Górniczy Klub Sportowy Górnik Łęczna, commonly referred to as Górnik Łęczna, is a

sports club A sports club or sporting club, sometimes an athletics club or sports society or sports association, is a group of people formed for the purpose of playing sports. Sports clubs range from organisations whose members play together, unpaid, and ...

based in

Łęczna Łęczna is a town in eastern Poland with 19,780 inhabitants (2014), situated in Lublin Voivodeship. It is the seat of Łęczna County and the smaller administrative district of Gmina Łęczna. The town is located in northeastern corner of histo ...

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 ...

. It is best known for its men's

professional football In professional sports, as opposed to amateur sports, participants receive payment for their performance. Professionalism in sport has come to the fore through a combination of developments. Mass media and increased leisure have brought larg ...

team, which competes in

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 second division in the Polish football league system. The club also fields teams in women's football and wrestling.

History

The club was founded in 1979, as a club for the local coal miners. As the years went, the local

Bogdanka Coal Mine The Bogdanka Coal Mine (Lubelski Węgiel "Bogdanka" S.A.) is a coal mine in the village of Bogdanka near Łęczna, in the vicinity of Lublin, 197 km south-east of Poland's capital, Warsaw, in the Lublin Coal Basin. The mineral-obtaining l ...

decided to invest more and more money and as a result the club quickly rose through the leagues. The club shed its relative obscurity when it gained 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 ...

in 2003. Górnik Łęczna played in the top division from 2003 until 2007, when they were relegated to the 3rd division, as a consequence of their involvement in a match fixing scandal. However they were promoted straight back up as league winners after the 2007–08 season and competed in the

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 ...

for six years before winning promotion to the

2014–15 Ekstraklasa The 2014–15 Ekstraklasa (currently named T-Mobile Ekstraklasa due to sponsorship reasons), is the 81st season of the highest level of football leagues in the Polish football league system since its establishment in 1927. It began on 18 July 20 ...

. Since 1 January 2007, the men's football department has been operating as a business entity separate from the rest of the club. In February 2011 the team was renamed GKS Bogdanka () for sponsorship reasons, a decision from the local Bogdanka coal mine. As a result, a group of supporters opposing the name change formed an amateur team

GKS Górnik 1979 Łęczna Górnicy Kibice Sportowcy Górnik 1979 Łęczna, commonly referred to as Górnik 1979 Łęczna, was a short-lived List of fan-owned sports teams, fan-owned phoenix club (sports), phoenix club founded in 2011 by Górnik Łęczna fans who were unha ...

. On 23 July 2013 GKS Bogdanka's board of directors announced the return to the former name.

Honours

*7th spot in

: 2004–05 *

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. ...

semi-final: 2022–23 * Polish U-19 Bronze Medal: 2004, 2005

Current squad

Out on loan

GKS Górnik 1979 Łęczna

Górnik 1979 Łęczna was a club founded in 2011 by Górnik Łęczna fans who were unhappy with the name change to GKS Bogdanka. The club eventually changed its name back in 2013 but the fan owned counterpart has continued to operate in amateur football leagues. On 22 August 2014 the club withdrew from all competitions and ceased to operate, the reason cited were the lack of funds and the fact that the original Górnik Łęczna team went back to its original name scrapping the GKS Bogdanka name.

Women's section

The women's section of Górnik Łęczna played for years in the second and third tier leagues of Poland. In 2006–07 the team reached the semi-finals of the Polish Cup but lost to

Medyk Konin KKPK Medyk Konin is a Polish women's football club from Konin. Medyk Konin was founded in 1985. Since its promotion to the top league, the team has always finished near the top. Their best result was 2nd place in 2002–03, 2003–04, 2005–06 ...

. In the 2009–10 season with the expansion of the

Ekstraliga Kobiet The Ekstraliga ( en, Extra League) is the top Polish league for women's association football teams. The league's first season was in 1979–80. Initially, it was called ''I liga polska kobiet''. The first title holder was Czarni Sosnowiec. In 20 ...

the team finally gained promotion to it by finishing second in its 2nd tier division. In its Ekstraliga debut Górnik was 5th.2010–11 table
in Soccerway.com

References

External links

Official website
(Polish)
Górnik Łęczna
at the Fans website (Polish)
Górnik Łęczna
at 90minut.pl (Polish) Football clubs in Poland Association football clubs established in 1979 Mining association football clubs in Poland 1979 establishments in Poland {{, no=19, nat=POL}