Polonia Warszawa
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| Polonia Warszawa | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Full name | Klub Sportowy Polonia Warszawa | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Nickname(s) | Czarne koszule (Black shirts) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Founded | 1911 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Ground | Stadion Polonii, Warsaw, Poland |
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| Capacity | 7,000 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Chairman |  Zbigniew Boniek |
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| Manager | Waldemar Fornalik |
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| League | Polish Second league | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2005-06 | Polish Second League, 15th | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Polonia Warszawa is a Polish sports club with football and basketball teams. It was founded in 1911, and is the oldest such club in Warsaw, where it is based.
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[edit] History
Polonia Warszawa was founded in the autumn of 1911 as a union of certain school teams. The founder of the club was captain Wacław Denhoff-Czarnocki, who also invented the name of the club. In the beginning the players played in black-and-white striped shirts, but in the Spring of 1912 established their now traditional strip, with black shirts. The patriotic explanation for this is that it was to be a sign of mourning for the occupied and divided Poland, which didn't exist at the time (this also explains the white shorts and red socks: the colours of the Polish flag). The more likely explanation is that the man who was responsible for buying the strips (Janusz Muck) could only get the black shirts. Only in the time of the Stalinist regime did the team play in different outfits. This lasting devotion to the tradition resulted in the club's popular name: The Black Shirts.
The first match on 19 November 1911 was against Korona (a very strong local rival), and ended 3–4. Two years later, in February 1913, The Black Shirts defeated Korona 4–0.
[edit] Prewar period
29 April 1917 - the first match between Polonia and Legia, the score was 1:1. This was the firs historic Great Derby of Warsaw - the clash of two rival teams. Hatred divided their supporters early in the clubs' history and lasts till this day, causing strong emotion during the matches and sometimes even greater in the time between. Legia was a front-line soldier football team formed in Ukraine which came to Warsaw to play against local teams. A month later there was a second match between the teams , ending with the same score. The first season of Polish football championship was 1921. The Black Shirts came up 2nd . In 1926 they also finished the season as vice-champions. Polonia was Warsaw's most favourite club - a great majority of the city's inhabitants where devoted Black Shirt supporters. The friendship between Polonia and Cracovia Krakow - the prewar Polish football legend - dates back to those days. World War II changed a lot.
The first Polish Championship relegation
In 1946 Polonia finally won the Polish Championship title, symbolic as it was among the ruins of the bombed and burned capital. The final match was played on "Wojska Polskiego"(the Polish Army's -Legia's ground) Stadium on Lazienkowska St., because Polonia's stadium on 6 Konwiktorska Street (which lay in the Jewish ghetto area) had been ruined during the war. The Black Shirts defeated AKS Chorzów in that game. In 1952 "The Black Shirts" won another trophy - The Polish Cup. In the final match, they defeated their rivals Legia 1:0 'away'. That was their last success of that period. In the Stalinist period Polonia's name and colours were changed - Warsaw's oldest club and pride was renamed Kolejarz (which means "Railroad worker" as the team was now tied to the Polish National Railroad company) and the black shirts where banned. Later on Polonia was relegated to 2nd division. The communist government tried to erase everything which was associated with Warsaw from before the war. Every polish football club got a "resort" 'sponsor' such as the army, militia or mining industry. Unfortunately, at the time, the railroad was the poorest of sponsors. Also, the club's management was incompetent and could not face the problems with which the club had to cope. 15 years later, there were still thousands of fans on Konwiktorska Street but Legia (which played in the 1st division and became one of Poland's strongest teams) began to take over supporters' loyalties, especially among the people who moved to the barren capital after the war and had no emotional bond to Polonia. The darkest age of the Black Shirts is the time spent in the third division as the fans from Konwiktorska sing: "for those 40 years, and for the taste of the third league - the time has come, we shall be the champions of Poland." This song seems to have been a prophecy as.
Happy days are here again
In the 1992/93 season Polonia Warsaw was promoted to 1st division. Unfortunately the organization of the club was insufficient, there was no money and no training base. One year later, the team was relegated yet again - but fortunately only for one season. In the 1995/96 season Polonia Warszawa and Wisła Kraków were promoted to first division. Good news was that since 1996 Polonia was headed by Janusz Romanowski who had just backed out from sponsoring Legia (and achieved great success) the quarter-final of the Champions League with our rival club. In 1998 "The Black Shirts" became vice-champions of 1st Division and in 1999 were in the semi-finals of the Intertoto Cup.
Polonia Warszawa - Polish 1st Division Champion 2000
In the 1999/2000 season nobody mentioned Polonia as challenger for the title. At the end of the autumn round, the Black Shirts were, for the first time in club's history, leading in the league. There were two team managers - Jerzy Engel (who later became the coach of Polish national team and qualified for the World Cup'02) and Dariusz Wdowczyk (former Polish national). During the winter break, Polonia signed contracts with talented players such as Tomasz Wieszczycki and Tomasz Kielbowicz. In the spring round, the Black Shirts lost only two games and drew one. Officially Polonia became Polish 1st Division Champion after thrashing Legia on the "Wojska Polskiego" Stadium 3:0. Before that, the team also won a League Cup beating Legia away 2:1. In July, they confirmed their class by winning The Super Cup in a match against Amica Wronki with a score 4:2. In Champions League qualifiers, the Black Shirts first won against Dinamo Bucuresti (4:3, 3:1), but then lost at the hands of Panathinaikos (2:2,1:2) Unfortunately, things weren't perfect on Konwiktorska Street. The team won the polish league as Hoop Polonia Warszawa. Hoop was the name of a sponsor and wasn't accepted by Polonia's fans. Luckily, Hoop backed out from sponsoring Polonia and took its trademark out of the club's name. In 2000/2001 The Black Shirts lost their form, played poorly in the 1st division, but they managed to win The Polish Cup. At the moment the club is going through a financial crisis and is desperate to remain in the first division, playing mostly with young club-raised footballers from Warsaw.
[edit] Football
[edit] Major achievements
Polish Championships (2): 1946, 2000;
2nd place (3): 1921, 1926, 1998;
Polish Cup titles (2): 1952, 2001;
Polish League Cup titles (1): 2000;
Polish SuperCup titles (1): 2000;
half-final Intertoto Cup (1): 1999;
Polish Championships U-19 (1): 1977;
2nd place in Polish Championships U-19 (2): 2000, 2005;
[edit] Notable former players
- Władysław Szczepaniak, famous Polish player, a team capitan
- Zdzisław Gierwatowski, Polish player, who was a left-wing defender with one of the most acclaimed playing stances in the Polish game during the 1940s
- Michał Żewłakow, Polish footballer solid left-wing defender, player of Polish national football team
- Marcin Żewłakow, Polish player, played for Polish national football team
- Arkadiusz Bąk, player of Polish national football team
- Dariusz Dźwigała, for many years a player in the Polish Premier League
- Antoni Łukasiewicz, player of U-21 Polish national football team
- Emmanuel Olisadebe, Polish national born in Nigeria, player of Polish national football team.
- Marek Citko, famous Polish player
[edit] See also
[edit] Basketball
Polonia Warszawa is a Polish basketball club founded in 1911 based in Warsaw, playing in Dominet Basket Liga.
[edit] External links
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| edit | Polish Football Super Cup winners |  |
| 1983-2006 |
Lechia Gdańsk | Śląsk Wrocław | Górnik Zabrze | Legia Warszawa | Lech Poznań | GKS Katowice | Lech Poznań | Legia Warszawa | GKS Katowice | Widzew Łódź | Legia Warszawa | Amica Wronki | Amica Wronki | Polonia Warszawa | Wisła Kraków | Lech Poznań | Wisła Płock |
| edit | Polish Football Cup winners |  |
| 1926-1983 |
Wisła Kraków | Ruch Chorzów | Polonia Warszawa | Gwardia Warszawa | Legia Warszawa | Legia Warszawa | ŁKS Łódź | Zagłębie Sosnowiec | Zagłębie Sosnowiec | Legia Warszawa | Górnik Zabrze | Legia Warszawa | Wisła Kraków | Górnik Zabrze | Górnik Zabrze | Górnik Zabrze | Górnik Zabrze | Górnik Zabrze | Legia Warszawa | Ruch Chorzów | Ruch Chorzów | Stal Rzeszów | Śląsk Wrocław | Zagłębie Sosnowiec | Zagłębie Sosnowiec | Arka Gdynia | Legia Warszawa | Legia Warszawa | Lech Poznań | Lechia Gdańsk | |
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| 1984-2006 |
Lech Poznań | Widzew Łódź | GKS Katowice | Śląsk Wrocław | Lech Poznań | Legia Warszawa | Legia Warszawa | GKS Katowice | Miedź Legnica | GKS Katowice | Legia Warszawa | Legia Warszawa | Ruch Chorzów | Legia Warszawa | Amica Wronki | Amica Wronki | Amica Wronki | Polonia Warszawa | Wisła Kraków | Wisła Kraków | Lech Poznań | Groclin Dyskobolia Grodzisk |Wisła Płock |
| Polish Football League Cup winners |  |
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| 1952-2002 |
Wawel Kraków | Odra Opole | Górnik Zabrze | Polonia Warszawa | Wisła Kraków | Legia Warszawa |
| edit | Dominet Bank Ekstraliga |
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Kager Gdynia  | Znicz Jarosław  | Kotwica Kołobrzeg  | AZS Koszalin  | Stal Ostrów Wielkopolski  | Prokom Trefl Sopot  | Czarni Słupsk  | Polpharma Starogard Gdański  | Polpak Świecie  | Unia Tarnów  | Polonia Warszawa  | Anwil Włocławek  | Śląsk Wrocław  | Turów Zgorzelec  |
Categories: Wikipedia articles needing copy edit from January 2007 | All articles needing copy edit | Cleanup from March 2007 | All pages needing cleanup | All pages needing to be wikified | Wikify from January 2007 | Sports clubs established in 1911 | Polish basketball clubs | Polonia Warszawa | Football (soccer) clubs established in 1911
