Kraków Speedway was the Polish

motorcycle speedway Motorcycle speedway, usually referred to simply as speedway, is a motorcycle sport involving four and sometimes up to six riders competing over four anti-clockwise laps of an oval circuit. The motorcycles are specialist machines that use only ...

teams based in

Kraków Kraków (), or Cracow, is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city dates back to the seventh century. Kraków was the official capital of Poland until 1596 ...

History

1956 to 1965

In 1956, the first club to be registered in Kraków was Auto Mobil Klub Nowa Huta (AMK Nowa Huta). The team competed in the second league during the 1956 Polish speedway season. The following season AMK Kraków (as they were called for that season) competed in the third league south group during

1957 1957 ( MCMLVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1957th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 957th year of the 2nd millennium, the 57th year of the 20th century, and the 8th y ...

. The stadium in Nowa Huta (Odmogile Street) was constructed in 1957 and at the end of the 1957 season the AMK club was dissolved but two teams were created by the names of Cracovia Kraków and Wanda Nowa Huta. Cracovia Kraków moved to a track in Borek Fałęcki and competed in the third league in

1958 Events January * January 1 – The European Economic Community (EEC) comes into being. * January 3 – The West Indies Federation is formed. * January 4 ** Edmund Hillary's Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition completes the third ...

, they would compete until the end of 1960 when they were dissolved due to high costs. Meanwhile, Wanda Nowa Huta gained promotion to the second division in 1958 and then won the second division (East) in

1960 It is also known as the "Year of Africa" because of major events—particularly the independence of seventeen African nations—that focused global attention on the continent and intensified feelings of Pan-Africanism. Events January * Ja ...

. However, in

1961 Events January * January 3 ** United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower announces that the United States has severed diplomatic and consular relations with Cuba ( Cuba–United States relations are restored in 2015). ** Aero Flight 311 ...

, Wanda was relegated and after four more seasons experiencing financial problems and poor results they withdrew from the league in

1965 Events January–February * January 14 – The Prime Minister of Northern Ireland and the Taoiseach of the Republic of Ireland meet for the first time in 43 years. * January 20 ** Lyndon B. Johnson is Second inauguration of Lyndo ...

1993 to 2005

Kraków went without a speedway team for 28 years but in 1993 the club was re-established as Wanda Kraków. During the

1993 Polish speedway season The 1993 Polish Speedway season was the 1993 season of motorcycle speedway in Poland. Individual Polish Individual Speedway Championship The 1993 Individual Speedway Polish Championship final was held on 19 September at Bydgoszcz. Tomasz Go ...

the club finished 7th. Mid-table finishes were seen over the following years, until form dropped and they found themselves bottom of the 1999 league table. When the Ekstraliga was introduced in

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

, the club were put into the 2. Liga. The

2001 Polish speedway season The 2001 Polish Speedway season was the 2001 season of motorcycle speedway in Poland. Individual Polish Individual Speedway Championship The 2001 Individual Speedway Polish Championship final was held on 15 August at Bydgoszcz. Golden He ...

was a strange one because the name Kraków was used by Unia Tarnów, who had split from their sports club at the time and therefore competed as TŻ Kraków - Unia Tarnów. Tarnów won the division while Wanda Kraków finished last in the same table. Results continued to go badly and the club propped up the entire league on several occasions. Some fixtures were not met and financial difficulties continued and during the 2005 season the club folded and withdrew from the league.

2010 to 2019

Wanda Kraków returned to action in

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

but unfortunately finished last again. However, results improved and the club reached the play offs during the 2014 season and were given a place in 1. Liga in 2015. After three seasons in 1. Liga the club were relegated in

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 ...

and finished last in

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

. The team dissolved again after the 2019 season and Kraków remains without speedway today.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Krakow Speedway Speedway teams in Poland