegu Arena
• City: - Opole
• Capacity: - 3378
• Address: - Oleska 72, 45-222 Opole, Poland.

Management

Position	Name
President	Paweł Dołhańczuk
Sports Director	Tomasz Wróbel

Team

Current squad

Squad for the 2024–25 season ^[5]

Gwardia Opole

Goalkeepers 01 Jakub Ałaj 12 Mateusz Lellek 16 Adam Malcher Left Wingers 22 Michał Milewski 23 Kacper Aksamit 88 Daniel Jendryca Right Wingers 07 Mateusz Wojdan 11 Marek Hryniewicz 77 Kacper Wilsowski Line Players 20 Paweł Stempin 43 Janusz Wandzel 66 Admir Pelidija Left Backs 06 Filip Wrzesiński 08 Antoni Łangowski 21 Jakub Luksa Central Backs 04 Piotr Jędraszczyk 05 Fabian Sosna 09 Piotr Zawadzki Right Backs 17 Andrzej Widomski 99 Oliwier Kamiński

Technical staff

• Head coach: Bartosz Jurecki
• Assistant coach: Bogumił Baran
• Fitness coach: Marek Dominiak
• Physiotherapist: Kacper Abrahamek
• Physiotherapist: Bartosz Smarzych

Transfers

Transfers for the 2025–26 season

Joining

Leaving

Transfer History

Transfers for the 2024–25 season
Joining Admir Pelidija (LP) from GRK Ohrid [6] Filip Wrzesiński (LB) from Pogoń Szczecin Oliwier Kamiński (RB) from Wisła Płock Leaving

Previous squads

2018–2019 Team
Shirt No	Nationality	Player	Birth Date	Position
1	Poland	Mateusz Zembrzycki	(1997-03-18) 18 March 1997 (age 27)	Goalkeeper
2	Poland	Michał Lemaniak	(1997-02-15) 15 February 1997 (age 27)	Right Winger
5	Poland	Karol Siwak	(1997-08-29) 29 August 1997 (age 27)	Left Winger
7	Poland	Maciej Zarzycki	(1998-07-26) 26 July 1998 (age 26)	Central Back
8	Poland	Antoni Łangowski	(1990-04-19) 19 April 1990 (age 34)	Left Back
10	Poland	Jan Klimków	(1998-12-21) 21 December 1998 (age 26)	Line Player
12	Poland	Dawid Skrzypczyk	(1998-04-23) 23 April 1998 (age 26)	Goalkeeper
13	Lithuania	Mindaugas Tarcijonas	(1984-09-20) 20 September 1984 (age 40)	Line Player
14	Poland	Kamil Mokrzki	(1991-10-29) 29 October 1991 (age 33)	Central Back
16	Poland	Adam Malcher	(1986-05-21) 21 May 1986 (age 38)	Goalkeeper
17	Poland	Jędrzej Zieniewicz	(1997-04-02) 2 April 1997 (age 27)	Right Back
18	Poland	Mateusz Jankowski	(1988-03-22) 22 March 1988 (age 36)	Line Player
19	Poland	Przemysław Zadura	(1988-04-26) 26 April 1988 (age 36)	Right Back
20	Poland	Wiktor Kawka	(1996-03-28) 28 March 1996 (age 28)	Left Back
21	Poland	Patryk Mauer	(1998-09-02) 2 September 1998 (age 26)	Right Winger
22	Poland	Michał Milewski	(1998-09-10) 10 September 1998 (age 26)	Left Winger
23	Poland	Mateusz Morawski	(1997-05-12) 12 May 1997 (age 27)	Central Back
27	Poland	Dariusz Skraburski	(2000-02-27) 27 February 2000 (age 24)	Left Back

Honours

• Polish Superliga:
  •  Bronze (2): 1964, 2019

• Polish Cup:
  •  Bronze (3): 2017, 2018, 2019

EHF ranking

As of 13/1/2025 ^[7]

Rank	Team	Points
227	HC ZTR Zaporizhzhia	7
228	İzmir BSB SK	7
229	Helvetia Anaitasuna	6
230	Gwardia Opole	6
231	RK Prevent Slovenj Gradec	6
232	ThSV Eisenach	6
233	Budakalász FKC	6

Former club members

Notable former players

The list includes players who have played at least once for their national team or spent at least 10 years with the team.

Goalkeepers

• Władysław Fąfara
• Paweł Malaka (1960–1976)
• Adam Malcher (2003–2005, 2013–)
• Andrzej Mientus (1976–1979)
• Sebastian Suchowicz (2015)
• Sławomir Szmal (1996–1997)
• Robert Wasilewski (1982–1988, 2000–2003)
• Mateusz Zembrzycki (2014–2016, 2017–2020)
• Vladimir Božić (2013)

Right wingers

• Patryk Mauer (2017–2022)

Left wingers

• Gerard Piechota (1973–1990)

Line players

• Piotr Czaczka (1978–1982)
• Mateusz Jankowski (2014–2019)
• Jan Klimków (2017–2022)
• Andrzej Sokołowski (1964–1968)
• Mindaugas Tarcijonas (2015–2019)
• Admir Pelidija (2024–)

Left backs

• Kacper Adamski (2016–2017)
• Antoni Łangowski (2015–2019, 2022–)
• Piotr Przybecki (1987–1991)
• Ivan Milas (2015–2016)

Central backs

• Piotr Jędraszczyk (2023–)
• Kamil Mokrzki (2014–2020)
• Maciej Zarzycki (2017–2022)

Right backs

• Piotr Adamczak (2013–2014)
• Ignacy Bąk (2016–2017)
• Szymon Działakiewicz (2019–2021)
• Jerzy Klempel (1970–1971)
• Sebastian Rumniak (2014–2018)
• Przemysław Zadura (2010–2012, 2016–2022)
• Nikola Kedžo (2015)
• Roman Chychykalo (2022–2024)

Former coaches

Seasons	Coach	Country
2013–2014	Tadeusz Jednoróg
2014–2023	Rafał Kuptel
2023–	Bartosz Jurecki

References

1. https://sportowefakty.wp.pl/pilka-reczna/404726/marek-jagielski-nie-jest-juz-trenerem-gwardii-opole
2. https://web.archive.org/web/20190823161615/https://stegu.pl/stegu-arena-slynna-opolska-hala-z-nowa-nazwa/
3. https://sportowefakty.wp.pl/pilka-reczna/821689/pgnig-superliga-sensacja-gigantycznego-kalibru-kpr-gwardia-opole-lepsza-od-pge-v
4. https://sportowefakty.wp.pl/pilka-reczna/821716/koniec-niesamowitej-serii-pge-vive-kielce-historyczny-wyczyn-gwardii-opole
5. https://www.kprgo.pl/i-zespol-sezon-2024-25
6. https://pvportal.me/2024/06/admir-pelidija-nastavlja-karijeru-u-poljskoj/
7. "Eurotopteam, classement européen des clubs de Handball".

External links

• Official website
• Gwardia Opole on Facebook
• Gwardia Opole on Instagram
• Gwardia Opole at Handball Base