Czarni Lwów was one of the first Polish professional

sport Sport is a physical activity or game, often Competition, competitive and organization, organized, that maintains or improves physical ability and skills. Sport may provide enjoyment to participants and entertainment to spectators. The numbe ...

s clubs with a well-developed

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 ...

section as well as

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...

, among several other sports. The football club was started in the late 19th century in Lwów as a school football section called Sława Lwów. In 1903 the name was changed and the club became professional.

History

In 1911, together with

KS Cracovia Cracovia () is a Polish professional Association football, football club based in Kraków. The club is five-time Polish champion, besides being the inaugural Polish champion, winner of the Polish Cup and the Polish Super Cup in 2020. Founded in ...

and two other teams, Czarni created the

Polish Football Association The Polish Football Association ( PZPN) is the governing body of association football in Poland. It organizes the Polish football leagues (without the ), the national cups, and manages the men's and women's national teams. It also runs the nati ...

, the predecessor of the modern PZPN national football association. The first football club in Poland, the Czarni (Black, name coined after their black shirts; because of their colours the team was commonly dubbed ''Powidlaki'' – an allusion to the ''plum marmalade'' colour of their logo) were the best known and most popular sports club in Lwów (together with Pogoń Lwów formed soon afterwards). The official name translates as the First Military-Civil Sport Club Blacks Lwów. Although the main interest of the fans lay in football, soon other sections were opened (

boxing Boxing is a combat sport and martial art. Taking place in a boxing ring, it involves two people – usually wearing protective equipment, such as boxing glove, protective gloves, hand wraps, and mouthguards – throwing Punch (combat), punch ...

skiing Skiing is the use of skis to glide on snow for basic transport, a recreational activity, or a competitive winter sport. Many types of competitive skiing events are recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), and the International S ...

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 ...

, athletics). Despite their initial successes and their contribution to the history of football in Poland, the club was largely unsuccessful in league meetings. During their seven years career in the Polish Football League, they scored 141 points, with the total goal quota of 120:186. In 1928 the club came 8th in the league, which was the highest location in its history. However, the following year Czarni's forward Rochus Nastula was the top scorer in Polish Soccer League, with 25 goals scored in one season. In 1933 the club dropped from the first league, but continued to appear in national championships. In 1935 the club won the Polish Cup (''Mistrzostwa Polski''). In the same year the club won also the Polish

title. In 1936 the name was changed back to "Military and Civil Sports Club Sława Lwów". Following the German-Soviet

invasion of Poland The invasion of Poland, also known as the September Campaign, Polish Campaign, and Polish Defensive War of 1939 (1 September – 6 October 1939), was a joint attack on the Second Polish Republic, Republic of Poland by Nazi Germany, the Slovak R ...

, which started

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 September 1939, the city was occupied by the Soviet Union. The club was disbanded in 1939 by the

NKVD The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (, ), abbreviated as NKVD (; ), was the interior ministry and secret police of the Soviet Union from 1934 to 1946. The agency was formed to succeed the Joint State Political Directorate (OGPU) se ...

who arrested most of its members. Two pre-war footballers, Henryk Bilor and Tadeusz Kowalski, and athlete Tadeusz Kirchner were among Poles murdered by the Russians in the large

Katyn massacre The Katyn massacre was a series of mass killings under Communist regimes, mass executions of nearly 22,000 Polish people, Polish military officer, military and police officers, border guards, and intelligentsia prisoners of war carried out by t ...

in April–May 1940. The most famous player of Czarni Lwów was Kazimierz Górski.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Czarni Lwow Association football clubs established in 1903 Association football clubs disestablished in 1939 Lwów District Football League Polish football clubs in Lviv 1903 establishments in Poland 1939 disestablishments in Poland 1903 establishments in Austria-Hungary Defunct football clubs in former Polish territories

History

See also

References