Morski Związkowy Klub Sportowy Arka Gdynia () is a Polish professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

club, based in

Gdynia Gdynia ( ; ; german: Gdingen (currently), (1939–1945); csb, Gdiniô, , , ) is a city in northern Poland and a seaport on the Baltic Sea coast. With a population of 243,918, it is the List of cities in Poland, 12th-largest city in Poland and ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

, that plays in the Polish

I liga I liga ( pl, Pierwsza liga, ), currently named Fortuna I liga due to its sponsorship by Fortuna, is the men's second professional association football division of the Polish football league system, below the Ekstraklasa and above the II liga vi ...

. The club was founded as Klub Sportowy Gdynia in 1929.

History

The history of Arka dates back to 1929, when a group of workers of the ''Port of Gdynia'' founded ''Sports Club (Klub Sportowy, KS) Gdynia''. In 1932, a new stadium of KS was opened at ''Polanka Redlowska''. This location was used by the club until 2000. In 1934, ''Sports Club Kotwica (Anchor)'' was registered. Both team existed until 1939. In 1949, ''Fishermen Sports Club (Rybacki Klub Sportowy) MIR'' was formed. Three years later, its name was changed into ''Klub Sportowy Kolejarz-Arka Gdynia''. In 1953, the team for the first time won promotion to the third level of Polish football. In 1959, Arka's U-19 became Polish runner-up, and in 1960, after a dramatic game vs.

Hutnik Kraków Hutnik Kraków (Polish pronunciation: ) is a Polish football club based in Kraków, Poland. History The club was founded in 1950. Hutnik have played seven seasons in the Polish Ekstraklasa (Polish first division). The team's greatest success is ...

, Arka won promotion to the Second Division. In 1964, Arka merged with ''Doker Gdynia'', to form ''Maritime United Sports Club (Morski Związkowy Klub Sportowy, MZKS) Gdynia''. In 1972, its name was changed into Arka. Two years later Arka won promotion to the

Ekstraklasa Poland Ekstraklasa (), meaning "Extra Class" in Polish, named PKO Ekstraklasa since the 2019–20 season due to its sponsorship by PKO Bank Polski, is the top Polish professional league for men's association football teams. Contested by 18 cl ...

. Relegated after one year, Arka returned to the top level in 1976. In 1979 Arka, managed by

Czesław Boguszewicz Czesław Boguszewicz (born 2 July 1950) is a Polish retired football and later manager. Career At the age of 16, Boguszewicz trained with Pogoń Szczecin in the Polish top flight and debuted at the age of 17. Just before the 1978 FIFA World Cup ...

, became the first team from Polish

Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden and the North and Central European Plain. The sea stretches from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from ...

coast to win the

Polish Cup The Polish Cup in football ( pl, Puchar Polski w piłce nożnej ) is an elimination tournament for Polish football clubs, held continuously from 1950, and is the second most important national title in Polish football after the Ekstraklasa title. ...

. In the final game, which took place in

Lublin Lublin is the ninth-largest city in Poland and the second-largest city of historical Lesser Poland. It is the capital and the center of Lublin Voivodeship with a population of 336,339 (December 2021). Lublin is the largest Polish city east of t ...

, Arka beat

Wisła Kraków Towarzystwo Sportowe Wisła Kraków Spółka Akcyjna, commonly referred to as Wisła Kraków (), is a Polish professional football club based in Kraków. It currently competes in the I liga, the second level of Polish football league system. ...

2–1. In its

UEFA Cup Winners' Cup The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The cup was, chronologically, the second seasonal inter-European club competition organised by UEFA. The tournam ...

debut, Arka lost to Bulgarian side

PFC Beroe Stara Zagora Beroe ( bg, Берое) is a Bulgarian professional association football club based in Stara Zagora, that competes in the First League, the top division of the Bulgarian football league system. The club was founded in 1916 under the name ''Vere ...

(3–2, 0–2). In 1982, Arka was relegated from the top level, to return there in 2005. In the

1982 World Cup The 1982 FIFA World Cup was the 12th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams, and was played in Spain between 13 June and 11 July 1982. The tournament was won by Italy, who defeated West Germany 3–1 i ...

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

, Arka's

Janusz Kupcewicz Janusz Bogdan Kupcewicz (9 December 1955 – 4 July 2022) was a Polish professional footballer who played as a midfielder. Widely regarded as one of the best Polish players of his era, he most notably won the bronze with the national team at 1 ...

was among top players of Polish national team, which won bronze medal. In the 1980s and 1990s, Arka played either in the third or second division, with a number of promotions and relegations. In 2001, after six years in the third level, Arka again won promotion to the second division, and in 2005, the team returned to Ekstraklasa. In 2011, the City of Gdynia completed the construction of a new stadium, located on Olimpijska Street. On February 19, 2011, in a friendly game to commemorate the opening of the stadium Arka tied 1–1 with Beroe Stara Zagora. That year, Arka Gdynia got relegated from the top level. In 2016, Arka was promoted to the top level (

) after taking first place in I Liga. Immediately after getting promoted, Arka won the

for the second time, and the

Polish SuperCup The Polish Super Cup (, ) is an annually held match between the champions of the Ekstraklasa and the Polish Cup winners or, if the Ekstraklasa champions also win the Polish Cup, the Cup's runners-up. As of 2021, the Polish Super Cup has been pl ...

twice in 2017,2018.

Achievements

: **Winners (2): 1979, 2016–17 **Runners-up (2): 2017–18,

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

: **Winners (2):

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

: **Winners (1): 2015–16 *Youth Teams: ** Polish U-19 champions: 2012 ** Polish U-19 runners-up: 1956, 2013 ** Polish U-19 3rd place: 2009 ** Polish U-17 runners-up: 2010

League participation

By tier: *

: 1974–75, 1976–82, 2005–07, 2008–11, 2016–2020; *

: 1961–62 (2 seasons), 1964–68, 1969–74, 1975–76, 1982–84, 1985–87, 1988–89, 1992–95, 2001–05, 2007–08, 2011–2016; 2020–: *

II liga II liga (Druga Liga, ), currently named eWinner II liga due to sponsorship reasons by eWinner, is a Polish football league that sits at the third tier of the Polish football league system. Until the end of the 2007–08 season ''II Liga'' refer ...

: 1954–80 (7 seasons), 1962–64, 1968–69, 1984–85, 1987–88, 1989–92.

Fans

Arka is one of the most supported clubs in Poland, drawing in support from mostly across

Pomerania Pomerania ( pl, Pomorze; german: Pommern; Kashubian: ''Pòmòrskô''; sv, Pommern) is a historical region on the southern shore of the Baltic Sea in Central Europe, split between Poland and Germany. The western part of Pomerania belongs to ...

. Outside the Tricity, Arka has fan-clubs in all major cities and towns in the region, such as

Tczew Tczew (, csb, Dërszewò; formerly ) is a city on the Vistula River in Pomerelia, Eastern Pomerania, Kociewie, northern Poland with 59,111 inhabitants (December 2021). The city is known for its Old Town and the Vistula Bridge, or Bridge of Tczew ...

Wejherowo Wejherowo ( csb, Wejrowò; german: Neustadt in Westpreußen, formerly Weyhersfrey) is a city in Gdańsk Pomerania, northern Poland, with 48,735 inhabitants (2021). It has been the capital of Wejherowo County in Pomeranian Voivodeship since 19 ...

Braniewo Braniewo () (german: Braunsberg in Ostpreußen, la, Brunsberga, Old Prussian: ''Brus'', lt, Prūsa), is a town in northern Poland, in Warmia, in the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, with a population of 16,907 as of June 2021. It is the capital of ...

and

Kościerzyna Kościerzyna ( Kashubian and Pomeranian: ''Kòscérzëna''; formerly german: Berent, ) is a town in Kashubia in Gdańsk Pomerania region, northern Poland, with some 24,000 inhabitants. It has been the capital of Kościerzyna County in Pomerania ...

for example, as well as fan-clubs in places further away such as

Zakopane Zakopane ( Podhale Goral: ''Zokopane'') is a town in the extreme south of Poland, in the southern part of the Podhale region at the foot of the Tatra Mountains. From 1975 to 1998, it was part of Nowy Sącz Voivodeship; since 1999, it has been par ...

and

Lublin Voivodeship The Lublin Voivodeship, also known as the Lublin Province (Polish: ''województwo lubelskie'' ), is a voivodeship (province) of Poland, located in southeastern part of the country. It was created on January 1, 1999, out of the former Lublin, Che� ...

, and even two fan-clubs in Germany set up by expatriate Arka fans, in

Oberhausen Oberhausen (, ) is a city on the river Emscher in the Ruhr Area, Germany, located between Duisburg and Essen ( ). The city hosts the International Short Film Festival Oberhausen and its Gasometer Oberhausen is an anchor point of the European Rout ...

and

Stuttgart Stuttgart (; Swabian: ; ) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is located on the Neckar river in a fertile valley known as the ''Stuttgarter Kessel'' (Stuttgart Cauldron) and lies an hour from the ...

. The fans have an alliance with fans of

Cracovia Kraków Miejski Klub Sportowy Cracovia Sportowa Spółka Akcyjna, commonly known simply as MKS Cracovia or Cracovia (), is a Polish professional football club based in Kraków. The club is five-time and also the first Polish champion, winner of the Poli ...

and

Lech Poznań Kolejowy Klub Sportowy Lech Poznań S.A., commonly referred to as KKS Lech Poznań or simply Lech Poznań (), is a Polish professional association football, football club based in Poznań and currently competing in the Ekstraklasa, the nation' ...

, and the three are known as "The Great Triad" (''Wielka Triada''). Fans of

Lechia Gdańsk Lechia Gdańsk () is a Polish football club based in Gdańsk. The club was founded in 1945 by people expelled from Lwów, who were supporters of Poland's oldest football team Lechia Lwów, founded in 1903. The club's name comes from Lechia, a ...

Śląsk Wrocław Wrocławski Klub Sportowy Śląsk Wrocław Spółka Akcyjna, commonly known as WKS Śląsk Wrocław, Śląsk Wrocław () or simply Śląsk, is a Polish football club based in Wrocław that plays in Ekstraklasa, the highest level of the Polish f ...

and

also share a friendship called "The Three Kings of Great Cities" (''Trzej Królowie Wielkich Miast'') and any match between the two alliances is a considered a big rivalry. Arka fans maintain alliances with several other fans aside from Cracovia and Lech, many of them lasting now for decades: fans of

Górnik Wałbrzych Gornik may refer to one of the following. * Gornik, Pleven Province, a village in Chechen Republic * April Gornik, an American painter *Górnik (means " Miner" in Polish) is a common name of Polish sports teams: **Górnik Konin **Górnik Łęczna ** ...

(since 1983),

Zagłębie Lubin Zagłębie Lubin S.A. () is a Polish professional football club based in Lubin. Founded in 1945 as ''OMTUR Lubin'', the club competes in the Ekstraklasa. History The football team was founded in 1945 as OMTUR Lubin by local members of the ''Yo ...

(since 1983),

Gwardia Koszalin Gwardia Koszalin is a Polish multisports club, founded in 1946 in the northern city of Koszalin. Besides football, Gwardia supports other departments - handball, boxing, and judo. The departments are autonomous, and have their own, separate bud ...

(since 1989), and

KSZO Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski KSZO Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski () is a Polish football club based in Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski, Poland. It was founded on August 11, 1929. History Initially, a club called ''Ostrovia'' existed in the city. It was established between 1922 and 1 ...

(since 2004) are all considered good friends. The friendship with

Polonia Bytom Polonia Bytom () is a Polish football club based in Bytom, founded in 1920, two times Polish Champions. The team currently plays in the III liga (as of 2022–23). History Beginnings Polonia was founded on 4 January 1920 in the Upper Silesia ...

fans dates back to 1974, and is one of the longest friendships in supporter history which has survived to date. The greatest rival or Arka is

, a team with whom they contest the so-called

Tricity Derby The "Tricity Derby" ( pl, Derby Trójmiasta) is the name given to describe football matches between Arka Gdynia and Lechia Gdańsk, the two biggest teams in the Tricity, Poland, Tricity area. The derby splits the Tricity area, with Arka represent ...

or Pomeranian Derby. Fans of both teams remain venomously hostile and since the early 1970s the history of games between Arka and Lechia is marked by riots and violence. Relations with another Gdynia football team

Bałtyk Gdynia Bałtyk Gdynia is a Polish football club from Gdynia. The club is named after the Baltic Sea. History The club was established in 1930 by football enthusiasts from the developing city. Bałtyk is the oldest football club from Gdynia, which sti ...

used to be friendly until the 1980s, when they turned hostile. Due to Bałtyk's successive relegations and their declining numbers of fans this rivalry is now of lesser importance.

Current squad

Managers

* Ferdinand Fritsch (1950) *

Herman May Herman may refer to: People * Herman (name), list of people with this name * Saint Herman (disambiguation) * Peter Noone (born 1947), known by the mononym Herman Places in the United States * Herman, Arkansas * Herman, Michigan * Herman, Minne ...

(1953) * Czesław Bartolik (1954–55) * Tadeusz Foryś (1956) * Jan Gazur (1957–58) * Edward Kołpa (1959) * Roman Sawecki (1960) * Henryk Serafin (1961) * Piotr Nierychło (1962) *

Stanisław Malon Stanislav and variants may refer to: People *Stanislav (given name), a Slavic given name with many spelling variations (Stanislaus, Stanislas, Stanisław, etc.) Places * Stanislav (Village), Stanislav, a coastal village in Kherson, Ukraine * Sta ...

(1962–63) * Józef Barbachen (1963–64) *

Edward Brzozowski Edward Brzozowski (born 11 October 1920 – 25 June 1983) is a Polish football player and coach. Career Playing career Brzozowski played for Polonia Warszawa and gained 6 caps for Poland. Coaching career Brzozowski managed Polonia Warszawa, P ...

(1964–65) * Grzegorz Polakow (1965–71) * Jerzy Słaboszowski (1971–75) * Stefan Żywotko (1975–76) *

Konrad Araucz Konrad is a German (with variants ''Kunz'' and ''Kunze'') given name and surname that means "bold counselor" and may refer to: People Given name Surname *Alexander Konrad (1890–1940), Russian explorer *Antoine Konrad (born 1975), birth name o ...

(1976–77) * Janusz Pekowski (1977) * Jerzy Steckiw (1977–79) *

(1979–80) *

Stanisław Stachura Stanisław Stachura (born 22 April 1941) is a retired Polish football player and manager. Football Stachura started football in the city of his birth with ŁKS Łódź, where he played from 1952-60. His time with ŁKS was successful, winning bo ...

(1980–81) * Grzegorz Polakow (1981-8x) * Zbigniew Strzelecki (198x-8x) *

(198x-8x) * Zbigniew Strzelecki (198x-8x) * Andrzej Trywiański (198x-8x) * Janusz Inżyński (198x-8x) * Adam Adamus (198x-8x) * Krzysztof Szkoda (198x-8x) * Andrzej Bikiewicz (198x-87) * Jerzy Jastrzębowski (1987–89) * Andrzej Bikiewicz (1989-xx) * Mieczysław Rajski (19xx-91) *

Jacek Dziubiński Jacek is a Polish given name of Greek origin related Hyacinth, through the archaic form of ''Jacenty''. Its closely related equivalents are: Jacinto (Spanish and Portuguese), Giacinto (Italian), Jácint ( Hungarian) and Jacint (Catalan, shortened ...

(1991–93) * Ryszard Lipiński (1993) *

(1993) *

() *

Grzegorz Witt Grzegorz (german: Falkenstein) is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Chełmża, within Toruń County, Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship, in north-central Poland. It lies approximately north-east of Chełmża and north of Toruń ...

(1994–95) * Grzegorz Polakow (1994–95) *

(1994–95) *

() *

Marian Geszke Marian Geszke (born 3 September 1943) is a retired Polish Association football, football manager. Early years Geszke was born in Pinsk, which before World War II was part of Poland. At the time of his birth however Pinsk had been a part of the ...

() * Ryszard Lipiński (1995–1996) *

(1995–1996) * Jarosław Kotas (1996–97) * Andrzej Bussler (1996–1998) *

(1998–1999) *

Wojciech Niedźwiedzki Wojciech () is a Polish name, equivalent to Czech Vojtěch , Slovak Vojtech, and German Woitke. The name is formed from two components in archaic Polish: * ''wój'' (Slavic: ''voj''), a root pertaining to war. It also forms words like ''wojownik ...

(1998–1999) *

(1999–2000) * Mieczysław Gierszewski (2000–2001) *

Wiesław Pisarski :"Wiesław" is sometimes transliterated as "Wieslaw", in the absence of ''L with stroke.'' Wiesław () is a Polish masculine given name, of Slavonic origin, meaning "great glory" or "all glory". It is the shortened, more common, form of the pers ...

(2001) *

Marek Kusto Marek Andrzej Kusto (born 29 April 1954 in Bochnia) is a retired Polish people, Polish football player and manager. He played for several domestic and foreign clubs, including Wisła Kraków, Legia Warsaw and KSK Beveren (Belgium), and for the Po ...

(2001–03) * Mieczysław Rajski (2003–04) * Piotr Mandrysz (2003–04) * Wojciech Wąsikiewicz (2003–2004) *

Mirosław Dragan Mirosław may refer to: People *Mirosław (given name), a Polish given name of Slavic origin Places *Gmina Mirosławiec, an urban-rural gmina in Wałcz County, West Pomeranian Voivodeship, Poland *Mirosławice (disambiguation), several places ...

(2004–05) * Wojciech Wąsikiewicz (2005–2006) * Zbigniew Kaczmarek (2006) *

Wojciech Stawowy Wojciech Stawowy (born 28 January 1966) is a Polish football manager. From 2020 to 2021 he served as the manager of ŁKS Łódź. References 1966 births Living people Polish football managers MKS Cracovia managers Arka Gdynia managers GKS ...

(2006–2007) * Robert Jończyk (2007–2008) *

Czesław Michniewicz Czesław Michniewicz (; born 12 February 1970) is a Polish football manager and former player who managed the Poland national team in 2022. Managerial career Early years In September 2003, Michniewicz was appointed as the manager of Lech Pozna ...

(2008–2009) * Marek Chojnacki (2009) *

Dariusz Pasieka Dariusz Pasieka (born 3 August 1965, in Chojnice) is a Polish professional football manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is ...

(2009–2011) *

František Straka František "Franz" Straka (born 28 May 1958) is a Czech former football player and manager of Fotbal Třinec. Biography Playing career Straka played most notably for Sparta Prague. In 1988, he moved to Germany and spent the rest of his playi ...

(2011) *

Petr Němec Petr Němec (born 7 June 1957) is a former football midfielder and manager from Czech Republic. Career Club Němec played mostly for Baník Ostrava from his native city of Ostrava. He contributed to the best period in the history of the club. Du ...

(2011–12) * Paweł Sikora (2012–2015) * Grzegorz Niciński (2015–2017) * Leszek Ojrzyński (2017–2018) * Zbigniew Smółka (2018–2019) * Jacek Zieliński (2019) *

Aleksandar Rogić Aleksandar Rogić ( sr, Александар Рогић; born 3 August 1981) is a Serbian professional football coach who most recently served as an assistant manager for Legia Warsaw. Rogić worked for Serbia national football team and Ghana nat ...

(2019–2020) * Krzysztof Sobieraj (2020) *

Ireneusz Mamrot Ireneusz Mamrot (born 13 December 1970) is a Polish professional football manager and former player, most recently in charge of I liga club Górnik Łęczna. Managerial career Mamrot coached Polish I liga side Chrobry Głogów from 2010 to 2017 ...

(2020) * Dariusz Marzec (2020–2021) *

Ryszard Tarasiewicz Ryszard Jerzy Tarasiewicz (born 27 April 1962 in Wrocław) is a Polish football manager and former player. Career Club After playing 10 years for Śląsk Wrocław, he left Poland in 1989 and played for Neuchâtel Xamax (Switzerland) and AS Nanc ...

(2021–)

Arka in Europe

References

External links

*
Fans Website "Arkowcy"

Statistical history
{{Coord, 54, 29, 35.29, N, 18, 31, 52.37, E, display=title Association football clubs established in 1929 1929 establishments in Poland Football clubs in Poland Sport in Gdynia Football clubs in Pomeranian Voivodeship