ŁKS Łódź

In March 2010, the city government sold the football team to a private investor, as the city could no longer afford to support the football team, particularly after a number of seasons in the top level Ekstraklasa, where expenses often exceeded the ticket revenue from the club's small seating-capacity stadium.[1]

In May 2013, at the conclusion of the second-tier 2012–13 I liga season, the private investor declared bankruptcy.[2] The club survived when a partnership between fans and other local investors raised the necessary funds to enter the much more affordable amateur fifth-level IV liga in time for the 2013–14 IV liga season, competing against other local area teams in the Łódź group.[3]

1936 ŁKS side.

In 2009 the new Atlas Arena[4] was completed adjacent to the football stadium. It is an indoor arena and has already hosted international events in basketball, volleyball and boxing.

The City council, owner of the various ŁKS Łódź sports clubs, still intend to construct a brand new stadium on the site of the current football stadium. It was intended to be complete in time for UEFA Euro 2012, but now is expected to be finished in late 2013-early 2014. Although Łódź is not a Euro 2012 host city, it had been believed that a failure by Ukraine to be ready on time[5] would lead to Poland hosting the entire tournament on its own and therefore requiring more host cities. There were four Polish host cities (Warsaw, Gdańsk, Poznań and Wrocław) involved in hosting the tournament. It was envisioned the new stadium would have approximately 34,000 seats, as required by UEFA.[6] While the concept of a new stadium for ŁKS Łódź was being discussed in 2009, cross-town rival Widzew Łódź announced that they would not contribute to any such stadium, as they had imminent plans to renovate their own stadium (the Widzew Łódź plans were stalled for years, eventually opening the 18,000 seat Stadion Miejski Widzewa in 2017). Support for the project was undermined by the successful re-call of the Łódź city president in early 2010. The city also announced a public auction for their stake in the club as they could no longer afford to cover the clubs loses. Owing to financial constraints and lack of demand from LKS fans, the conceptual plan for a new ŁKS Łódź stadium was scaled down to 16,500 in 2012.[7][8]

As part of renovations, a new 3,000 seat arena was supposed to be built to complement the existing Atlas Arena. All work was expected to cost 218 million PLN.

All plans to provide the club with new facilities, however, were abandoned as of 2013, due to financial constraints and the bankruptcy of the club in May 2013. However, with an upturn in the clubs fortunes, a new stadium is currently being built. One side was used during the 2019-20 Ekstraklasa season with the remainder of the ground set to be completed by 2021. [9]

The club has a fierce rivalry with cross-town club Widzew Łódź, with the derby match between the two clubs being intense both on and off the field. See Łódź derby

The new football stadium, while under construction (2015)

• Ekstraklasa:
  • 1st Place (2): 1958, 1997–98
  • 2nd Place (1): 1954
  • 3rd Place (3): 1922, 1957, 1992–93
• Polish Cup:
  • Winner (1): 1956–57
  • Finalist (1): 1993–94
• Polish SuperCup:
  • Finalist (2): 1994, 1998
• Youth Teams:
  • Polish U-19 Champion: 1962, 1983, 1999
  • Polish U-19 Runner-up: 1953, 1955, 1973, 2002
  • Polish U-19 Bronze Medal: 1971, 1981
  • Polish U-17 Champion: 1994, 1999

As of 4 January 2020

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK  POL Arkadiusz Malarz 2 DF  POL Jan Sobociński 3 DF  POL Adrian Klimczak 4 DF  ESP Carlos Gracia 5 DF  POL Maciej Dąbrowski 6 MF  POL Maciej Wolski 7 MF  POL Marcel Wszołek 8 DF  POL Kamil Dankowski 9 FW  ESP Samuel Corral 10 FW  ESP Antonio Domínguez 11 DF  POL Tomasz Nawotka (on loan from Legia Warsaw) 15 MF  POL Artur Sójka 17 MF  POL Piotr Gryszkiewicz 18 MF  NGA Kelechukwu Ebenezer 19 MF  POL Michał Trąbka

No. Pos. Nation Player 20 MF  ESP Pirulo 21 MF  POL Jakub Romanowicz 22 FW  POL Łukasz Sekulski 23 DF  ROU Daniel Celea 24 DF  POL Jakub Tosik 26 MF  POL Przemysław Sajdak 27 DF  POL Mateusz Bąkowicz 29 DF  POL Maksymilian Rozwandowicz 30 FW  POL Dariusz Gmosiński 33 GK  POL Michał Kot 42 MF  SRB Dragoljub Srnić 77 DF  POL Jowin Radziński 92 DF  SVN Tadej Vidmajer 99 GK  POL Dawid Arndt — MF  DEN Mikkel Rygaard

Out on loan

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player — DF  POL Aleksander Cieślik (at Flota Świnoujście) — DF  POL Maciej Dampc (at Sokół Ostróda)

No. Pos. Nation Player — MF  POR Guima (at Académica)

• ŁKS Łódź (women's basketball)
• Football in Poland
• List of football teams
• UEFA Champions League
• UEFA Cup

• Official website
• ŁKS Łódź at 90minut.pl
• Łódzki KS at 90minut.pl
• Unofficial website
• Atlas Arena Site

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