Warsaw is home to one major professional football club and a number of smaller clubs. The only one currently playing in the first division (Ekstraklasa) is Legia Warsaw.
On 9 April 2008 the President of Warsaw, Hanna Gronkiewicz-Waltz, obtained from the mayor of Stuttgart Wolfgang Schuster a challenge award – a commemorative plaque awarded to Warsaw as the European Capital of Sport in 2008. [1]
The Kazimierz Górski National Stadium, holds a capacity of 58,500 seat football (soccer) stadium, Warsaw's recently demolished 10th-Anniversary Stadium. [2] The national stadium hosted the opening match, two group matches, a quarter-final, and a semi-final of UEFA Euro 2012, hosted jointly by Poland and Ukraine. [3]
There are many sports centres in the city as well. Most of these facilities are swimming pools and sports halls, many of them built by the municipality in the past several years. The main indoor venue is Hala Torwar, used for all kinds of indoor sports (it was a venue for the 2009 EuroBasket [4] but it is also used as an indoor skating rink. There is also open-air skating rink (Stegny) and the horse racetrack (Służewiec).
The best of the city's swimming centres is at Wodny Park Warszawianka, 4 km south of the centre at Merliniego Street, where there's an Olympic-sized pool as well as water slides and children's areas. [5]
From the Warsovian football teams, the most famous is Legia Warsaw – the army club with a nationwide following play at the Polish Army Stadium, just southeast of the centre at Łazienkowska Street. Established in 1916, they have won the country's championship fifteen times (most recently in 2021) and won the Polish Cup twenty times (most recently in 2023). In the 1995–96 UEFA Champions League season, they reached the quarter-finals, where they lost to Greek club Panathinaikos.
Their local rivals, Polonia Warsaw, have significantly fewer supporters, yet they managed to win Ekstraklasa Championship in 2000. They also won the country’s championship in 1946, and won the cup twice as well. Polonia's home venue is located at Konwiktorska Street, a ten-minute walk north from the Old Town.
Warsaw was chosen as one of four Polish cities to host the UEFA Euro 2012 tournament alongside Ukraine. Its National Stadium hosted just under a sixth of the games in the competition. It hosted 3 group A matches (including the opening game), 1 quarter-final and 1 semi-final at the European tournament. [6] Its city emblem (a mermaid) was chosen as the badge to symbolise the area. The city has also 4 teams who have their team base there or thereabouts: Russia, Croatia, Greece and of course, Poland. [7] The stadium is fully equipped including a folding roof (largest cubic volume in Europe) and a 56,000 seater capacity. The host stadium was only completed in November 2011, under a year before the start of UEFA Euro 2012 and it has hosted 2/3 of Poland's group matches. [8]
Club | Sport | Founded | Venue |
---|---|---|---|
Legia Warsaw [9] | Football | 1916 | Polish Army Stadium |
Polonia Warsaw [10] | Football | 1911 | Kazimierz Sosnkowski Stadium |
Legia Warsaw [11] | Basketball | 1947 | OSiR Bemowo |
Polonia Warsaw [12] | Basketball | 1925 | |
Verva Warsaw | Volleyball | 1954 | Arena COS Torwar |
Cumann Warsaw | Gaelic Football and Hurling | 2009 | Skra Stadium, Pole Mokotowskie |
Królewscy Warsaw | American Football | 2012 | Hutnik Stadium |
Legia Warszawa, commonly referred to as Legia Warsaw or simply Legia, is a professional football club based in Warsaw, Poland. Legia is the most successful Polish football club in history, winning record 15 Ekstraklasa champions titles, a record 20 Polish Cup and 5 Polish Super Cup trophies. The club's home venue is the Polish Army Stadium. Legia is the only Polish club never to have been relegated from the top flight of Polish football since World War II.
Polonia Warsaw, founded on 19 November 1911, is the oldest existing sports club in Warsaw, the capital of Poland, best known for its football and basketball teams. It also has track and field, swimming, chess, mountain biking, and contract bridge sections. Historically it also had sections in ice hockey, fencing, tennis, volleyball, hazena, cycling and boxing.
Kazimierz Deyna was a Polish professional footballer who played as an attacking midfielder in the playmaker role and was one of the most highly regarded players of his generation, due to his excellent vision.
Paweł Janas is a Polish former football manager and former player who played as a defender.
There are many popular professional sports team in the Gdańsk and Tricity area. Amateur sports are played by thousands of Gdańsk citizens and also in schools of all levels.
Michał Ryszard Żewłakow is a Polish football pundit, co-commentator and former professional player who played as a defender. He captained the Poland national team and is its third most capped player ever. Besides Poland, he has played in Belgium, Greece, and Turkey.
The Polish Army Stadium, official named the Marshall Józef Piłsudski Legia Warsaw Stadium, is an all-seater, highest fourth category football-specific stadium located at 3 Łazienkowska Street in the Śródmieście district, Powiśle area, within the square of the streets: Łazienkowska, Czerniakowska, Kusocińskiego and Myśliwieck. It is the home ground of Legia Warsaw football club, who have been playing there since 9 August 1930.
The Gdańsk Stadium, known for sponsorship reasons as the Polsat Plus Arena Gdańsk since May 2021, is a football stadium in Gdańsk, Pomeranian Voivodeship, Poland. It is used mostly for football matches and is the home stadium of Lechia Gdańsk, which competes in the Ekstraklasa. The stadium is located at the 1 Pokoleń Lechii Gdańsk Street in the northern part of the city. The total capacity is 41,620 spectators, all seated and roofed. The stadium is the second largest arena in Ekstraklasa and the third largest in the country.
Kamil Paweł Grosicki is a Polish professional footballer who plays as a winger for Ekstraklasa club Pogoń Szczecin, which he captains.
Michał Pazdan is a Polish professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for II liga club Wieczysta Kraków, which he captains.
Tomasz Jodłowiec is a Polish professional footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder.
The 2008–09 Ekstraklasa was the 83rd season of the Polish Football Championship, the 75th season of the highest tier domestic division in the Polish football league system since its establishment in 1927 and the 1st season of the Ekstraklasa under its current title. The league is operated by the Ekstraklasa S.A.
The 2008–09 Polish Cup was the fifty-fifth season of the annual Polish cup competition. It began on July 30, 2008 with the extra preliminary round and ended on May 19, 2009 with the Final, played at Stadion Śląski, Chorzów. The winners qualified for the third qualifying round of the UEFA Europa League. Legia Warszawa were the defending champions.
The 2010–11 Ekstraklasa was the 77th season of the highest level of football leagues in Poland since its establishment in 1927. It began on 6 August 2010 and concluded on 29 May 2011. A total of 16 teams participated, 14 of which competed in the league during the 2009–10 season, while the remaining two were promoted from the I Liga. Each team played a total of 30 matches, half at home and half away.
The 2010–11 Polish Cup was the fifty-seventh season of the annual Polish football knockout tournament. It began on 21 July 2010 with the first matches of the Extra Preliminary Round and ended in 2011 with the Final. The winners qualified for the third qualifying round of the 2011–12 UEFA Europa League. Jagiellonia Białystok were the defending champions, having won their first title in the season before.
Edmund Jan Zientara was a Polish football manager and player who played as a midfielder.
Ekstraklasa, officially known as PKO Bank Polski Ekstraklasa due to its sponsorship by PKO Bank Polski, is the top Polish professional league for men's association football teams.
Legia Warsaw II, in Poland known as Legia II Warszawa, is a Polish football team, which serves as the reserve side of Legia Warsaw. They compete in the III liga, the fourth division of Polish football, and play their home matches at the Legia Training Center in Książenice.
The 2012–13 Ekstraklasa was the 79th season of the highest level of football leagues in Poland since its establishment in 1927. It began on 17 August 2012 and concluded on 2 June 2013. A total of 16 teams are participating, 14 of which competed in the league during the 2011–12 season, while the remaining two were promoted from the I Liga. Each team played a total of 30 matches, half at home and half away.
The following is a timeline of the history of Warsaw in Poland.