University Sports Association of Poland

Akademicki Związek Sportowy was founded on 15 May 1909, during a meeting of students, which took place in Collegium Novum of the Jagiellonian University in Kraków. A student of medicine of the Jagiellonian University, Wacław Majewski, became first director of the association.

In the Second Polish Republic, AZS quickly developed into a mass organization, present in all Polish major urban areas. Number of its branches grew, and by 1939, there were seven of them:

• since 1918 in Warsaw,
• since 1919 in Poznań,
• since 1921 in Wilno and Gdańsk,
• since 1922 in Lwów and Lublin.

In the 1930s, the AZS had around 3 000 members, may of whom were renowned on the international stage. Among most famous AZS's sportspersons of the interbellum period, there were Halina Konopacka, Roger Verey, Jerzy Ustupski, Władysław Segda and Adam Papée. Most popular sports, practiced by members of the organization, were tourism, rowing, track and field, tennis, fencing and skiing. Quick growth of the organization made it necessary to create central office of the AZS, which would coordinate activities of all local branches. It was created on 18–19 March 1923 in Warsaw, during a meeting of all representatives. First director of the central office was Stefan Grodzki.

As soon as the war was over, AZS recreated its activities, and its main office was moved to Kraków. New branches were opened in all academic centers of Poland. In 1945, AZS became active in colleges and universities in Katowice, Łódź, Gliwice, Wrocław and Częstochowa. Next branches were opened almost every year:

• 1946 – Toruń, Szczecin,
• 1949 – Zabrze-Rokitnica,
• 1950 – Olsztyn, Białystok,
• 1955 – Opole,
• 1963 – Rzeszów,
• 1965 – Bydgoszcz,
• 1966 – Zielona Góra,
• 1968 – Koszalin,
• 1969 – Kielce, Płock, Radom, Siedlce, Słupsk,
• 1970s – Bielsko-Biała, Gorzów Wielkopolski, Cieszyn.