Polish Football Season 2021/22

[Juliusz]

Polish Cup final

Lech Poznań - Raków Częstochowa 1:3

Raków won the cup second year in a row! Meanwhile, Lech lost their fifth consecutive cup final.

An entertaining match, on high level, which is unusual in our cup finals. Unfortunately Lech's fans didn't enter because flags and banners weren't allowed at the stadium. This was a decision that not only killed the atmosphere around this match but also can cause moving the final into another stadium next year.

The cup winner will start in ECL Q2 following expulsion of Russian clubs. But now Raków won't be satisfied with that. They are in pole position in the title race and can fully concentrate on that. Lech managed to win the league title after losing in the cup to the major rival Legia, in 2015. Maciej Skorża, their current coach, worked there then too. But it's hard to tell if this events can happen again.

[Greyn]

That were disgraceful displays and now there is an idea at Zagłębie to demand 4 points in next two matches, otherwise the coach is out.

And he has done it (Piotr Stokowiec), exactly 4 points in 2 games. At first, Zagłębie made a nice come back vs Lechia in the 2nd half (from 0-2 to 2-2) and they did beat easily Radomiak 6-1 away (!) today. Results like this one do not often happen in Ekstraklasa, which is a relatively balanced league.

Now the pressure is on Śląsk, who have a tough game vs Pogoń tomorrow. Pogoń has only a small chance to win the title this year, but surely they will play their best and fight till the end.

Both Wisła and Nieciecza have winnable games this week. Wisła will play Jagiellonia at home and Nieciecza will face Górnik Łęczna away. Relegation battle could become even more interesting after this matchday.

[Greyn]

P. Mogielnicki, founder of 90minut.pl (by far the most reliable website dedicated to Polish football), made calculations to determine probability of relegation for clubs in danger. Here are results:

Górnik Łęczna - 98.6%
Bruk-Bet Termalica Nieciecza - 89.4%
Wisła Kraków - 87.3%
Zagłębie Lubin - 14.7%
Śląsk Wrocław - 9.5%
Stal Mielec - 0.4%
Jagiellonia Białystok - 0.1%
Warta Poznań - less than 0.001%

So Wisła Kraków, dominator of the Polish league in the first decade of this century, are currently in big trouble. Last season when Wisła played in the 2nd tier was 1995/96. As I wrote previously, if they get relegated they can only blame themselves since they were not able to win any of their last 4 matches (W:0, D:3, L:1).

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An interesting video that presents 14 stadiums under construction in Poland which should be finished soon.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GqdeBwK ... tadionyNet

[Greyn]

Very interesting outcomes in Poland, although I don't want to make a spoiler in the thread. Someone made a big step toward championship title, someone practically guaranteed themselves last remaining European spot. If someone can't wait just check the results.

[Juliusz]

Matchday 32

League table


Results

Radomiak Radom - Zagłębie Lubin 1:6
Karol Angielski 60' (penalty) - Filip Starzyński 20', 63', Kacper Chodyna 22', 36', Mateusz Bartolewski 85', Tomasz Pieńko 90'+2
Attendance: 2951

Legia Warszawa - Górnik Zabrze 5:3
Bartosz Slisz 1', Paweł Wszołek 6', Patryk Sokołowski 31', 42', Josué 56' - Krzysztof Kubica 16', 77', Lukas Podolski 37'
Attendance: 16 144

Wisła Płock - Warta Poznań 0:3
Miłosz Szczepański 37', Mateusz Kupczak 83', Frank Castañeda 85'
Attendance: 3003

Śląsk Wrocław - Pogoń Szczecin 1:1
Erik Expósito 28' - Maciej Żurawski 51'
Attendance: 10 166

Wisła Kraków - Jagiellonia Białystok 0:0
Attendance: 18 198

Lechia Gdańsk - Stal Mielec 3:2
Łukasz Zwoliński 11', 31', 90'+3 - Mateusz Żyro 49', Oskar Zawada 80'
Attendance: 11 303

Raków Częstochowa - Cracovia 1:1
Vladislavs Gutkovskis 38' - Sergiu Hanca 62'
Attendance: 5500

Piast Gliwice - Lech Poznań 1:2
Damian Kądzior 46' - Jakub Kamiński 16', Mikael Ishak 87'
Attendance: 6895

Górnik Łęczna - Bruk-Bet Termalica Nieciecza 1:1
Janusz Gol 35' - Piotr Wlazło 50'
Attendance: 2345

Top scorers:
18 - Ivi López (Raków Częstochowa)
17 - Mikael Ishak (Lech Poznań)
14 - Karol Angielski (Radomiak Radom), Łukasz Zwoliński (Lechia Gdańsk)
13 - João Amaral (Lech Poznań), Łukasz Sekulski (Wisła Płock)
11 - Erik Expósito (Śląsk Wrocław), Patryk Szysz (Zagłębie Lubin), Bartosz Śpiączka (Górnik Łęczna)
10 - Flávio Paixão (Lechia Gdańsk), Luka Zahovič (Pogoń Szczecin)

Revolution at the top - Lech took the lead in the table! It could be that all top three teams drew 1-1, but Lech managed to score a winner in final minutes. Now it's hard to imagine that they fail, especially because they play Warta, who is already safe, and then Zagłębie at home. As we could see this weekend, teams that have nothing to play for, don't try to disturb the other team on the pitch. But there was one exception - Cracovia vs Raków, which is a 'bestia negra' for them - Raków failed to win vs Cracovia since they advanced to Ekstraklasa in 2019, despite being better many times, including the most recent match. Cracovia stopped all three teams this season (3-3 vs Lech, 1-0 and 1-1 vs Raków, 1-1 and 1-1 vs Pogoń), so at least they are fair.

Lechia have almost secured 4th place. They have equal H2H vs Piast, so the overall goal difference counts - Lechia have +16, Piast +7. In theory, Piast is able to achieve high victories vs Bruk-Bet and Radomiak, and Lechia is able to lose vs both Pogoń and Raków, but they are very, very close.

Legia and Warta are safe. Seven teams are involved in the battle for avoiding relegation, but Stal and Jagiellonia are almost safe, and Górnik Łęczna are almost done. They would stay in the league only if they are matched with Śląsk and catch up GD, but they have -28, and Śląsk have -9.

Pogoń announced their new coach, who will take over before the new season. It's Jens Gustafsson, who was in charge of Sweden U-21 team recently. Any kind of comment on him from our Swedish or Croatian users would be appreciated. Looking at his European record though, I won't expect him to make positive impact in (most probably) ECL qualifying.

[Greyn]

[bugylibicska]

Gornik Zabrze missing.

[Greyn]

Gornik Zabrze missing.

Yes indeed, thanks a lot. I found extension for Chrome which makes full page screenshots, but it is a bit crappy.

Updated "Record winner" table with Górnik Zabrze included:

[bugylibicska]

They're my favourite team, so obviously looking for them.

[Greyn]

They're my favourite team, so obviously looking for them.

I don't know when their glory days will be back again, but my prediction is that it will not happen soon. They are the only Polish club which reached a final of European cups (CWC 1969/70 final lost to Manchester City 1-2) and I don't thinki it will change soon. At least they have a very nice stadium which will be great after finishing construction of the 4th stand.

[bugylibicska]

Yeah, those times are gone forever. The government supported teams of mining towns to keep the miners happy. We'd Tatabanya, Dorog, Salgotarjan, Komlo all in the NBI, all disappeared long time ago. I guess same happened in Poland. Gornik Zabrze were big in the 60's when I was growing up, I remember Lubanski played there, the best Polish player of his time.

[Greyn]

Yeah, those times are gone forever. The government supported teams of mining towns to keep the miners happy. We'd Tatabanya, Dorog, Salgotarjan, Komlo all in the NBI, all disappeared long time ago. I guess same happened in Poland. Gornik Zabrze were big in the 60's when I was growing up, I remember Lubanski played there, the best Polish player of his time.

Exactly as you wrote. There were periods of time when half of top tier members were Silesian clubs. It is said that they formed a coalition against Legia, so called "Śląska Spółdzielnia" (Silesian cooperative), when there was a "danger" that Legia might win the title. They fixed games played between themselves in order to let one of Silesian clubs to win the championship title. Legia and Warsaw were by far most hated club and city in Upper Silesia. It is just a legend without confirmed facts, but there is a grain of truth in every legend.

[bugylibicska]

Yeah, those times are gone forever. The government supported teams of mining towns to keep the miners happy. We'd Tatabanya, Dorog, Salgotarjan, Komlo all in the NBI, all disappeared long time ago. I guess same happened in Poland. Gornik Zabrze were big in the 60's when I was growing up, I remember Lubanski played there, the best Polish player of his time.

Exactly as you wrote. There were periods of time when half of top tier members were Silesian clubs. It is said that they formed a coalition against Legia, so called "Śląska Spółdzielnia" (Silesian cooperative), when there was a "danger" that Legia might win the title. They fixed games played between themselves in order to let one of Silesian clubs to win the championship title. Legia and Warsaw were by far most hated club and city in Upper Silesia. It is just a legend without confirmed facts, but there is a grain of truth in every legend.

There's no such danger in Hungary. The clubs from Budapest (Fradi, MTK, Ujpest, Hoved, Vasas) totally dominated the landscape, no club from outside the capitol had a chance to break into this monopoly. And these miner clubs were from different parts of the country, just happy to participate and avoid relegation.

[Greyn]

Yeah, those times are gone forever. The government supported teams of mining towns to keep the miners happy. We'd Tatabanya, Dorog, Salgotarjan, Komlo all in the NBI, all disappeared long time ago. I guess same happened in Poland. Gornik Zabrze were big in the 60's when I was growing up, I remember Lubanski played there, the best Polish player of his time.

Exactly as you wrote. There were periods of time when half of top tier members were Silesian clubs. It is said that they formed a coalition against Legia, so called "Śląska Spółdzielnia" (Silesian cooperative), when there was a "danger" that Legia might win the title. They fixed games played between themselves in order to let one of Silesian clubs to win the championship title. Legia and Warsaw were by far most hated club and city in Upper Silesia. It is just a legend without confirmed facts, but there is a grain of truth in every legend.

There's no such danger in Hungary. The clubs from Budapest (Fradi, MTK, Ujpest, Hoved, Vasas) totally dominated the landscape, no club from outside the capitol had a chance to break into this monopoly. And these miner clubs were from different parts of the country, just happy to participate and avoid relegation.

In Poland it was the opposite, clubs from Upper Silesia dominated in the Polish league in the communism era.

Number of titles won by clubs from Upper Silesia in the 1946-89 period: 26, by non-Silesian clubs: 18. It has changed completely after the fall of Iron curtain, after 1989 only 1 championship title was won by a Silesian club (Piast Gliwice in 2019).

There was a change in Hungary as well with a period of time with domination by Debrecen and some titles for Videoton or Gyor, as far as I remember. Looks like things are back to normal in Hungary though, thanks to Fradi.

[Juliusz]

Matchday 33

League table


Results

Cracovia - Wisła Płock 3:0
Kamil Pestka 9', 31', Mathias Hebo Rasmussen 69'
Attendance: 7138

Jagiellonia Białystok - Legia Warszawa 2:2
Israel Puerto 48', Jesús Imaz 76' (penalty) - Tomáš Pekhart 70', Michał Pazdan 85' (own goal)
Attendance: 15 383

Bruk-Bet Termalica Nieciecza - Piast Gliwice 0:1
Tomáš Huk 57' (penalty)
Attendance: 2368

Warta Poznań - Lech Poznań 1:2
Michał Kopczyński 10' (penalty) - João Amaral 22', Mikael Ishak 45'+4
Attendance: 4820

Zagłębie Lubin - Raków Częstochowa 1:0
Kacper Chodyna 90'+5 (penalty)
Attendance: 6072

Lechia Gdańsk - Pogoń Szczecin 0:0
Attendance: 13 870

Stal Mielec - Śląsk Wrocław 1:1
Mateusz Matras 90'+5 - Róbert Pich 16'
Attendance: 5359

Górnik Zabrze - Górnik Łęczna 4:2
Robert Dadok 66', Lukas Podolski 86', Krzysztof Kubica 89', Higinio Marín 90'+6 - Przemysław Banaszak 5', 52'
Attendance: 14 065

Radomiak Radom - Wisła Kraków 4:2
Karol Angielski 50', 67', 68', Dawid Abramowicz 86' - Heorhiy Tsitaishvili 8', Stefan Savić 48'
Attendance: 4304

Top scorers:
18 - Mikael Ishak (Lech Poznań), Ivi López (Raków Częstochowa)
17 - Karol Angielski (Radomiak Radom)
14 - João Amaral (Lech Poznań), Łukasz Zwoliński (Lechia Gdańsk)
13 - Łukasz Sekulski (Wisła Płock)
11 - Erik Expósito (Śląsk Wrocław), Patryk Szysz (Zagłębie Lubin), Bartosz Śpiączka (Górnik Łęczna)
10 - Flávio Paixão (Lechia Gdańsk), Luka Zahovič (Pogoń Szczecin)

Everything is known before the last matchday. BTW, it will be the only matchday when all matches will start at the same time. Usually, the penultimate matchday was organized this way too, but this time it was different - a pity, because it could've been even more exciting.

Lech are champions - congratulations So the events from 2015 happened again, when they lost the cup final vs Legia, but then overtook them in the final round. Lech was clearly the best team in the league and the competition between them, Raków and Pogoń was on high level.

Raków can be disappointed, not many would predict their draw vs Cracovia and a loss vs Zagłębie. And it were just not unlucky matches, the team was nervous and it didn't seem they're able to win. A minor thing to follow is the vice-champion title in the last matchday between Raków and Pogoń.

Lechia will finish fourth, which they were very close to since couple of weeks. A very good run in autumn when new coach took over, slightly weaker spring, especially away. Overall - deserved

Górnik Łęczna, Bruk-Bet and Wisła Kraków are relegated. The former two were already used to it, although the mathematics let them believe. Bruk-Bet missed a penalty again, then conceded... So typical for them, although they didn't play bad this season. But definitely Wisła is the biggest disgrace. Just one win in spring, they lost even vs a 4th tier side in the cup, so many random transfers and the appointment of Jerzy Brzęczek, who didn't confirm that he's the right person at this place. In club football, he had just one decent season with Wisła Płock, but failed at Lechia, GKS Katowice (I liga), Raków (II liga), and now Wisła Kraków. Jakub Błaszczykowski saved the club when it was in real danger, but 3.5 years later it is in a really bad position again. Wisła will probably start normally in I liga, but a comeback won't be easy.

Meanwhile, Legia is sure to finish at best at 10th place, which is their worst place in history. There's no guarantee that they don't follow Wisła's path, unless Dariusz Mioduski and other people at the club change their way of thinking. On the other hand, we have to congratulate Warta and Stal, who were strongly predicted to be relegated, but finally they stay in the league for another season

In lower divisions, following things are known. Miedź Legnica won I liga and will advance directly to Ekstraklasa. The second-placed team (direct promotion) will be either Widzew Łódź or Arka Gdynia. One of these teams (third-placed) will participate in the play-offs, Korona Kielce and Odra Opole are already there. The 6th place will be decided between Chrobry Głogów, Sandecja Nowy Sącz, Podbeskidzie Bielsko-Biała, ŁKS, and (unlikely) Resovia. GKS Jastrzębie, Górnik Polkowice and Stomil Olsztyn are relegated. Stal Rzeszów and Chojniczanka Chojnice are promoted directly to I liga. Ruch Chorzów, Motor Lublin, Wigry Suwałki and either Radunia Stężyca or Lech II Poznań will participate in the play-offs.