Lech Poznań

KKS Lech Poznan
Full name KKS Lech Poznań
Nickname(s) Kolejorz (The Railwayman)
Founded 19 March 1922
(as KS Lutnia Dębiec)
Ground Stadion Miejski,
Poznań, Poland
(Capacity: 43,000 [1])
Chairman Andrzej Kadziński
Coach José Mari Bakero
League Ekstraklasa
2010–11 5th
Home colours
Away colours
Third colours
Current season

Lech Poznań (Polish pronunciation: [ˈlɛx ˈpɔznaɲ]) is a Polish football club based in Poznań, Poland. The club is named after Lech, the legendary founder of Polish nation.

The club was established in 1922 as Lutnia Dębiec, later changing its name several times. From 1933 until 1994, the club was closely linked to Polish State Railways (PKP). As a result, its popular nickname is Kolejorz, which means The Railwayman in local slang. The club's debut in the Polish top division took place in the year 1948. The brightest era of Lech were the early 1980s and early 1990s. Lech has won the Polish league a total of six times, most recently in 2010. Lech is the most popular football club in the Greater Poland region.

Contents

Honours

Domestic

Teodor Anioła (1949 - 20, 1950 - 20, 1951 - 20)
Mirosław Okoński (1983 - 15)
Andrzej Juskowiak (1990 - 18)
Jerzy Podbrożny (1992 - 20, 1993 - 25)
Piotr Reiss (2007 - 15)
Robert Lewandowski (2010 - 18)

Europe

UEFA participation

As of 16 December 2010, Lech Poznań had played a total of 62 games in the European Cups during the years 1978–2010. Among the most memorable games in the club's history were the clashes against FC Barcelona in the 1988/1989 season of Cup Winners' Cup second round. After both matches ended with 1–1 draw, Lech Poznań lost the penalty shoot-out with 4–5. FC Barcelona won the Cup Winners' Cup that season.

During the 1983/1984 European Cup season, Lech earned a 2–0 win at home against Spanish champions Athletic Bilbao. During the 1990/1991 season, Lech eliminated the Greek champion Panathinaikos in the first round, with a 5–1 score on aggregate. In the next tie Lech was knocked out by Olympique de Marseille but won the first leg 3–2 at home.

During the UEFA Cup 2008–09 season, Lech made it to the group stage of the competition after knocking out higher seeded teams of Grasshopper-Club Zürich (notching its greatest margin of victory with a 6–0 win at home) and FK Austria Wien (scoring the decisive goal in the last minute of extra-time). In the group stage, Lech finished third-placed ahead of AS Nancy and Feyenoord to secure a place in the Third Round, where it was knocked out by the Italian side Udinese Calcio.

Their home ground Stadion Miejski (Poznań)Stadion Miejski has been totally rebuilt, completion in September 2010, for the Euro 2012 Championships during which it is expected to host 3 games in Group C.

Kolejorz wrote another glorious chapter in club's history during its Europa League 2010-11 campaign. After being knocked out by Sparta Praha in Champions League qualification, they made it to the group stage of Europa League. This time the Polish underdog had to face the big names: Juventus and Manchester City. In Turin a hat-trick by Artjoms Rudnevs earned them a surprising 3-3 draw. After deafeating the English side at home 3-1, Lech made it to the top of the group. The game against Juve , was played in very bad, snowy conditions and ended in a 1-1 draw. This was enough to put Lech Poznań in to the knockout phase of the Europa League.

Lech Poznań in Europe

Season Competition Round Club Home Away Agg
1978/79 UEFA Cup 1R MSV Duisburg 2–5 0–5 2–10
1982/83 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup 1R ÍBV 3–0 1–0 4–0
2R Aberdeen 0–1 0–2 0–3
1983/84 European Cup 1R Athletic Bilbao 2–0 0–4 2–4
1984/85 European Cup 1R Liverpool 0–1 0–4 0–5
1985/86 UEFA Cup 1R Borussia Mönchengladbach 0–2 1–1 1–3
1988/89 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup 1R Flamurtari Vlorë 1–0 3–2 4–2
2R Barcelona 1–1 1–1 2–2 (4–5 pen)
1990/91 European Cup 1R Panathinaikos 3–0 2–1 5–1
2R Olympique de Marseille 3–2 1–6 4–8
1992/93 UEFA Champions League 1R Skonto 2–0 0–0 2–0
2R IFK Göteborg 0–3 0–1 0–4
1993/94 UEFA Champions League 1R Beitar Jerusalem 3–0 4–2 7–2
2R Spartak Moscow 1–5 1–2 2–7
1999/00 UEFA Cup Q Liepājas Metalurgs 3–1 2–3 5–4
1R IFK Göteborg 1–2 0–0 1–2
2004/05 UEFA Cup 2Q Terek Grozny 0–1 0–1 0–2
2008/09 UEFA Cup 1Q Khazar Lenkoran 4–1 1–0 5–1
2Q Grasshopper 6–0 0–0 6–0
1R Austria Wien 4–2 1–2 5–4
GR Nancy 2–2
CSKA Moscow 1–2
Deportivo La Coruña 1–1
Feyenoord 1–0
3R Udinese 2–2 1–2 3–4
2009/10 UEFA Europa League 3Q Fredrikstad 1–2 6–1 7–3
4Q Club Brugge 1–0 0–1 1–1 (3–4 Pen)
2010/11 UEFA Champions League 2Q Inter Baku 0–1 1–0 1–1 (9–8 Pen)
3Q Sparta Praha 0–1 0–1 0–2
2010/11 UEFA Europa League 4Q Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk 0–0 1–0 1–0
GR Juventus 1-1 3–3
FC Salzburg 2–0 1-0
Manchester City 3-1 1-3
3R Braga 1-0 0-2 1-2

As of February 25, 2011:

Competition App Games Won Drawn Lost GF GA
Champions League 6 20 8 1 11 23 34
Cup Winners' Cup 2 8 4 2 2 10 7
Europa League 7 36 13 9 14 54 49
Overall 15 64 25 12 27 87 90

Records

Current squad

As of 25 september 2011

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

No. Position Player
1 GK Gerard Bieszczad
2 DF Marciano Bruma
3 DF Ivan Đurđević
5 DF Manuel Arboleda
7 MF Jakub Wilk
10 MF Sergey Krivets
11 MF Rafał Murawski
14 MF Semir Štilić
15 MF Kamil Drygas
16 FW Artjoms Rudņevs
18 FW Bartosz Ślusarski
20 DF Hubert Wołąkiewicz
No. Position Player
21 MF Dimitrije Injac
22 DF Grzegorz Wojtkowiak (Captain)
23 DF Marcin Kikut
24 MF Aleksandar Tonev
25 DF Luis Henríquez
26 FW Tomasz Mikołajczak
27 GK Krzysztof Kotorowski
28 FW Vojo Ubiparip
30 GK Jasmin Burić
32 MF Mateusz Możdżeń
34 MF Wojciech Golla
35 DF Marcin Kamiński

Players out on loan

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

No. Position Player
8 MF Jacek Kiełb (at Korona Kielce)
13 MF Ján Zápotoka (at MFK Dubnica)
24 FW Krzysztof Chrapek (at Piast Gliwice)

Coaching staff

Notable players

Fans

Lech Poznań is considered to have the strongest fan support in Poland due to club's highest average attendance in Ekstraklasa and the atmosphere during the games.

For over a decade Lech supporters have a fellowship with fans from Arka Gdynia and Cracovia (the popular watchword: 'Miłość, Wiara, Walka – Lech Cracovia Arka' i.e. 'Love, Faith, Fight – Lech, Cracovia, Arka'). Close friendship links Lech fans also with KSZO Ostrowiec supporters (since 1992).

Relations with local rival Warta Poznań are neutral as the clubs have almost always played in different leagues.

The Poznan

The fans' goal celebration—involving the turning of their backs to the pitch, joining arms and jumping up and down in unison—originated in 1961. In Poland (and to many fans across Europe), it is not called "The Poznan" it is known as a "Grecque" and is performed by many sets of fans.

See also

References

External links