AKS Chorzów is a sports club based in

Chorzów Chorzów ( ; ; ) is a city in the Silesia region of southern Poland, near Katowice. Chorzów is one of the central cities of the Metropolis GZM – a metropolis with a population of 2 million. It is located in the Silesian Highlands, on the Rawa ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

. It is one of the earliest sports organizations in

Upper Silesia Upper Silesia ( ; ; ; ; Silesian German: ; ) is the southeastern part of the historical and geographical region of Silesia, located today mostly in Poland, with small parts in the Czech Republic. The area is predominantly known for its heav ...

and is still well known nationally for its

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

and

handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball, Olympic handball or indoor handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a goalkeeper) pass a ball using their hands with the aim of thr ...

teams. The club also made its mark on the international stage: Halina Richter-Górecka was part of the gold medal-winning women's 100m relay team at the 1964 Tokyo Olympic Games;

tennis Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...

player Danuta Wieczorek appeared at

Wimbledon Wimbledon most often refers to: * Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London * Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships Wimbledon may also refer to: Places London * W ...

as a junior.

History

The origins of the club go back to the founding of the

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

football club In association football, a football club (or association football club, alternatively soccer club) is a sports club that acts as an entity through which association football teams organise their sporting activities. The club can exist either as ...

VfR Königshütte on 22 August 1910 in what was at the time the coal mining city of Königshütte in Germany. In the early 1920s, the region became part of Poland and the city was renamed, with the football club becoming ''Amatorski Klub Sportowy Chorzów''. In 1927 ''AKS'' was the proud owner of one of the most modern stadium facilities in Poland at Chorzów's Wyzwolenia Hill. The stadium was sometimes shared with another well-known local team — ''

Ruch Chorzów Ruch Chorzów () is a Polish professional association football, football club based in Chorzów, Upper Silesia. It is one of the most successful football teams in Poland, having won fourteen List of Polish football champions, Polish Championship ...

''. The club won the championship of Polish Upper Silesia (''Silesian A-Class'') in 1924, 1930 and 1936, and in 1937 advanced to the Polish first division where they became an immediate success. They finished as vice-champions and the team's Jerzy Wostal was the top scorer in the league with 12 goals. Wostal and teammate Leonard Piątek were among several players who played for the Polish national side in the 1930s. In 1939, AKS had as many as 10 football teams, including various youth teams, which was more than any other football organization of the

Second Polish Republic The Second Polish Republic, at the time officially known as the Republic of Poland, was a country in Central and Eastern Europe that existed between 7 October 1918 and 6 October 1939. The state was established in the final stage of World War I ...

. After the outbreak of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

in 1939, Germany occupied the western half of Poland. ''AKS'' became Fussball Verein Germania Königshütte and in 1940 joined Germany's first division Gauliga Schlesien where they finished atop the table. Piatek Germanized his name to Piontek and was a key player as ''FV Königshütte'' became the dominant side in the division, far outperforming state-supported rival '' 1. FC Kattowitz''. The club earned division titles in the Gauliga Oberschlesien in 1942, 1943, and 1944, advancing to play in the regional qualifying rounds of the German national championships, where they were put out in the early going each year. ''Germania'' also made first round appearances in play for the Tschammerpokal, predecessor of today's

DFB-Pokal The DFB-Pokal (), also known as the German Cup in English language, English, is a German knockout Association football, football cup competition held annually by the German Football Association (DFB). Sixty-four teams participate in the competiti ...

(German Cup), in 1941 and 1942. After the war and the restoration of the area to Poland, the club re-assumed its Polish name and continued to be a power in the country's football, earning third-place results in 1946 and 1947. In 1948 ''AKS'' joined the newly re-established Polish first division as ''Budowlani Chorzów'' and played there for seven years until being relegated after the 1954 season. The club played second division football until 1958 then faded into obscurity, with some supporters claiming that team's German origins and history of success in the

Nazi Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

-sponsored Gauliga put it into disfavour with

Communist Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, di ...

Poland's sporting authorities, contributing to the team's decline. In the 60s the ''Chorzóws once beautiful stadium burned to the ground to be replaced by a supermarket. In the early 1990s the club merged with ''Chorzowianka Chorzów'' and plays today as the sixth division side ''AKS Wyzwolenie Chorzów''.

Naming timeline

*1910: Verein für Rasenspiele (VfR) Königshütte *1924: Amatorski Klub Sportowy (AKS) Królewska Huta *1934: AKS Chorzów ''(change in name of city)'' *1939-1945: ''defunct: club temporarily replaced by newly established club FV Germania Königshütte O/S *1949: Budowlani Chorzów *1955: AKS Chorzów *1995: AKS Chorzowianka Chorzów ''(merger with Chorzowianka Chorzów)'' *2000: AKS Wyzwolenie Chorzów ''(merger with Wyzwolenie Chorzów)''

Honours (football)

* Polish vice-champions: 1937 * 3rd place in Polish

Ekstraklasa (; meaning "Extra Class" in Polish), officially known as PKO Bank Polski Ekstraklasa due to its Sponsor (commercial), sponsorship by PKO Bank Polski, is a professional association football league in Poland and the highest level of the Polish foo ...

(Main League): 1946, 1947, 1951 * Autonomous Silesian Voivodeship (Poland) champions: 1924, 1930, 1936 *

Silesia Silesia (see names #Etymology, below) is a historical region of Central Europe that lies mostly within Poland, with small parts in the Czech Silesia, Czech Republic and Germany. Its area is approximately , and the population is estimated at 8, ...

champions (Germany): 1941 *

champions (Germany): 1942, 1943, 1944

Handball

Formed before the World War II, the club's handball department came to prominence after 1945. The team drew crowds of 5,000 at the height of its popularity and in the 1980s won several national titles.

Honours (handball)

*Polish champions: 1981, 1982, 1988 *Polish vice-champions: 1960

Nickname

* The team was nicknamed the "Green Clovers".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chorzow Football clubs in Germany Association football clubs established in 1910 AKS Chorzow Football clubs in Silesian Voivodeship Football clubs from former German territories