Górnik Zabrze
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Górnik Zabrze
Spółka Akcyjna The abbreviation S.A. or SA designates a type of limited company in certain countries, most of which have a Romance languages, Romance language as their official language and operate a derivative of the 1804, Napoleonic, civil law (legal syste ...
, commonly referred to as Górnik Zabrze S.A. or simply Górnik Zabrze (), is a Polish
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 ...
club from
Zabrze Zabrze (; German: 1915–1945: , full form: , , ) is an industrial city put under direct government rule in Silesia in southern Poland, near Katowice. It lies in the western part of the Metropolis GZM, a metropolis with a population of around 2 m ...
. Górnik is one of the most successful Polish football clubs in history, winning the second-most Polish Championship titles together with
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 was a dominant force in the 1960s and 1980s. Górnik holds the record for winning the most consecutive Polish Championship titles (5) and Polish Cup titles (5). In addition, the club was 1969–70 Cup Winners' Cup runners-up. They currently compete in the
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 ...
, the top tier of the national football league system. The club plays in a white or dark blue-red kit, and is based at the Arena Zabrze. Their main local rival is
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 ...
.


History


First years

The club was founded in 1948 after several smaller sports associations – KS Zjednoczenie, KS Pogoń, KS Skra, and KS Concordia – were merged into a single organization, which took the name "Górnik", the Polish word for "Miner", reflecting the fact that Zabrze was an important coal-mining centre. In 1950 Górnik joined the Opole Silesia regional league. In 1952 the club was promoted to the Polish Second Division. Their first game in the second tier was against Skra Częstochowa, and was witnessed by 20,000 fans, with Górnik winning 5–1. The whole season was very successful and Górnik finished second overall, behind Górnik Wałbrzych. The club was promoted to the top division in 1955. In their first game in the top flight Górnik beat local rivals
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 ...
3–1, with 25,000 in attendance; the club finished the season in sixth place.


First successes

In 1957, just a year after promotion, Górnik won its first championship of Poland. The team, with star, Ernest Pohl, was third in 1958, to regain the crown in 1959 and 1961, together with such players as Stanisław Oślizło and Hubert Kostka. In 1961 Górnik for the first time appeared in European Cups, losing in the first round to
Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as simply Tottenham (, , , ) or Spurs, is a professional Association football, football club based in Tottenham, North London, England. The club itself has stated that it should always ...
.


Golden years

The next championship, won in 1963, marked the beginning of an unusual streak of five consecutive titles (1963, 64, 65, 66 and 67), which is a Polish record. Górnik's biggest success in European football took place in 1970 (even though in Poland the team was second, after
Legia Warsaw Legia Warszawa (), commonly referred to as Legia Warsaw or simply Legia, is a professional football club based in Warsaw, Poland. Legia is the most successful Polish football club in history, winning a record 15 champions titles, a record 2 ...
). In the UEFA Cup Winners Cup, Gornik beat all their opponents –
Olympiacos Olympiacós Sýndesmos Filáthlon Peiraiós (, Olympic Association of Fans of Piraeus) is a major multi-sport club based in Piraeus, Greece. Olympiacos is parent to a number of different competitive departments which participate in football, ...
, Rangers,
Levski Sofia PFC Levski Sofia () is a Bulgarian professional association football club based in Sofia, which competes in the First League, the top division of the Bulgarian football league system. The club was founded on 24 May 1914 by a group of high sc ...
and
AS Roma Associazione Sportiva Roma (''Rome Sport Association''; Italian pronunciation: Help:IPA/Italian, ) is a professional Association football, football club based in Rome, Italy. Founded by a merger in 1927, Roma has participated in the top tier ...
, reaching the final, which took place in
Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...
. There,
Manchester City Manchester City Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in Manchester, England, that competes in the Premier League, the English football league system, top flight of Football in England, English footbal ...
turned out to be the better team, winning 2–1. The following season Górnik would once again play Manchester City, with the 1970 final being repeated this time in the quarter-final.


Late 1970s and early 1980s

During the mid-1970s Górnik form deteriorated and in late spring of 1978, the team was relegated to the Second Division. However, it returned after one year and in games of 1979–80, Zabrze's side finished sixth. In 1984, after purchasing of a group of talented players ( Ryszard Komornicki, Waldemar Matysik, Eugeniusz Cebrat, Andrzej Zgutczyński, Tadeusz Dolny, Andrzej Pałasz), Górnik finished fourth, which was a sign of better times.


Late 1980s until now

Between 1985 and 1988 Górnik again marked a magnificent streak, with four consecutive championships. Zabrze's side also played versus renowned European powerhouses, such as Bayern Munich,
Anderlecht Anderlecht (; ) is one of the List of municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium. Located in the south-western part of the region, it is bordered by the City of Brussels, Forest, B ...
,
Hamburger SV Hamburger Sport-Verein e.V. (), commonly known as Hamburger SV () or Hamburg (), or HSV (), is a German sports club based in Hamburg, with its largest branch being its Association football, football department. Though the current HSV was founde ...
,
Juventus Juventus Football Club (; from , ), commonly known as Juventus or colloquially as Juve (), is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football clubs in Italy, club based in Turin, Piedmont, who compete in Serie A, the ...
and
Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional Football club (association football), football club based in Madrid. The club competes in La Liga, th ...
. In 1994 Górnik competed again for the title and with players as Jerzy Brzęczek, Grzegorz Mielcarski, Tomasz Wałdoch, hopes were high. Before the last round of the league the standings at the top were: Legia 47 points and Górnik 45 points. Since the two teams were to face each other in
Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...
, Górnik still had a chance to win the title. However the game ended in a 1–1 tie which gave Legia the crown. Before Legia scored the goal which gave her the title (the score 0–1 would mean the title for Górnik), the referee of the match – Mr Redzinski – sent off one by one 3 players from Górnik's squad, and Górnik had to finished match with only 8 players against 11 players of Legia. It was the last match in Mr Redzinski's career. In the same year, Górnik played its last so far game in European Cups, losing to Admira Wacker Vienna. In the spring of 2007 Górnik got a new sponsor – German insurance company
Allianz Allianz SE ( , ) is a German Multinational corporation, multinational financial services company headquartered in Munich, Germany. Its core businesses are insurance and asset management. Allianz is the world's largest List of largest insurance ...
. However, after finishing 16th in the
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 ...
in 2008–09, the club was relegated to the Polish First League, the second level of Polish football, during the 2009–10 season. In June 2010, the club earned promotion back to the Ekstraklasa for the 2010–11 season. Since then, Górnik has promoted a number of players to the Poland national team and transferred several players to stronger leagues, including Arkadiusz Milik, Łukasz Skorupski, Szymon Żurkowski and Paweł Bochniewicz.


Honours


League

*
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 ...
**Champions:
1957 Events January * January 1 – The Saarland joins West Germany. * January 3 – Hamilton Watch Company introduces the first electric watch. * January 5 – South African player Russell Endean becomes the first batsman to be Dismissal (cricke ...
,
1959 Events January * January 1 – Cuba: Fulgencio Batista flees Havana when the forces of Fidel Castro advance. * January 2 – Soviet lunar probe Luna 1 is the first human-made object to attain escape velocity from Earth. It reaches the ...
,
1961 Events January * January 1 – Monetary reform in the Soviet Union, 1961, Monetary reform in the Soviet Union. * January 3 ** United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower announces that the United States has severed diplomatic and cons ...
, 1962–63, 1963–64, 1964–65, 1965–66, 1966–67, 1970–71, 1971–72, 1984–85, 1985–86, 1986–87, 1987–88 **Runners-up:
1962 The year saw the Cuban Missile Crisis, which is often considered the closest the world came to a Nuclear warfare, nuclear confrontation during the Cold War. Events January * January 1 – Samoa, Western Samoa becomes independent from Ne ...
, 1968–69, 1973–74, 1990–91


Cup

*
Polish Cup The Polish Cup in Association football, football ( ) is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout football competition for Polish football club (association football), football clubs, held continuously since 1950, and is the second most i ...
**Winners: 1964–65, 1967–68, 1968–69, 1969–70, 1970–71, 1971–72 **Runners-up: 1955–56, 1956–57, 1961–62, 1965–66, 1985–86, 1991–92, 2000–01 * Polish League Cup **Winners: 1978 *
Polish Super Cup 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 2024, the Polish Super Cup has been ...
**Winners: 1988


Europe

*
European Cup The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by top-division European clubs. The competition begins with a round robi ...
**Quarter-finalists: 1967–68 *
UEFA Cup Winners' Cup The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European association football, football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The competition's official name was originally the European Cup Winners' Cup; it was renam ...
**Runners-up: 1969–70


Youth teams

* Polish U-19 Championship **Champions: 1967, 1989 ** Runners-up: 1985, 2001, 2011 ** Third place: 2015 * Polish U-17 Championship **Champions: 1992, 1996, 2023 ** Runners-up: 2014


Górnik in Europe


Best results in European competitions


Players


Current squad


Out on loan


Notable former players

* Jan Banaś * Marek Bęben * Paweł Bochniewicz * Piotr Brożek * Jerzy Brzęczek * Ryszard Cyroń *
Jerzy Gorgoń Jerzy Paweł Gorgoń (born 18 July 1949) is a Polish former professional footballer who is best remembered for his participation in the 1972 Summer Olympics. He was a 6'4" tall central defender, who became well known in 1967 while playing for ...
* Tomasz Hajto * Andrzej Iwan * Piotr Jegor * Ireneusz Jeleń * Damian Kądzior * Ryszard Komornicki * Dariusz Koseła *
Kamil Kosowski Kamil Piotr Kosowski (; born 30 August 1977) is a Polish Association football, football pundit, co-commentator and former Football player, player who played as a midfielder. Club career Born in Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski, Kosowski started out pl ...
* Hubert Kostka * Marek Koźmiński * Ryszard Kraus * Rafał Kurzawa * Marcin Kuźba * Włodzimierz Lubański * Arkadiusz Milik * Kazimierz Moskal * Andrzej Niedzielan * Stanisław Oślizło * Michał Pazdan * Rafał Pietrzak * Ernest Pohl * Michał Probierz * Grzegorz Sandomierski * Łukasz Skorupski * Ryszard Staniek * Andrzej Szarmach * Marek Szemoński * Zygfryd Szołtysik * Jan Urban * Tomasz Wałdoch * Józef Wandzik * Robert Warzycha * Mateusz Wieteska * Przemysław Wiśniewski * Tomasz Zahorski * Andrzej Zgutczyński * Szymon Żurkowski * Enkeleid Dobi * Ensar Arifović * Armin Ćerimagić * Boris Pandža * Vladimir Sladojević * Dimitar Makriev * Prejuce Nakoulma * Ivica Križanac * Anthony van den Hurk * Sergei Mošnikov * Richard Jensen * Valerian Gvilia * Michał Bemben * Richmond Boakye * Giorgos Giakoumakis * José Kanté * Adam Örn Arnarson * Kanji Okunuki * Mārcis Ošs * Andrejs Prohorenkovs *
Māris Smirnovs Māris Smirnovs (born 2 June 1976) is a Latvian former professional Association football, footballer who played as a Defender (association football), defender, and is currently the fitness coach of the Latvia national football team, Latvia nation ...
* Aco Stojkov * Róbert Jež * Erik Jirka * Roman Procházka * Blaž Vrhovec * Igor Angulo * Emil Bergström * Dickson Choto * Shingayi Kaondera


Managers

* Ginter Pawelczyk (1948–49) * Teodor Meiser (1949) * Karol Luks (1949–50) * Gerard Wodarz (1950–54) * Augustyn Dziwisz (1954–56) * Paweł Mościński (1956) * Hubert Skolik (1957) * Zoltán Opata (1957–58) * Hubert Skolik (1958–59) * Janos Steiner (1959) * Feliks Karolek (1960) * Vilém Lugr (1960) * Augustyn Dziwisz (1 July 1960 – 30 June 1962) * Feliks Karolek (1962) * Ewald Cebula (1962–63) * Feliks Karolek (1963) * Hubert Skolik (1963) * Feliks Karolek (1964) * Hubert Skolik (1964) * Ferenc Farsang (1964–65) * Władysław Giergiel (1 July 1965 – 30 June 1966) * Géza Kalocsay (1 July 1966 – 30 June 1969) * Michał Matyas (1969–70) * Ferenc Szusza (1970–71) * A. Brzeżańczyk (1 July 1971 – 30 April 1972) * Jan Kowalski (1972) * Gyula Szücs (1972) * Jan Kowalski (1972–73) * Teodor Wieczorek (1973–75) * Andrzej Gajewski (1975–76) * Józef Trepka (1976) * Hubert Kostka (30 May 1976 – 5 December 1977) * Władysław Jan Żmuda (13 December 1977 – 24 May 1980) *
Zdzisław Podedworny Zdzisław Podedworny (born 13 April 1941) is a Polish former professional Manager (association football), football manager and football player, player. Coaching career Podedworny managed Górnik Zabrze, Olimpia Poznań, GKS Katowice, Ruch Chorz ...
(1980–83) * Hubert Kostka (1 December 1983 – 30 May 1986) * Lesław Ćmikiewicz (1 June 1986 – 14 October 1986) * Antoni Piechniczek (15 October 1986 – 30 June 1987) * Marcin Bochynek (1 July 1987 – 30 June 1989) *
Zdzisław Podedworny Zdzisław Podedworny (born 13 April 1941) is a Polish former professional Manager (association football), football manager and football player, player. Coaching career Podedworny managed Górnik Zabrze, Olimpia Poznań, GKS Katowice, Ruch Chorz ...
(1989) * Jan Kisiel (1989–90) * Jan Kowalski (1990–92) * Janusz Kowalik (1992) * Alojzy Łysk (1992–93) * Henryk Apostel (1 July 1993 – 31 December 1993) * Hubert Kostka (1 January 1994 – 22 May 1994) * Edward Lorens (23 May 1994 – 2 June 1995) * Stanisław Oślizło (1995) * Adam Michalski (1995–96) * Jan Kowalski (1996) * Jan Żurek (11 August 1996 – 11 September 1996) * Piotr Kocąb (1996) * Henryk Apostel (1 January 1997 – 10 November 1997) * Jan Kowalski (1997) * Jan Żurek (1 December 1997 – 15 March 2000) * Józef Dankowski ''(int.)'' (16 March 2000 – 19 March 2000) * Marcin Bochynek (20 March 2000 – 9 April 2000) * Mieczysław Broniszewski (10 April 2000 – 16 September 2000) * Józef Dankowski (17 September 2000 – 7 May 2001) * Marek Piotrowicz (2001) * Waldemar Fornalik (10 May 2001 – 31 October 2001) * Marek Piotrowicz (2 November 2001 – 31 December 2001) * Waldemar Fornalik (12 January 2002 – 4 April 2004) * Verner Lička (5 April 2004 – 13 December 2004) * Edward Lorens (13 December 2004 – 3 February 2005) * Marek Wleciałowski (7 February 2005 – 31 October 2005) * Marek Motyka (4 November 2005 – 13 January 2006) * Ryszard Komornicki (13 January 2006 – 19 April 2006) * Przemysław Cecherz ''(int.)'' (19 April 2006 – 26 April 2006) * Marek Motyka (26 April 2006 – 12 December 2006) *
Zdzisław Podedworny Zdzisław Podedworny (born 13 April 1941) is a Polish former professional Manager (association football), football manager and football player, player. Coaching career Podedworny managed Górnik Zabrze, Olimpia Poznań, GKS Katowice, Ruch Chorz ...
(2006–07) * Marek Motyka (13 March 2007 – 20 May 2007) * Marek Kostrzewa (2007) * Marek Piotrowicz (2007) * Ryszard Wieczorek (1 July 2007 – 10 September 2008) * Marcin Bochynek ''(int.)'' (2 September 2008 – 16 September 2008) * Henryk Kasperczak (16 September 2008 – 3 June 2009) * Ryszard Komornicki (18 June 2009 – 15 December 2009) * Adam Nawałka (1 January 2010 – 31 October 2013) * Bogdan Zając ''(int.)'' (1 November 2013 – 10 November 2013) * Ryszard Wieczorek (12 November 2013 – 9 March 2014) * Robert Warzycha (12 March 2014 – 30 June 2014) * Józef Dankowski (1 July 2014 – 30 June 2015) * Robert Warzycha (1 July 2015 – 13 August 2015) * Leszek Ojrzyński (13 August 2015 – 3 March 2016) * Jan Żurek (3 March 2016 – 2 June 2016) * Marcin Brosz (3 June 2016 – 27 May 2021) * Jan Urban (27 May 2021 – 15 June 2022) * Bartosch Gaul (23 June 2022 – 18 March 2023) * Jan Urban (18 March 2023 – 15 April 2025) * Piotr Gierczak (15 April 2025 – ''present'')


Supporters and rivalries

Górnik Zabrze is believed to have one of the largest and most loyal fanbases in Poland, especially in the
Katowice metropolitan area Katowice metropolitan area, also known as Upper Silesian metropolitan areaLech Poznań Kolejowy Klub Sportowy Lech Poznań S.A., commonly referred to as KKS Lech Poznań or simply Lech Poznań (), is a Polish professional football club based in Poznań and currently competing in the Ekstraklasa, the nation's highest division. ...
and
Legia Warsaw Legia Warszawa (), commonly referred to as Legia Warsaw or simply Legia, is a professional football club based in Warsaw, Poland. Legia is the most successful Polish football club in history, winning a record 15 champions titles, a record 2 ...
, with most league games being sold-out. Górnik holds a long-standing rivalry with Upper Silesian side
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 ...
, known as the . Other main rivals are Piast Gliwice, Polonia Bytom,
Legia Warsaw Legia Warszawa (), commonly referred to as Legia Warsaw or simply Legia, is a professional football club based in Warsaw, Poland. Legia is the most successful Polish football club in history, winning a record 15 champions titles, a record 2 ...
and Zagłębie Sosnowiec. ''Torcida Zabrze'' is named after the
ultras Ultras are a type of association football fans who are known for their fanatical support. The term originated in Italy, but is used worldwide to describe predominantly organised fans of association football teams. The behavioural tendency ...
of Torcida Split, with whom they have friendly relations; together they are called ''United Torcida''. They have also friendly relations with fans of ROW Rybnik, Wisłoka Dębica, GKS Katowice and German club Schalke 04; the latter in past used to be a rival. Fans of Concordia Knurów, Naprzód Rydłutowy, Slavia Ruda Śląska and Czarni Pyskowice are also Górnik fan-clubs.


References


External links

*
Fansite
(archived 12 January 2007)
Fans' forum
(archived 18 June 2004) {{DEFAULTSORT:Gornik Zabrze Association football clubs established in 1948 1948 establishments in Poland Mining association football clubs in Poland