Football in Poland

Polish fans during the 2006 FIFA World Cup.

The history of football in Poland started in the late 19th century with the rising popularity of the new sport. At the time, the Polish state was partitioned. The first decades of Polish football are therefore connected with the history of Football in Austria and the Austrian Football Association, which was founded in 1904.

The first Polish football clubs were Lechia Lwów (1903), Czarni Lwów (1903), Pogoń Lwów (1904), KS Cracovia (1906) and Wisła Kraków (1906). The Polish national federation, called the Polish Football Union (Polski Związek Piłki Nożnej, PZPN), was founded on 20 December 1919, in Kraków when 31 delegates elected Edward Cetnarowski as the first president. The PZPN joined FIFA in 1923 and UEFA in 1955.

In a similar fashion to other European states, football appeared in Poland in the late 19th century. In 1888 Prof. Henryk Jordan, a court physician of the Habsburgs and the pioneer of sports in Poland, opened a sports park in Kraków's Błonia, a large open space surrounding the demolished city walls of that town. The park, along with the Sokół society founded in 1867, became the main centres to promote sports and healthy living in Poland. It was Jordan who began promoting football as a healthy sport in the open air; some sources also credit him with bringing the first football to Poland from his travels to Brunswick in 1890.[1] Other sources[2] mention Dr. Edmund Cenar as the one to bring the first ball and the one to translate The Cambridge Rules and parts of the International Football Association Board regulations to Polish language.

On 14 July 1894 during the Second Sokół Jamboree in Lwów a short football match was played between the Sokół members of Lwów and those from Kraków. It lasted only six minutes and was seen as a curiosity rather than a potentially popular sport. Nevertheless, it was the first recorded football match in Polish history.[lower-alpha 1] It was won by the Lwów team after Włodzimierz Chomicki scored the only goal - the first known goal in Polish history.

This match precipitated the popularity of the new sport in Poland. Initially the rules and regulations were very simplified, with the size of the field and the ball varying greatly. Despite being discouraged by many educational societies and the state authorities, the new sport gained extreme popularity among pupils of various gymnasiums in Galicia. The first football teams were formed and in 1903–1904, four Lwów-based gymnasiums formed their own sport clubs: the IV Gymnasium for Boys formed a club later renamed to Pogoń Lwów, while the pupils of the I and II State Schools formed the Sława Lwów club, later renamed to Czarni Lwów. In the same season the Lechia Lwów was also formed. It is uncertain which of the clubs was created first as they were initially poorly organized; however, the Czarni Lwów are usually credited as being the first Polish professional football team. The following year, the popularity of the sport spread to nearby Rzeszów where Resovia Rzeszów was formed, while in the German-held part of Poland, the 1. FC Katowice and Warta Poznań were formed.

On 6 June 1906 a representation of Lwów youth came to Kraków for a repeat match, this time composed of two already organized teams, the Czarni and the team of the IV Gymnasium. Kraków's representation was badly beaten in both meetings (4-0 and 2-0 respectively). The same summer the Buffalo Bill Wild West Show set up camp at Kraków's Błonia, right outside of the traditional playground area and Jordan's garden. On 5 August 1906 the team of the Kraków-based Jan Sobieski Gymnasium played a match against the British and American members of Buffalo Bill's troupe, winning 1–0. The only goal scored by Stanisław Szeligowski was also the first goal scored by a Polish team in an international meeting. The success led to the popularisation of football in Kraków and to creation of the first Kraków-based professional football team, KS Cracovia - initially composed primarily of students of the Jan Sobieski Gymnasium.[1] By the autumn of that year there were already 16 teams in Kraków, including Wisła Kraków (It is said that actually Wisła Kraków was the first professional football team and not Cracovia). In 1911, a Kraków-based Union of Polish Football for Galicia was formed and entered the Austrian Football Association. The union inspired the creation of a number of teams.

After the outbreak of World War I, most of the Galician football players, many of them members of either Strzelec or Sokół, joined Piłsudski's Polish Legions. The unit, fighting alongside the Austro-Hungarian Army, fought mostly in various parts of Russian-held Poland, which led to popularisation of the new sport in other parts of Poland. After Poland regained her independence, on 21 December 1919 the Polish Football Association (PZPN) was formed. Headed by Edward Centrarowski, it united most of the then-existent Polish football clubs. The league could not be formed due to the Polish-Bolshevik War, but in 1922 the PZPN published the rules of football[3] and the following year it joined FIFA. In 1921 the league was resumed and the first champions of Poland were KS Cracovia, followed by Pogoń Lwów in 1922, 1923, 1925 and 1926. As Poland was then a fully independent state, in 1921 the Polish national football team was formed. On 18 December 1921 it played its first international match in Budapest against the Hungarian team and was defeated 1–0. In the third international match in Stockholm on 28 May 1922 Poland defeated Sweden 2–1, scoring its first international victory.

During World War II, football in occupied Poland was subject to significant restrictions (see Football in occupied Poland (1939–1945)) for more.

In 1955 the PZPN became one of the founding members of UEFA.

In 2005, Polish authorities began an investigation into widespread corruption within Polish football.

In July 2006, the Polish sports minister criticized the PZPN (Polish Football Association) for failing to take adequate steps to fight corruption, and announced an audit of the organization. In January 2007, PZPN board member Wit Żelazko was arrested by Wrocław police. Shortly thereafter, the entire PZPN board was suspended by the sports ministry. This move displeased FIFA which announced that the principle of autonomy of football associations was of utmost importance. The Polish sports ministry, Prime Minister Jarosław Kaczyński, and most fans felt that the battle against corruption was more important,[4] but when FIFA threatened sanctions, the sports ministry backed down and agreed to re-instate the PZPN board.

In September 2008, the Polish Olympic Committee made a request to the Polish Arbitration Tribunal to suspend the management of the PZPN a second time, stating that the PZPN was guilty of "[violating] its statutes in a continuous and flagrant fashion."[5] This request was granted and Robert Zawłocki was named as temporary administrator. However, FIFA again threatened to suspend Polish teams from international competition.

On 15 April 2009, the total number of arrests reached 200, including referees, observers, coaches, players as well as some high-ranking officials of the PZPN.[6][7] By the end of April 2009, only 15 referees remained who were allowed to preside over top-flight matches.[8]

Poland's football has been heavily marred by racism, which is often fueled by the skeptical opinion Poles developed on non-Poles and further by the view that players of dark-skinned should not be regarded as Europeans.[9][10]

Emmanuel Olisadebe, the Nigerian-born Polish player who guided Poland back to World Cup since 1986, had stated his concerns about the uncontrollable level of racism following Dutch complain; Olisadebe himself had suffered racism on his experience.[11]

The buildup of Polish squad for the 2018 FIFA World Cup had also been under subject of open criticism, as Poland, along with Spain, Croatia, Serbia and Russia, have been accused of lacking the embrace of multiculturalism.[12] Poland's disastrous campaign, which started with a denting 1–2 loss to Senegal, further caused criticism on Poland for its perceived racial bias.[13]

Poland national football team have qualified for the finals on eight occasions, the last time in for the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

Table

Host Nation(s) – Year	Result	GP	W	D*	L	GS	GA
1930	Did not Enter	-	-	-	-	-	-
1934	Withdraw	-	-	-	-	-	-
1938	Round 1	1	0	0	1	5	6
1950	Did not Enter	-	-	-	-	-	-
1954	Withdraw	-	-	-	-	-	-
1958	Did not Qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-
1962	Did not Qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-
1966	Did not Qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-
1970	Did not Qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-
1974	Third place	7	6	0	1	16	5
1978	Round 2	6	3	1	2	6	6
1982	Third place	7	3	3	1	11	5
1986	Round of 16	4	1	1	2	1	7
1990	Did not Qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-
1994	Did not Qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-
1998	Did not Qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-
2002	Round 1	3	1	0	2	3	7
2006	Round 1	3	1	0	2	2	4
2010	Did not Qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-
2014	Did not Qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-
2018	Round 1	3	1	0	2	2	5
2022	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Total	8/20	34	16	5	13	46	45

• Football hooliganism in Poland
• Sports in Poland
• Poland national football team
• Ekstraklasa
• Młoda Ekstraklasa
• Polish Championship in Football
• List of derbies in Poland
• List of football stadiums in Poland
• Polish Cup
• Polish SuperCup
• Polish Cup (women)
• Polish women's national football team
• The first game 18 December 1921. Hungary - Poland 1-0
• Polish Squad in Football World Cup France 1938
• The last game: 27 August 1939. Poland - Hungary 4-2
• Polish football in interwar period
• Football Junior Championships of Poland
• Polish Football League 1927-1939

• Official website
• Polish Ekstraklasa news in English
• PSN Futbol – Live Ekstraklasa league table and Polish football news (in English)
• 90minut.pl - RSSSF Poland
• Euro in Poland 2012 News, Comments, Photos (in English, German, and Polish)
• Pilka.pl - Polish football news center
• Football scores for Polish Football Leagues
• It's a Funny Old Game: Explaining Curiosities from Poland's Football Culture