Lechia-Polonia Gdańsk

Polonia Gdańsk were founded in 1945 as NS Nit Gdańsk. After years of playing football in the lower divisions, and further name changes (Stal Gdańsk and RKS Stoczniowiec Gdańsk [1]). The team finally found stability and were called Polonia Gdańsk.[1]

The team finally achieved promotion to the second division in 1973 after winning their division, and finishing as runners up the previous season. The 1970s saw the team's high point in their history. The team enjoyed 9 seasons in the second division before being relegated in 1982. The team's greatest achievement so far came in the 1976/77 season when the team finished 3rd, just missing out on promotion to the top division.[2] From 1982-1998 Polonia experienced another 3 seasons in the second tier, each time only lasting in the division for one season. The team won the third tier 3 times during this period, as well as finishing runners up a further 5 times.

Lechia Gdańsk were also founded in 1945.[3] Lechia's greatest success in the top flight came during the 1950s, when the club finished 3rd during the 1956 season. After spending the 1960s and 70s in the lower divisions, Lechia won the Polish Cup and the Polish SuperCup in 1983. After a spell back in the top flight, Lechia soon found themselves playing in the lower divisions once more. During the 1995 season, Lechia had previously been part of another merger, this time with Olimpia Poznań to create Olimpia-Lechia Gdańsk. The merger lasted only one season before both teams split. It was only two seasons after their first merger that Lechia were to be involved in another, this time with Polonia.

The first season for Lechia-Polonia was moderately successful. The previous season Polonia finished in 5th place, for the 1998–99 season Lechia-Polonia managed to achieve 7th in the league.[4] The following season was more unsuccessful, finishing the season in 14th.[5] Robert Kubiel finished as the team's highest goalscorer with 10 goals to his name.[6] The following season got worse for Lechia-Polonia, with the team finishing 19th out of 20 teams.[7] Despite being in a lower division the team proved to be less than competitive, and the team once again faced relegation, this time finishing in 15th.[8] After the 2001–02 season, the Lechia-Polonia dissolved.

Polonia Gdańsk created a separate team in 1999, one year after the merger. Despite the team still being involved in the merger by name, most saw this as the teams continuation of the original team, and not the Lechia-Polonia team. The reforming meant that Polonia had to restart from Poland's lowest divisions. The highest the team has achieved since the turn of the century was 2 seasons in the third division, finishing 14th and 16th from 2012–14. Back to back relegation's meant the team were playing in the firth tier once again, and currently find themselves playing in the District Division - Gdańsk Group I.[9]

Lechia Gdańsk also created a separate team from the Lechia-Polonia team in 2001, and was also seen as the continuation of the team before the merger. In 2001 there were therefore 3 teams playing football as a result of the merger; Lechia-Polonia Gdańsk, Lechia Gdańsk, and Polonia Gdańsk. While the dissolved Lechia-Polonia team left both Lechia and Polonia in much worse positions than before the merger, Lechia took full advantage of the situation they found themselves in. After having to start from the bottom, Lechia's fortunes changed and they found themselves playing in the Ekstraklasa once again for the 2008/09 season.[10] After 11 seasons of continuous top flight football Lechia won both the Polish Cup and the Polish SuperCup in 2019, leading to the team playing European football for only the second time in their history.