Lechia Gdańsk () is a Polish

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

Gdańsk Gdańsk ( , also ; ; csb, Gduńsk;Stefan Ramułt, ''Słownik języka pomorskiego, czyli kaszubskiego'', Kraków 1893, Gdańsk 2003, ISBN 83-87408-64-6. , Johann Georg Theodor Grässe, ''Orbis latinus oder Verzeichniss der lateinischen Benen ...

. The club was founded in 1945 by people expelled from

Lwów Lviv ( uk, Львів) is the largest city in western Ukraine, and the seventh-largest in Ukraine, with a population of . It serves as the administrative centre of Lviv Oblast and Lviv Raion, and is one of the main cultural centres of Ukraine ...

, who were supporters of Poland's oldest football team Lechia Lwów, founded in 1903. The club's name comes from

Lechia The ethnonyms for the Poles (people) and Poland (their country) include endonyms (the way Polish people refer to themselves and their country) and exonyms (the way other peoples refer to the Poles and their country). Endonyms and most exonyms ...

, a poetic name for Poland, and is a continuation of the name used by the club based in Lwów. In their early years, Lechia enjoyed some success, most notably finishing third in the Polish top division, before spending decades in the second and third tiers. In the early 1980s, Lechia won 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. ...

, 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 ...

, and played in a European competition for the first time. After having two mergers with other teams in the 1990s the club had to restart from the sixth tier in 2001. In May 2008 the club was promoted again 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 ...

, with the club's most recent success coming in 2019, finishing third in the league and again winning both the Polish Cup and SuperCup.

History

Early years (1945–1948)

The club was founded on 7 August 1945 in

and was originally named ''"BOP Baltia Gdańsk"''. The club was first established by the "Port Reconstruction Office" ( pl, Biuro Odbudowy Portów). The BOP's purpose was to help rebuild Polish sea ports which were destroyed during World War II, and saw it best to create a sports club for the BOP workers. BOP Baltia's first game came on 2 September 1945, in which they lost the game 6–4 against Milicyjnym Klubem Sportowym z Wrzeszcza (Militia Sports Club from Wrzeszcz) in a friendly. BOP Baltia's first league game was a week later and played against WKS 16 Dywizji (Military Sports Club of the 16th Division). Due to the disruption of football in Poland due to the war the first season back was focused on regional qualifying for leagues to reformat the Polish football leagues. In the Gdańsk regional qualifying Lechia won all 6 games including both games in their first

Gdańsk Derby The "Gdańsk Derby" ( pl, Derby Gdańska) is the name given to describe football matches between teams in Gdańsk, Poland. While this term can be used for any team in Gdańsk historically this term has been used for games involving Gedania Gdańs ...

games against

Gedania Gdańsk KS Gedania Danzig was an ethnically-Polish association football club that was part of German football competition in the inter-war period. It was formed in 1922 in what was at the time the Free City of Danzig (present day Gdańsk, Poland). B ...

, winning the group and being promoted to the A Klasa (A Class, the second division in Poland at the time). Towards the end of February 1946, BOP officials had a meeting, in which it was decided that the name of the club should be changed. The team became known as "Sports Club for the Port Reconstruction Office Lechia Gdańsk" ( pl, Klub Sportowy Biura Odbudowy Portów Lechia Gdańsk), 'Lechia' coming from Lechia Lwów, as a majority of the workers at BOP and those who studied at the

Gdańsk University of Technology The Gdańsk University of Technology (Gdańsk Tech, former ''GUT''; pl, Politechnika Gdańska) is a technical university in the Wrzeszcz borough of Gdańsk, and one of the oldest universities in Poland. It has eight faculties and with 41 fi ...

had been expelled from

at the end of WW2. Lechia fared well in its early years in the lower divisions finishing top of their district championships in both the 1946–47 and 1947–48 seasons. For Lechia to be promoted to the top division they needed to win additional qualifying rounds against the other district champions, playing a series of games in playoff games, before a final playoff league with four teams of five being promoted. In the playoffs for the 1946–47 season Lechia finished bottom of the playoff league, being the only team not to advance to the top division. Lechia's fortunes changed the following season however and achieved promotion at the end of the 1947–48 season when they finished top of the promotion playoffs league.

First years of top flight football (1949–1954)

1949 Events January * January 1 – A United Nations-sponsored ceasefire brings an end to the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947. The war results in a stalemate and the division of Kashmir, which still continues as of 2022. * January 2 – Luis ...

Lechia played in the top flight for the first time (at this time the top division was called the ''"I liga"''). While it was a historic year for the club, and showed the competitiveness of the team in their early years to play in the top division, it was not a season to be enjoyed by Lechia in terms of on field performances, winning only 4 games all season and losing an incredible 15 times out of 22 games, finishing bottom of the league as a result. Due to suffering relegation in their first Ekstraklasa season the club found themselves back in the second tier of Polish football in 1950. Their first year in the II liga was a year of transition and the team initially struggled finishing 6th out of 10 teams, and finding themselves way off the pace for an immediate return to the top division. The league format of the II liga was changed for the 1951 season, where in the previous season the division was split into two groups with both winners being promoted, the 1951 season saw the II liga being split into four groups with the group winners playing each other in a mini playoff league with the top two being promoted to the Ekstraklasa. Lechia won their group which was the most diverse group at the time, playing against teams in

Poznań Poznań () is a city on the River Warta in west-central Poland, within the Greater Poland region. The city is an important cultural and business centre, and one of Poland's most populous regions with many regional customs such as Saint John ...

and

Wrocław Wrocław (; german: Breslau, or . ; Silesian German: ''Brassel'') is a city in southwestern Poland and the largest city in the historical region of Silesia. It lies on the banks of the River Oder in the Silesian Lowlands of Central Europe, rou ...

who were both across the country from Gdańsk. The team advanced to the playoff league and came up against OWKS Kraków,

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 *** ...

and

Gwardia Warsaw Gwardia Warszawa was a Polish sports club based in Warsaw. The club was founded in 1948. It participated in the Polish 1st League from 1953–1960 (8 seasons), 1962–1966 (5 seasons), 1967–1968, 1969–1975, 1978–1979 and 1981–1983. The ...

, winning the playoffs group on goal difference and being promoted back to the I liga with OWKS Kraków. The 1952 season was an unusual one due to the

1952 Summer Olympics The 1952 Summer Olympics ( fi, Kesäolympialaiset 1952; sv, Olympiska sommarspelen 1952), officially known as the Games of the XV Olympiad ( fi, XV olympiadin kisat; sv, Den XV olympiadens spel) and commonly known as Helsinki 1952 ( sv, Helsin ...

in Helsinki. The start of the league was delayed due to the preparation of forming a team to go to the Olympics. As a result of this the Young Leaders Rally Cup was organised, and was the first

League Cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...

in Polish football. The organising of the cup was to give the players an opportunity to show off their skills, and with a more relaxed competition compared to the league would provide the Polish team with the best possible preparation to perform well at the Olympics. The cup ran from April – July and initially saw two groups where each team played each other twice, with the top three teams in each group going through to the playoffs to decide the winner and the final standings. Lechia finished 3rd in their group and thus played against

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' ...

who also finished 3rd in their group to play in the 5th placed playoff. Lech won the game 2–1, meaning Lechia finished in 6th place overall in the Young Leaders Rally Cup. After the Olympics, in which Poland were knocked out in the first round, the league officially started, around five months later than it usually would. The league took a similar format to the cup, with the teams being split into two groups, with the two winners playing each other to decide on that years champions. Lechia finished the disruptive season in 7th place, ensuing they remained in the league for the following season. The 1953 season returned to normality with one league and each team playing each other twice. The season saw Lechia struggle and finish bottom of the league, and were again relegated from the top division finding the increased level of competitiveness difficult to deal with over the course of a full season. Being back in the II liga Lechia once again found themselves to be competitive. While the club struggled more so than the teams around them in terms of scoring goals, Lechia were the best team defensively in the league, shown by their ability to keep clean sheets, having 12 clean sheets in their 20 games. The team finished the season on 28 points, the same as

Stal Sosnowiec STAL (Svenska Turbinfabriks AB Ljungström; "Swedish Turbine Manufacturing Co.") was an industrial company established in 1913 in Finspång, Sweden, by the brothers Birger Ljungström, and Fredrik Ljungström, developing the Ljungström turbine. ...

who ended up winning the league, but found themselves finish in second place due in part to Stal scoring 10 more goals than Lechia and having a much better goal difference. The immediate promotion and return to the I liga showed that at the time the club were in a position where they were competitive, but too good for the second division, yet struggled against the much better organised clubs in the first division.

Early "Golden Years" and top division stay (1955–1963)

Upon Lechias return to the Ekstraklasa, the players involved during these years and the initial success of the team upon their return to the I liga, were therefore seen as being the club's "golden years" of their early history. Players such as

Bogdan Adamczyk Bogdan Adamczyk (born 27 November 1935) is a former Polish footballer. Adamczyk spent the majority of his career playing for Lechia Gdańsk, with the exceptions of playing two seasons with Zawisza Bydgoszcz, and two years in Australia playing fo ...

, Henryk Gronowski, Robert Gronowski,

Roman Korynt Roman Korynt (12 October 1929 – 15 July 2018) was a Polish international footballer who played as a defender. Most of his career was spent with Lechia Gdańsk, spending over 15 years at the club. He also had short spells with Gedania Gdańsk, ...

, Hubert Kusz, Czesław Lenc,

Czesław Nowicki Czesław Nowicki (16 September 1932 – 5 September 2002) was a Polish footballer who spent his entire professional career with Lechia Gdańsk. He was a key player in Lechia's early decades and still features highly in many appearance and goal st ...

, and

Roman Rogocz Roman Rogocz (9 August 1926 - 7 February 2013) was a Polish footballer who spent his entire professional career with Lechia Gdańsk. He is Lechia’s all time leading goalscorer, and is the only player for the club who has scored over 100 goals. ...

, all of whom had long playing careers with Lechia, were all important in making the club competitive upon their return to the league. Their first season back,

1955 Events January * January 3 – José Ramón Guizado becomes president of Panama. * January 17 – , the first nuclear-powered submarine, puts to sea for the first time, from Groton, Connecticut. * January 18– 20 – Battle of Yijian ...

, was at the time the clubs most successful season in their history. On their way to a 5th-place finish in the league, their highest at that point, they beat strong teams at the time such as

ŁKS Łódź ŁKS Łódź (''Łódzki Klub Sportowy Łódź''; ) is a Polish sports club based in Łódź. They are best known for their football club but are represented in many sports such as basketball, volleyball, tennis, athletics and in the past ice ...

Zagłębie Sosnowiec Zagłębie Sosnowiec () is a football club based in Sosnowiec, Poland. The club was established in 1906. It won Polish Cup four times (1962, 1963, 1977, 1978), and also was four times Polish runner up (1955, 1964, 1967, 1972). Apart from footbal ...

, and the 1955 Polish champions

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 record 15 Ekstraklasa champions titles, a ...

. The season also provided the chance for the clubs first piece of silverware by reaching the

final for the first time. Lechia's route in the Polish Cup ( pl, Puchar Polski) to the final saw them beating

Sandecja Nowy Sącz Sandecja Nowy Sącz is a Polish football club formed in 1910. In the 2016–17 season, Sandecja won I liga, which promoted the club to the Polish Ekstraklasa, Poland's highest professional football league, for the first time in the club's histor ...

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. It ...

Odra Opole Odra Opole () is a football club based in Opole, Poland, currently playing in the I liga. History Beginnings The history of Odra Opole began on 16 June 1945, when in the Opole Town Hall, a group of sports officials gathered to form a new ...

and

. The final saw Lechia play Legia Warsaw at the

Polish Army Stadium The Stadion Wojska Polskiego (, en, Polish Army Stadium), officially named Stadion Miejski Legii Warszawa im. Marszałka Józefa Piłsudskiego ( eng, The Marshall Józef Piłsudski's Municipal Stadium of Legia Warsaw) in Warsaw, Poland, is an all- ...

, Legia's home stadium. Lechia lost the game 5–0 after a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three wic ...

from Kempny, and a goal each from

Pohl Pohl is a German surname of several possible origins.Pohl Name Meaning

Słaboszowski seeing them finish as runners-up in the cup, and only the second team formed after the Second World War to feature in the Polish Cup final. In the league, the 1956 season was more successful than the year prior, seeing Lechia finish on the podium for the first time, with the club also becoming the first formed after the war to finish in the top three. Despite only scoring 25 goals in 22 games, Lechia finished the season in 3rd place. The club relied heavily on their defence that season keeping 10 clean sheets and conceding only 21, the second lowest in the league that season, while their highest goal scorer was Rogocz who scored only 7 for the club that season in the league. The achievement of 3rd place happened under the guidance of Tadeusz Foryś, arguably Lechia's greatest manager in their earlier years, seeing them promoted from the second tier, taking them to a cup final, and achieving their highest finish of 3rd place. The following season saw Lechia remaining competitive, but with the defensive side of the team not performing as well for the team as they went on to finish in 5th place. Once again the team only scored 25 goals in 22 games, the joint second lowest in the league, and the only team to not score more than 25 goals to not be relegated. Despite only scoring 25 goals that season in the league the team did see a player scoring the clubs first hat-trick in the top division, with Bronisław Szlagowski scoring 3 in a 5–0 win over

. While defensively the team wasn't as strong as in 1956, the 29 goals they conceded, which was still among the better sides in the division, ensured the team finished in the top half of the league for a third successive season. At the end of the season, Tadeusz Foryś, who saw Lechia's rise from the II liga to being a challenger for the top places in the I liga, left Lechia to manage

Arka Gdynia Morski Związkowy Klub Sportowy Arka Gdynia () is a Polish professional football club, based in Gdynia, Poland, that plays in the Polish I liga. The club was founded as Klub Sportowy Gdynia in 1929. History The history of Arka dates back to ...

. Following the departure of Foryś who made Lechia defensively strong, the teams fortunes declined from the

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and pol ...

with one notable difference from the previous season being the amount of goals the team conceded. The side fell to 8th place, just surviving relegation by a single point. This was a trend which was to continue for Lechia. While the team improved to finish 6th in the

1959 Events January * January 1 - Cuba: Fulgencio Batista flees Havana when the forces of Fidel Castro advance. * January 2 - Lunar probe Luna 1 was the first man-made object to attain escape velocity from Earth. It reached the vicinity of E ...

season, the team only managed to score 19 goals in their 22 games, with only one team scoring fewer,

, who finished bottom of the league. The next three seasons saw the team flirting with relegation, finishing 9th 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 ...

, scoring the joint fewest in the league and surviving relegation by a point, 8th 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 ...

, scoring the joint second least in the league but surviving more comfortably by 5 points, and finishing 9th again in

1962 Events January * January 1 – Western Samoa becomes independent from New Zealand. * January 3 – Pope John XXIII excommunicates Fidel Castro for preaching communism. * January 8 – Harmelen train disaster: 93 die in the wors ...

. The 1962 saw a change in the league format, with the season changing from a summer league (playing from spring-autumn) to it becoming a winter league (playing autumn-spring). The league for that season was therefore shorter, with teams playing a total of 13 games, 12 in a mini league, and once in a playoff game to formalise the final standings. Over these years where Lechia struggled, some of the players who were important in the clubs rise during the early and mid 1950's started to move away or retire. Henryk Gronowski initially left in 1961, but later returned over the summer in 1963, his brother, and one of Lechia's most important forwards for Lechia during this era, Robert Gronowski, left in 1960, the ever present defenders Hubert Kusz and Czesław Lenc left in 1960 and 1962, and Roman Rogocz, who scored more than 100 goals for Lechia during his 15-year career at the club, retired in 1962. Each of these players made more than 100 appearances in the I liga for Lechia, leaving Lechia without the quality and experience these players provided. This loss of quality was evident during the 1962-63 season which ended up being a difficult one for Lechia. In the 26 games that season, they only managed to win 6, drawing 3, with the side losing 17, scoring only 20 goals, and conceding 48. This caused the team to finish second from bottom, being 4 points from safety, and were relegated from the Ekstraklasa with Lech Poznań, ending their 9 season long spell of continuous top division football.

Decline and fall to the third division (1963–1971)

While some of Lechia's important players remained at the club after their relegation, including long serving players such as;

, Jerzy Apolewicz,

Janusz Charczuk Janusz Charczuk (born 20 February 1941) is a former Polish footballer who played as a forward spending his entire senior career with Lechia Gdańsk. Biography Born in Sokal, near Lviv in what was occupied Poland in 1941 his family found themsel ...

Zbigniew Żemojtel Zbigniew Żemojtel (24 March 1943 – 9 January 1995) was a Polish footballer who played as a defender. Żemojtel spent his career playing in the Tricity area of Poland, playing for both Lechia Gdańsk and Arka Gdynia. Biography Żemojtel st ...

, and the return of Henryk Gronowski after the clubs relegation, the squad struggled to adapt to falling down a division. That season Lechia lost more games than they managed to win, and were only able to secure a 10th-placed finish out of 16 teams. Lechia did adapt to the new division better than Lech Poznań however who suffered back to back relegations, showing the rise in competitiveness since the last time Lechia were in the II liga. From their second season Lechia had adapted to the league and increased their competitiveness, finding themselves in 7th for the 1964–65 season. This season saw Lechia playing

for the first time, with the two clubs quickly becoming fierce rivals and leading to the

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 ...

. Lechia won the first ever meeting between the two clubs with the game finishing 2–1. The club also saw in improvement the following year by finishing in 6th for the 1965–66 season. While these seasons were an improvement on their first season back in the second tier, Lechia never found themselves more than 4 points clear from relegation, the equivalent of 2 wins during that period. This shows that while Lechia were finishing in the mid-table, they were only one bad season, or one bad run of games from finishing in the relegation zone. This possibility of a bad run of games leading to Lechia being relegated became a reality in the 1966–67 season, which saw a winless run of 8 games, including a run of 5 straight defeats without scoring a goal in this run. Lechia were relegated by a single point at the end of the season, and were to be playing in the third tier for the first time in their history. Lechia will have expected to be competitive following their fall to the

III liga III liga (Trzecia liga) is a Polish football league that sits in the fourth tier of the Polish football league system. Until the end of the 2007–08 season, III liga referred to a league at the third tier (now called II liga) but this was ch ...

, and the team proved that they could be. Their first season saw them finishing in 2nd, however they were clear behind

Arkonia Szczecin Arkonia Szczecin is a Polish sports club with football and water polo sections based in Szczecin. The water polo team competes in the Ekstraklasa, Poland's top division, and with 13 Polish Championships is one of the most accomplished water polo ...

, and although they did finish in 2nd place, only the league winners from the four groups of the third division were promoted. The 1967–68 season also saw Lechia's first

with Stoczniowiec Gdańsk, despite both teams being formed in 1945 it took 22 years before they met in a competitive setting. Stoczniowiec won the first derby between the two clubs 2–1, in a derby that would go on to be played often over the next two decades. At the end of the season, the long serving forward who had three spells with Lechia,

, retired from playing football. Adamczyk was the last remaining player who had featured for the club during their "Golden Years" the decade before. Although one club legend retired, the following season saw the introduction of

Zdzisław Puszkarz Zdzisław Puszkarz (born 18 February 1950) is a Polish former footballer. Puszkarz spent the majority of his career playing for football teams in the Tricity area, spending the majority of his career playing for Lechia Gdańsk. Puszkarz earned ...

, a youngster from the Lechia academy, who would one day become a club legend himself. The season didn't go as planned for Lechia, with the team finishing in 5th, and seeing their rivals Arka top the league. Over the next three years however Lechia maintained a consistent challenge on fighting for the league title. The 1968–69 season saw Lechia finishing in 3rd place, conceding only 18 in 30 league games, and keeping an impressive 18 clean sheets. Lechia were still off the pace needed to mount a challenge for a title, but the club had seen improvements since the previous season. The next season Lechia had improved to a 2nd-placed finish, losing only 3 games all season, including losing to eventual champions Lech Poznań, and finishing only 1 point behind Lech, meaning the loss to Lech in the penultimate game of the season may have cost Lechia's chance of winning the league themselves. Lechia did not have to wait long however to win the league for themselves and make a return to the II liga. In the 1971–72 season Lechia won 22 of their 30 games, clearly winning the league with having a 9-point gap to Stoczniowiec in 2nd place, having the second best attack in the league, and by far the best defence in the league conceding only 13 goals and keeping 21 clean sheets, this despite the fact that of the 4 league defeats that season, 3 of them came in Lechia's first 4 league games.

A decade in the second division (1972–1982)

After finding themselves in the second division Lechia performed well and comfortably finished above the relegation zone in 7th place, winning and losing 9 games each over the season, and drawing 12, of which 8 were 0–0 draws. This followed the trend of Lechia not scoring many, but being set up well defensively, with the high amount of extra points picked up from draws helping them to finish clear of the bottom 4. The 1973–74 season saw a change of format in the II liga, which was originally just a single league of 16 teams. From this season the division was split into two leagues of 16 teams each and 32 teams in total, a Northern group and a Southern group, with Lechia being placed in the Northern group. This change made it harder for teams to gain promotion from the division as they now had to win the league, where as before finishing as runners-up was good enough for promotion to the I liga. Lechia finished 4th in the league, in what was generally an average season for the team, but due to the top 3 teams taking so many points from the lower placed teams in the league Lechia recorded a high finish, with players such as

Tomasz Korynt Tomasz Korynt (born 27 October 1954) was a former Polish international footballer who played as a forward. He spent the start of his career with teams in the Tricity area, starting his career with Lechia Gdańsk, before later playing for Arka Gd ...

and Andrzej Głownia having standout seasons. The 1974–75 season saw a vast improvement from the team, winning 16 of their 30 games, and losing only 6. The club also improved in goals scored, while also being the joint best team defensively. Tomasz Korynt,

Leonard Radowski Leonard Radowski (born 4 August 1952) is a former professional footballer who played as a forward. Radowski started his career playing in Gdańsk with MRKS Gdańsk. In 1974 aged 22 Radowski joined II liga side Lechia Gdańsk. He made his Lechia d ...

, and

each managed 8 goals in the league that season as Lechia went on to finish in 2nd place, only 2 points of the league winners

Widzew Łódź RTS Widzew Łódź () is a Polish football club based in Łódź. The club was founded in 1910. Its official colours are red and white, hence their nicknames ''Czerwona Armia'' (Red Army) and ''Czerwono-biało-czerwoni'' (Red-white-reds). History ...

. This season also saw Zdzisław Puszkarz called up to the

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 ...

national team to play against East Germany, despite Lechia playing in the second division. The following season was a good season for the Tricity region with the 4 teams in the league from the region all finishing in the top 5 places. Once again Lechia had a strong season, this time only losing 4 games, but again finished in 2nd place, this time 3 points behind rivals Arka Gdynia. 1976–77 was a little blip in Lechia's run of high finishing seasons, managing 5th in the league, and their lowest finish since the league split into two groups. Lechia resumed their title fight from the following season, being the clear best team in the league along with

, with both teams recording over 20 wins and losing only 2 games all season, and finishing nearly 20 points clear of

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 ...

in 3rd place. Krzysztof Matuszewski also recorded 15 goals over the season, among the highest in the league. While Lechia were close to winning the league, it was once again not enough, with the club being a single point from winning the league. From the 1978–79 season the leagues were changed from a Northern and Southern group to Eastern and Western groups. The change didn't initially impact the club, with Lechia finishing in 3rd place, missing out on promotion by a single point for the second successive season. Lechia also went on a cup run, playing Gryf Słupsk, Wielim Szczecinek,

, and Unia Tarnów on their way to reaching the quarterfinals. Lechia lost in the quarterfinals to eventual runners-up

. Lechia's fortunes in the II liga did start to change, and after narrowly missing out on promotion in four of the last five seasons, the club found themselves slipping down into mid-table finishes the next two seasons. 6th and 7th-placed finishes in seasons where Lechia nearly won, drew and lost the same amount of games each time saw the club looking far less competitive and saw the departure of talismanic midfielder Zdzisław Puszkarz in 1981. It was evident in 1981–82 that Puszkarz, a lifelong Lechia fan and a player who had been seen as too good for the second tier for many years, hugely contributed to the clubs fortunes and was irreplaceable for the team on the pitch. Lechia fell to 14th after winning only 6 of their 30 games, scored only 19 goals, and ended up 7 points from safety. Lechia were relegated to the third tier, this time without any star players or big names to help the club out.

'Rebirth', cup wins, and Ekstraklasa football (1982–1988)

Although Lechia found themselves in the third tier for the 1982–83 season, it turned out to be a historic year for the club, and was seen as the club's 'rebirth'. The team finished top of their division, going on to concede only 9 goals in their 26 games. Due to Lechia being in the third tier they joined the

in the second round. The first game of the competition saw them play Start Radziejow, who they narrowly beat 3–2 on penalties. The cup saw them playing 4 Ekstraklasa teams on their route to the final. They beat

5–4 on penalties, after drawing 1–1,

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 fo ...

3–0 in the round of 16,

1–0 in the quarter-finals, and

Ruch Chorzów Ruch Chorzów () is a Polish association football club based in Chorzów, Upper Silesia. It is one of the most successful football teams in Poland: fourteen-time national champions, and three-time winners of the Polish Cup. Currently the team play ...

in the semi-finals 4–3 on penalties. The final saw them playing

Piast Gliwice Gliwicki Klub Sportowy Piast Gliwice () is a Polish football club based in Gliwice. In the 2018–19 season, Piast won its first Polish championship. As of 2022–23, it competes in the Ekstraklasa, Poland's top division. History The club wa ...

who were in the second tier. They won the final 2–1 with goals from Krzysztof Górski and Marek Kowalczyk to win their first-ever piece of silverware. In 1983–84 Lechia were again in the second tier (west group), and qualified for the

( pl, SuperPuchar Polski) due to winning the Polish Cup the season before. It was the first-ever season of the Super Cup, and saw the cup winning team play the Ekstraklasa champions, resulting in Lechia playing

. Despite Lech being heavy favourites Lechia won the Super Cup with a late goal from

Jerzy Kruszczyński Jerzy Kruszczyński (born 27 June 1958) is a former Polish footballer. He is often known by the pseudonym ''Kruchy''. Football Early years Growing up in Szczecin, Kruszczyński started playing for his local professional teams, Pogoń Szczecin an ...

. This resulted in 1983 being the most successful season in the club's history up to that point, with the team winning both cup competitions it participated in despite not being in the top division. Lechia's stay out of the Ekstraklasa wasn't to last long, however, with the team winning the 1983–84 II Liga season, and as a result were promoted back to the Ekstraklasa. A division they had narrowly missed out of playing in many seasons before, and was their first time back in the top tier for 21 seasons. That season Lechia also qualified for the

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 ...

due to winning the Polish Cup the season before. In the first round, Lechia was drawn to Italian footballing giants,

Juventus Juventus Football Club (from la, iuventūs, 'youth'; ), colloquially known as Juve (), is a professional Association football, football club based in Turin, Piedmont, Italy, that competes in the Serie A, the top tier of the Italian football leagu ...

. The first game was played in Turin, Italy, with Juventus easily winning 7–0. With the team knowing they were all but knocked out already the team put on an inspiring performance scoring 2 goals against the European giants in the home leg of the competition. The Lechia home game against Juventus was not only a sporting spectacle, but proved to be a place of mass demonstration for the ''

Solidarity ''Solidarity'' is an awareness of shared interests, objectives, standards, and sympathies creating a psychological sense of unity of groups or classes. It is based on class collaboration.''Merriam Webster'', http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictio ...

'' movement, which many fans were part of. In the 40,000 crowd was

Lech Wałęsa Lech Wałęsa (; ; born 29 September 1943) is a Polish statesman, dissident, and Nobel Peace Prize laureate, who served as the President of Poland between 1990 and 1995. After winning the 1990 election, Wałęsa became the first democratica ...

, with the crowds chants of ''"Solidarność! Solidarność! Solidarność!"'' causing the second half to be delayed by 6 minutes and with broadcasters resulting to mute the whole second half of the TVs broadcast. The Lechia manager, Jerzy Jastrzębowski, said of the event; "We were in the dressing room during half-time when we heard it and it sent shivers down our spines, the whole ground singing 'Solidarnosc'." For the

1984–85 Ekstraklasa Statistics of Ekstraklasa for the 1984–85 season. Overview The league was contested by 16 teams, and Górnik Zabrze won the championship. League table Results Top goalscorers References External links Poland – List of final tablesat ...

season, a season in which all teams struggled for goals (an average of 1 goal a game), Lechia finished 12th having scored 23 goals, and with only 2 of their wins that season coming from scoring 2 more goals than their opponents. The season after Lechia finished just above the relegation zone by a single point, and seeing local rivals

getting relegated a place below. Lechia was lucky that season, with the team finishing 3rd from bottom, with four teams normally getting relegated. However, a change to the division below saw only 2 teams going down that season. 1986–87 saw the team once again fighting relegation. For the 3rd season in a row, Lechia only managed 23 goals in their league 30 games, however, the team once again stayed up finishing in 11th. The team were once more fighting a relegation battle during the 1987-88 season. Lechia legend Puszkarz rejoined the team after having left 5 seasons prior. It had always been his dream to play for Lechia in the top flight, and this was the season where he achieved this accomplishment however it didn't go according to plan. Despite the team finishing in 12th, which would normally be one position above the relegation zone, for that season though there was a relegation playoff, with 14th playing 11th, and 13th playing 12th. Lechia played

Olimpia Poznań Olimpia Poznań is a Polish multi-sport club from Poznań. It has athletics, archery, basketball, boxing, kendo, judo, swimming, tennis, and triathlon sections. The sections are formally independent of each other, sharing the history and name o ...

in the relegation playoff and lost over both legs 3–2 on aggregate. This saw Lechia being relegated with

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 ...

, the other team who would otherwise have normally been safe also suffered relegation after they lost both legs 4–3 to

on aggregate. The following season the relegation playoffs in the Ekstraklasa were scrapped.

Lower leagues and mergers (1988–2001)

After relegation from the Ekstraklasa, Lechia found themselves back in the II liga. During the 1988–89 season Lechia struggled to adapt to the new league, finishing 10th out of 16. Things failed to improve for Lechia during the next two seasons, finishing both 11th and 12th. The situation slightly improved for Lechia during the 1991–92 and the 1993–94 seasons finishing in 8th before their highest finish of 6th since being relegated. During this period there was a greater rivalry with the three major Tricity clubs, Lechia representing

, with Arka and

Bałtyk Bałtyk is an office building in the Jeżyce area of Poznań, Poland, designed by the Rotterdam-based MVRDV architectural studio. Completed in May 2017, it stands at 67 m (220 ft) tall. It is the 5th tallest building in Poznań. The name of t ...

from

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 ...

. The 1993–94 season was an important season for the Tricity teams.

finished highest in the league for the 3rd season in a row, while both Lechia and Arka faced each other for the first time in history in the 1993–94 Polish Cup, with Arka winning the match 1–0. The season was another difficult one for Lechia, in which they finished 14th, 1 place above the relegation zone. The struggles for Lechia reached a devastating end by the end of the 1994–95 season, with the team, ultimately being relegated to the 3rd Division, along with fellow rivals Arka Gdynia. The 1995–96 season saw Lechia merge with

, becoming Olimpia-Lechia Gdańsk. Olimpia-Lechia Gdańsk played in the top division, while the continuation of the Lechia Gdańsk team played in the 3rd division, with the Lechia Gdańsk side being used as the team's official second team. By the end of the

1995–96 Ekstraklasa Statistics of Ekstraklasa for the 1995–96 season. Overview 18 teams competed in the 1995–96 season with Widzew Łódź winning the championship. League table Results Top goalscorers References External links Poland – List of final ...

season Lechia-Olimpia Gdańsk finished 16th, and were ultimately relegated. The second team (Lechia Gdańsk) also narrowly miss relegation, finishing just above the relegation places. At the end of the 1995–96 season Lechia–Olympia Gdańsk was renamed as Lechia Gdańsk, promoting the team from the 3rd division to the 2nd. The new Lechia team failed to capitalize on the return to the second division by being relegated to the 3rd division straight away. The 1997–98 season was a better season for Lechia with the team finishing in 3rd place in the III liga. Before the 1998–99 season Lechia had their 2nd merger within 3 years, this time merging with Polonia Gdańsk to create

Lechia-Polonia Gdańsk Lechia-Polonia Gdańsk is a now defunct team which played in the Polish second division from 1998 to 2001. The team was created by a merger of Lechia Gdańsk and Polonia Gdańsk. History Pre-merger Polonia Gdańsk Polonia Gdańsk were fo ...

taking Polonia's place in the 2nd division. This merger lasted 3 years, with the team's fortunes slowly deteriorating, finishing 7th in 1998–99, 14th in 1999–2000, and 19th in the 2000–01 season, and thus suffering another relegation to the 3rd division. In the 2001–02 season Lechia–Polonia competed in the 3rd division, while a newly formed Lechia Gdańsk team was formed in the 6th division. After the 2001–02 season Lechia–Polonia dissolved, resulting newly formed Lechia becoming the continuation of the original club, while Polonia Gdańsk having already reformed in the sixth tier in 1999.

Re-formation and re-start from the sixth tier (2001–2008)

The newly formed independent Lechia Gdańsk team had a lot of initial success, winning the league in its first year in the 6th tier in 2001–02 season. This form continued finishing first in the 2002–03 season in the 5th tier, as well as winning the 2003–04 season in the 4th tier, and also finishing first the season after in the 2004–05 3rd tier. After 4 seasons of being an independent club after failed mergers with Olimpia and Polonia, Lechia found itself back in the second tier of Polish football. Back in the II liga Lechia finished the 2005–06 in 10th, comfortably above the automatic relegation zone, and clear of the relegation playoffs. With Lechia making more improvements during the 2006–07 season finishing in 5th. The 2007–08 season was the team's 20th season outside of the top flight, having to come from two failed mergers, and working their way back into the 2nd division. During the season the MOSiR Stadium became a fortress, with Lechia winning 14 of the 17 games at home, losing only once at home, against

. Lechia struggled more away from home, winning 6 of their 17 away games. Lechia was helped during the season with goal-scoring contributions from Maciej Rogalski,

Paweł Buzała Paweł Buzała (born 27 December 1985) is a Polish former professional footballer who played as a forward. Career He is a former player of Lech Poznań. He joined Lechia Gdańsk after he left Lech Poznań. In February 2011, he signed a three-y ...

, and Piotr Cetnarowicz, with all three players scoring more than 10 goals over the course of the season. Despite the club's decent away form, it proved by the end of the season that their home form had massively helped Lechia in the league, with Lechia finishing the 2007–08 season as champions, and as a result, secured promotion back to the

Return to the Ekstraklasa (2008–2018)

For the 2008–09 season Lechia returned to the Ekstraklasa for the first time since being relegated after the

1987–88 Ekstraklasa Statistics of the Ekstraklasa for the 1987–88 season. Overview It was contested by 16 teams, and Górnik Zabrze won the championship. League table Results Relegation playoffs The matches were played on 25 and 28 June 1988. Top goalsc ...

season. Lechia struggled in their first season of being back in the top flight of Polish football with the team losing 16 of the 30 games that season. They ended the season three points above the relegation zone, and stayed in the league mostly due to their home form (having 7 of their 9 wins that season from their home games). Lechia fared better during the 2009–10 season finishing in eighth, while also enjoying a cup run that took the team to the semi-finals of the 2009–10 Polish Cup losing in the semi-final to eventual cup winners Jagiellonia. In January 2009 the members of Lechia Gdańsk (OSP) signed a document forming Lechia Gdansk S.A. (Spółka Akcyjna = Stock Corporation). It was during this season that Gdansk was chosen to be one of the host cities of the

UEFA Euro 2012 The 2012 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2012 or simply Euro 2012, was the 14th European Championship for men's national football teams organised by UEFA. The final tournament, held between 8 June and 1 ...

championships in Poland and Ukraine, meaning the team would be moving from their current MOSiR Stadium to a new 43,000 capacity stadium in 2011. In Lechia's 3rd season back in the top flight, it was another season of consolidating their Ekstraklasa status. In the 2010–11 season the team once again finished in 8th place. It was, however, a more positive season that showed progression for the team as a whole. It was the first time since their promotion back to the top league that Lechia had won more games than they had lost, finished with a positive goal difference, and Lechia player Abdou Traoré finished joint runner up for most goals that season. And for the second season in a row Lechia reached the semi-finals of the

2010–11 Polish Cup The 2010–11 Polish Cup was the fifty-seventh season of the annual Polish football knockout tournament. It began on 21 July 2010 with the first matches of the Extra Preliminary Round and ended in 2011 with the Final. The winners qualified for the ...

, before losing 5–0 to

Legia 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 record 15 Ekstraklasa champions titles, a ...

over the two legs. This was the last season in which Lechia played at the MOSiR Stadium, the stadium in which Lechia had played all of their home games since their formation in 1945. The last game to be played at the stadium was the final game of the season against

, a game in which Lechia lost 2–1. The 2011–12 season saw Lechia move into their new stadium, the first game to be played there saw Lechia playing against

Cracovia Cracovia is the Latin name for the Polish city of 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 cen ...

, a game which finished 1–1. Lechia struggled during their first season inside the new and much larger stadium, winning only three of their home games that season. Lechia slumped to a 13th-place finish, in a season where they scored 21 goals in 30 games. In

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

there were more positives for Lechia, again finishing in a mid-table 8th. The team once again struggled at home, winning only three games. With the relegation of

Polonia Warsaw Polonia Warsaw ( pl, Polonia Warszawa, ), founded on 19 November 1911, is the oldest existing Varsovian sports club, best known for its football and basketball teams. It also has track and field, swimming, chess, mountain biking, and contract ...

(who finished the season in sixth) due to financial issues, Lechia effectively finished seventh, and secured their highest finish since their return to the top flight. There were major changes made for the

2013–14 Ekstraklasa The 2013–14 Ekstraklasa (named T-Mobile Ekstraklasa for sponsorship reasons) was the 88th season of the Polish Football Championship, the 80th season of the highest tier domestic division in the Polish football league system since its establi ...

season with the introduction of a Championship Round (teams who finish 1st–8th) and a Relegation Round (teams who finish 9th–16th). This took the overall games played in a season from 30 to 37. As ever Lechia finished eighth after the 30-game season qualifying for the Championship Round. Lechia finished the first-ever Championship Round in fourth place and just missing out on qualification for the qualifying rounds of the

2014–15 UEFA Europa League The 2014–15 UEFA Europa League was the 44th season of Europe's secondary club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the sixth season since it was renamed from the UEFA Cup to the UEFA Europa League. The 2015 UEFA Europa League Final was ...

due to

Zawisza Bydgoszcz Zawisza Bydgoszcz () is a sports club from Bydgoszcz, Poland, founded in 1946. Its name commemorates a legendary Polish 15th-century knight, Zawisza Czarny (Zawisza the Black). The club holds many sections: football, track and field athletics, b ...

winning the

2013–14 Polish Cup The 2013–14 Polish Cup was the sixtieth season of the annual Poland, Polish Association football, football knockout tournament. It began on 13 July 2013 with the first matches of the Extra Preliminary Round and ended on 2 May 2014 with the Final. ...

. The 4th-place finish meant that Lechia had achieved their highest finish since the

1956 Events January * January 1 – The Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, Anglo-Egyptian Condominium ends in Sudan. * January 8 – Operation Auca: Five U.S. evangelical Christian Missionary, missionaries, Nate Saint, Roger Youderian, Ed McCully, Jim ...

season, in which Lechia finished third. 2014–15 saw Lechia struggling towards the lower end of the table by the time the winter break took place. During the mid-season transfer window Sebastian Mila rejoined the club where he had started his professional career 14 years earlier. The Polish international became Lechia's captain for the remainder of the season, and helped the club to an eighth-placed finish for the regular season. During the Championship Round, Lechia managed to finish in fifth, once again just missing out on qualifying for the

Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. It ...

. 2015–16 saw an intent for progression for Lechia. Joining Mila and Łukasik, the Poland internationals who were already at the club, saw the arrivals of

Ariel Borysiuk Ariel Borysiuk (; uk, Аріель Борисюк; born 29 July 1991) is a Polish professional footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder. He has twelve caps with the Poland national team. Club career Legia Warsaw Born in Biała Podlaska, ...

Sławomir Peszko Sławomir Konrad Peszko (; born 19 February 1985) is a Polish footballer who plays as a midfielder for Wieczysta Kraków. Peszko has won championships and cup competitions in his native Poland with Wisła Płock, Lech Poznań and Lechia Gdańsk. ...

Jakub Wawrzyniak Jakub Wawrzyniak (; born 7 July 1983) is a Polish former footballer. He usually played as a left-back or center-back. Earlier in his career, he also appeared a few times as a striker and as a midfielder. Club career Wawrzyniak played for Legia ...

Grzegorz Wojtkowiak Grzegorz Wojtkowiak (; born 26 January 1984) is a Polish football coach and former player who is the current assistant manager of Lech Poznań. International career He debuted for the Poland national team in a 0–2 away win over San Marino ...

, as well as former Serbian international

Miloš Krasić Miloš Krasić ( sr-Cyrl, Милош Красић; born 1 November 1984) is a Serbian former professional footballer who played as a winger. He represented the Serbia national team at the 2010 FIFA World Cup, and at one point in his career, he ...

. Despite the new players Lechia struggled at the start of the season and hovered above the relegation zone until the winter break. The team managed to reach seventh place by the end of the regular season. During the Championship Round Lechia once again finished fifth, and narrowly missed out on qualification for the Europa League Qualifiers.

Grzegorz Kuświk Grzegorz Kuświk (born 23 May 1987) is a Polish association football, footballer who plays for Zenit Międzybórz. Club career On 3 October 2020, he signed with OKS Stomil Olsztyn, Stomil Olsztyn. On 29 September 2021, he moved to a sixth-divisio ...

who joined Lechia from Ruch during the summer finished the season with 11 goals, and was one of the top goal scorers that season. 2016–17 saw the improvements that fans had been anticipating. With players such as Haraslín as well as the internationally experienced players who joined the season before had now settled into the club. New arrivals such as twins

Marco Paixão Marco Filipe Lopes Paixão (born 19 September 1984) is a Portuguese professional footballer who plays as a forward for Turkish club Şanlıurfaspor. Club career Early career Born in Sesimbra, Setúbal District, Paixão spent his early career i ...

and

Flávio Paixão Flávio Emanuel Lopes Paixão (born 19 September 1984) is a Portuguese professional footballer who plays as a forward. He never played professionally in his own country, and earned his greatest successes in Poland, scoring 108 Ekstraklasa goal ...

, as well as Rafał Wolski arriving from

Fiorentina ACF Fiorentina, commonly referred to as Fiorentina (), is an Italian professional football club based in Florence, Tuscany, Italy. The original team was founded by a merger in August 1926, while the actual club was refounded in August 2002 fo ...

and

Dušan Kuciak Dušan Kuciak (; born 21 May 1985) is a Slovak professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Polish club Lechia Gdańsk and the Slovakia national team. He is the younger brother of Martin Kuciak, who plays as a goalkeeper for Považsk� ...

from

Hull City Hull City Association Football Club is a professional Association football, football club based in Kingston upon Hull, Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England, that compete in the . They have played home games at the MKM Stadium since moving ...

. The regular season saw Lechia winning all but three of their home games, and were top of the table at the end of 10 of the game weeks. Lechia ended the regular season in fourth. In the last home game of the season against

Pogoń The coat of arms of Lithuania consists of a mounted armoured knight holding a sword and shield, known as (). Since the early 15th century, it has been Lithuania's official coat of arms and is one of the oldest European coats of arms. It is ...

Lechia celebrated the careers of

Piotr Wiśniewski Piotr Wiśniewski (born 11 August 1982) is a retired Polish footballer. All four of his teams were based in the Pomeranian area, with his longest and most notable spell with Lechia Gdańsk from 2005 until 2017 when he retired from professional ...

and

Mateusz Bąk Mateusz Bąk (born 26 February 1983 in Pruszcz Gdański) is a retired Poles, Polish association football, footballer who played as a Goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper for Lechia Gdańsk for the majority of his career. Over the course ...

. Both players had played over 10 years for Lechia, while Lechia was the only professional club Wiśniewski played for. Both players came on as substitutes in the 4–0 win over Pogon, with Wiśniewski scoring the final goal of the game, and Bąk made an important save to keep a clean sheet for the team. Going into the final game of the season Lechia was in fourth place, two points behind

who were top, Lechia knew that with a win away to Legia they had a great chance of winning their first-ever Ekstraklasa title. The game finished 0–0, and due to

Lech Lech may refer to: People * Lech (name), a name of Polish origin * Lech, the legendary founder of Poland * Lech (Bohemian prince) Products and organizations * Lech (beer), Polish beer produced by Kompania Piwowarska, in Poznań * Lech Poznań, ...

and Jagiellonia drawing with each other, Lechia did not gain any positions and finished fourth with the same points as Lech and Jaga who finished in second and third. For the third season in a row Lechia once again missed out on qualification for the Europa League by a single position, this time due to their main rivals

getting the place from winning the

2016–17 Polish Cup The 2016–17 Polish Cup was the sixty-third season of the annual Polish football knockout tournament. It began on 16 July 2016 with the first matches of the Preliminary Round and ended on 2 May 2017 with the Final at PGE Narodowy. Winners of the ...

finished the season as the top scorer in the league with 18 goals, an award which was jointly shared with

Marcin Robak Marcin Robak (born 29 November 1982) is a Polish former professional footballer who played as a forward. Between 2010 and 2014, he made nine appearances scoring one goal for the Poland national team. Club career Robak's first club in Ekstrakl ...

. There was much anticipation for the 2017–18 season after having the chance to win the title up until the final game the season before. However, any optimism of a repeat was short-lived. Lechia spent most of the season in the bottom half of the table and finished the regular season in 14th, one place and one point above the relegation zone. This was the first season Lechia had featured in the Relegation Round. Wins against Termalica Nieciecza,

and

ensured that Lechia finished the Relegation Round in 13th place, two places and three points above the relegation zone.

Marco Marco may refer to: People * Marco (given name), people with the given name Marco * Marco (actor) (born 1977), South Korean model and actor * Georg Marco (1863–1923), Romanian chess player of German origin * Tomás Marco (born 1942), Spanish c ...

and

Flávio Flávio is a Portuguese language given name, equivalent of Latin Flavius, and Italian and Spanish Flavio. The Portuguese diminutive form is Flavinho. People * Flávio da Silva Amado (1979), better known as Flávio, Angolan footballer *Antônio Flá ...

had a huge contribution to Lechia staying up, with 16 goals from Marco and 10 for Flávio. At the end of the season Sebastian Mila retired from football, after having had two spells with Lechia.

Stokowiec and new success (2018–2021)

Piotr Stokowiec Piotr Stokowiec (born 25 May 1972) is a Polish football manager and former player. On 5 March 2018, he became the manager of Lechia Gdańsk. On 21 December 2021, he returned to Zagłębie Lubin, signing a two-and-a-half-year contract with his ...

was in place for the final few games of the disappointing 2017–18 season and was in place ready for the

2018–19 Ekstraklasa The 2018–19 Ekstraklasa was the 93rd season of the Polish Football Championship, the 85th season of the highest tier domestic division in the Polish football league system since its establishment in 1927 and the 11th season of the Ekstraklasa ...

season. The first game of the 2018-19 season saw Lechia beating

Jagiellonia Białystok Jagiellonia Białystok () is a Polish football club based in Białystok that plays in the Ekstraklasa, the top level of Polish football. The club was founded in 1920 by soldiers in the Reserve Battalion in Białystok. Jagiellonia play their home g ...

, with

receiving a straight red. After the game Peszko received a three-month ban for a dangerous kick at

Arvydas Novikovas Arvydas Novikovas (born 18 December 1990) is a Lithuanian professional footballer who plays as a winger for Turkish club Samsunspor. Club career Lithuania Novikovas started his professional football career in Lithuania, his hometown of Vilnius ...

. The season started well, with Lechia winning five of their first seven games, while also holding Legia to draw in Warsaw. Lechia's first defeat of the season came away to

after the international break, before losing a 3–0 lead and drawing 3–3 with

in the game after. After a difficult September, Lechia went on a 13-game unbeaten run, including wins over rivals

and beating

away in Poznań for the first time in 52 years. The unbeaten run lead to Lechia leading the Ekstraklasa when the league broke up for the winter break. During this time Lechia also went on a cup run beating

, Resovia Rzeszow and

Bruk-Bet Termalica Nieciecza Bruk-Bet Termalica Nieciecza Klub Sportowy Spółka Akcyjna, commonly referred to as Bruk-Bet Termalica Nieciecza, is a professional Polish football club based in Nieciecza, Poland. The team was established in 1922. The club was founded after Wo ...

to reach the quarterfinals. After the break Lechia continued their good form losing only 2 of the 11 games after the restart. After losing the final game of the regular season to

4–2, they found themselves in the first place due to goal difference, having +3 goals more than

. Lechia's good fortunes in the cup also continued after the restart, beating

Górnik Zabrze Górnik Zabrze Spółka Akcyjna, commonly referred to as Górnik Zabrze S.A. or simply Górnik Zabrze (), is a Polish football club from Zabrze. Górnik is one of the most successful Polish football clubs in history, winning the second-most Poli ...

in the quarterfinals,

Raków Częstochowa Robotniczy Klub Sportowy Raków Częstochowa Spółka Akcyjna (commonly referred to as Raków Częstochowa, or simply Raków) is a Polish professional football club, based in Częstochowa, that competes in the Ekstraklasa, the top tier of na ...

in the semifinal, meeting

in the final. The final was played on 2 May 2019 at the

National Stadium Many countries have a national sport stadium, which typically serves as the primary or exclusive home for one or more of a country's national representative sports teams. The term is most often used in reference to an association football stadiu ...

in Warsaw. After a close game

scored for Lechia in the 85th minute, before it was disallowed by the

VAR Var or VAR may refer to: Places * Var (department), a department of France * Var (river), France * Vār, Iran, village in West Azerbaijan Province, Iran * Var, Iran (disambiguation), other places in Iran * Vár, a village in Obreja commune, Ca ...

Artur Sobiech Artur Sobiech (; born 12 June 1990) is a Polish professional footballer who plays as a forward for Lech Poznań. Club career Sobiech was born in Ruda Śląska. After spending four years at Ruch Chorzów, where he started his professional car ...

scored the winning goal in the fifth minute of stoppage time, winning the

for Lechia, the second time in their history they won the competition. After the cup triumph, the championship group was a disappointment in comparison. After losing only four games in the previous 30, Lechia lost four of the seven championship games. Despite the disappointing end, it was a historic campaign for Lechia after winning the Polish Cup for the second time, and finishing third in the league, their joint highest finish in the league which was last achieved in 1956. Lechia started the season with the 2019 Polish SuperCup playing against Polish Champions

. Two goals from

Lukáš Haraslín Lukáš Haraslín (born 26 May 1996) is a Slovak professional footballer who plays as a right-winger for Sparta Prague and the Slovak national team. Club career Parma For two seasons Haraslín was a player of Parma's Primavera team. Over the ...

and one from

Jarosław Kubicki Jarosław Kubicki (born 7 August 1995) is a Polish professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Ekstraklasa club Jagiellonia Białystok. Career statistics Club 1 Including Polish Super Cup. Honours Lechia Gdańsk *Polish Cup: 2018� ...

meant that Lechia were 3-0 up in the final before a late consolation for Piast from Patryk Sokołowski. Lechia won the Polish SuperCup for the second time in their history by winning 3–1. Another challenge for Lechia to face early in the season was playing in a European competition for only the second time in their history. Lechia were to play in the

2019–20 UEFA Europa League The 2019–20 UEFA Europa League was the 49th season of Europe's secondary club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 11th season since it was renamed from the UEFA Cup to the UEFA Europa League. Sevilla defeated Inter Milan in the fina ...

, with the team being drawn against

Brøndby IF Brøndbyernes Idrætsforening (, usually abbreviated to Brøndby IF (), is a professional association football club based in Brøndbyvester, Capital Region of Denmark. The club was founded in 1964 as a merger between two local clubs and was p ...

. The first game went well, with Lechia winning 2–1 at home, with goals from

and Patryk Lipski. The second leg however went Brøndby's way. After finishing the away leg 2–1, with Lechia's goal coming from Flávio Paixão, the game went to extra time. Brøndby scored early in extra time, and with Lechia pushing for an equalizer, scored again late on meaning Lechia lost the tie 5–3 on aggregate. The start of the 2019–20 season proved to be difficult for Lechia, with new signing

Žarko Udovičić Žarko Udovičić (Serbian Cyrillic alphabet, Serbian Cyrillic: Жарко Удовичић; born 31 August 1987) is a Serbian professional association football, footballer who mainly plays as a winger (association football), left winger for FK ...

receiving a four match ban after being sent off in the team's first game of the season against

. Lechia went on to only win one of their first six games, which was against

Wisła Płock Wisła Płock Spółka Akcyjna (''Wisła Płock S.A.''), commonly referred to as Wisła Płock (), is a Polish professional football club, based in Płock, Masovian Voivodeship, which plays in the Ekstraklasa, the top tier of the national foot ...

. After the difficult start Lechia then went on a five match winning run which put them top of the league after beating

away 2–1. After their winning run was ended by

, the team had the

the following game. After goals from

and

(this being Paixão's seventh goal against Arka, making him the outright highest scorer in the fixture) Lechia lost a 2–0 lead and finished the game 2–2, with Udovičić again being sent off, this time receiving a two-month ban. After the game against Arka, Lechia failed to win any of the next three games, losing two, placing the team in 9th place at the mid-way point of the regular season. For the start of the second round of fixtures Lechia beat

3–1, with Flávio Paixão scoring two goals. These two goals put Paixão on 68 goals in the Ekstraklasa, overtaking

Miroslav Radović Miroslav Radović (; born 16 January 1984) is a Serbian former footballer who played as a winger. Radović started his career with Partizan, before joining Polish club Legia Warsaw in the summer of 2006. He acquired Polish citizenship in Janua ...

as the highest scoring foreigner in the top league of Poland. Lechia went on to win the next two games while managing to keep clean sheets in both games. The 3 match winning run was ended after a 3–0 defeat against Jagiellonia Białystok. It was announced a few days after the game, on 17 December, that the players and staff had not been played by the club since September and had failed to pay the players their bonuses for winning the Polish Cup in May. Due to the players having not been paid for months they would have been legally be able to apply for a termination of their contract, and leading to the possibility of many important players leaving during the next transfer window. After the finances had been resolved, Lechia lost the final game of the autumn round 3-0 going into the winter break in 7th. To help with the club's future financial situation key players on high wagers were told they could leave during the winter break. Key players that left included;

, Daniel Łukasik, Rafał Wolski and

with

Błażej Augustyn Błażej Augustyn (; born 26 January 1988 in Strzelin) is a Polish professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for Polish regional league club WKS Wierzbice. Club career Youth career Augustyn began his youth career with SK Strzeliniank ...

training with the Lechia II team until arrangements could be made. Although key players were missing and there being a greater emphasis on playing the youth players in the first game back after the winter break, the team started the second half of the season drawing 2–2 with a Championship chasing

team. During the game it was clear to see the club's current situation with their finances with the entire bench being made up of teenagers from the U23's team. Lechia won the following game 1–0 against Piast with

Kacper Urbański Kacper Urbański (born 7 September 2004) is a Polish professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder for Serie A club Bologna. Club career Lechia Gdańsk Born in Gdańsk, Urbański started playing football for a local footballing a ...

starting the game, becoming the youngest ever Lechia player to start a competitive game, and the youngest ever player to start a game in the Ekstraklasa. On 10 March it was announced that all games would be played behind closed doors due to the

coronavirus pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identified ...

. After the announcement Polish football would be played without fans present, Lechia went on to beat

2–1 in an empty stadium in the Polish Cup to reach the semi-finals, leaving only 2 wins to retain the cup. Announcements were made over the following days and weeks, with the Ekstralasa, I liga and Polish Cup fixtures all being suspended until 26 April at the earliest. At the time of the league's suspension Lechia were in 7th place with 4 games left to play in the regular season. After a difficult restart to the season Lechia went on a run to climb the table, including a 4–3 win over rivals Arka Gdynia. This run coincided with the meeting of

in the Polish Cup semi-final, against whom Lechia beat 4–3 in penalties after the game finished 1–1. This led Lechia into their second Polish Cup final in successive years. Lechia finished the season in 4th place and played

in the Polish Cup final, losing the final 3–2 after the game went into extra-time. Lechia went into the 2020–21 season celebrating their 75th anniversary, but with the fans and team knowing they had lost some key players from previous seasons.

Filip Mladenović Filip Mladenović (; born 15 August 1991) is a Serbian professional footballer who plays as a left-back for Ekstraklasa side Legia Warsaw. Mladenović made his debut for the Serbia national team in 2012. Club career Borac Čačak He became a ...

joined rivals Legia Warsaw while

made the permanent move to

U.S. Sassuolo Unione Sportiva Sassuolo Calcio, commonly referred to as Sassuolo (), is an Italian football club based in Sassuolo, Emilia-Romagna. Their colours are black and green, hence the nickname ''Neroverdi'' (literally "black and green", in Italian). ...

. Lechia struggled at the start of the season, losing two of their first three games, before finding some form and moving to a high of 4th place. The effects of the coronavirus were again felt by the team, with the match against

being postponed due to an outbreak in the Wisła team. Lechia eventually struggled with a Covid outbreak of their own, with Jaroslav Mihalík being the first confirmed case in the club on 10 October, getting the virus while on international duty. In early November the club had an outbreak affecting 13 players and 7 members of the coaching staff. After a month with no games due to the teams outbreak the Lechia team returned to play Śląsk Wrocław, winning the game 3–2. After this initial success after the teams isolation, Lechia lost the following four games without scoring a goal. Going into the final game before the winter break the team found themselves in the bottom half of the table, but a 3–0 win over Cracovia helped them to rise up to 8th. After the winter break Lechia's poor form returned with defeats to Jagiellonia in the league and

Puszcza Niepołomice Puszcza Niepołomice is a professional Polish football club located in Niepołomice Niepołomice (pronounced ; ) is a town in southern Poland, within the Lesser Poland Voivodeship (since 1999). It is situated on the Vistula River, on the ...

in the Polish Cup, with some fans questioning the role of Stokowiec as the teams manager. After a poor run of results which saw 6 defeats in 7 games, Lechia picked up form and gained some momentum in the league, winning 5 of the next 8 games, losing only one, and mounting a threat to the top three places in the league. After this run Lechia's form once again dropped, winning only 6 points from the final 7 games of the season. The team went into the final game of the season knowing that a win would be enough to secure European football for the following season, but a defeat to Jagiellonia on the final day of the season saw the side slump to a disappointing 7th-place finish.

Current era (2021–)

The 2021–22 season saw changes in the league structure, increasing the teams from 16 to 18 and scrapping the championship and relegation leagues at the end of the season, seeing all teams playing 34 league games a season instead of the previous 37. The 2021–22 season started relatively well for Lechia losing only one of their first six games and securing 9 points in the process. Lechia dropped points against

Radomiak Radom Radomiak Spółka Akcyjna (''Radomiak S.A.''), commonly known as Radomiak Radom, is a Polish football (soccer), football club based in Radom, Poland. The club was founded in 1910 and competes in the Ekstraklasa, the top level of Football in Poland ...

in their sixth game of the season after having been 2–0 up to draw the game 2–2. While the season looked more promising, and they play from the squad looked better than the previous season, this kind of collapse in Lechia games was becoming too common under Stokowiec's reign. Shortly after the game with Radomiak it was announced that Piotr Stokowiec had officially left the club, Stokowiec being Lechia's second longest serving manager in the clubs history. On 1 September 2021 it was announced that the Pogoń Szczecin assistant manager

Tomasz Kaczmarek Tomasz Kaczmarek (born 20 September 1984) is a Polish professional football manager and former player who is the current assistant manager of Eredivisie club NAC Breda. Coaching career Kaczmarek moved from Poland to Germany at the age of 9 and on ...

was to become the new Lechia manager. Lechia under Kaczmarek initially performed well in the league, going on a nine-game unbeaten run in the league under the manager, a run of 10 games in total with Stokowiec's last game in charge being included. During this unbeaten run of games, Lechia convincingly beat teams such as their wins against

Górnik Łęczna 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 *** ...

and the current Polish champions,

. This good form saw Lechia closing in on the leaders Lech, and going on to fight for a few weeks with Raków for the second and third places. The impressive run came to a disappointing end with a 5–1 defeat to Pomeranian rivals Pogoń which saw Lechia's run of form drastically change, going on to lose 3 of the next 4 games, and being in 5th place in the league as the Ekstraklasa stopped for the winter break. After the break Lechia's inconsistent form continued, seeing a convincing win against Śląsk, before being convincingly beaten against Cracovia. Lechia's third game of the leagues return was against the league leaders Lech Poznań, with the club needing a positive result to keep up the pace with the teams in the top 3 places. Despite Lech being the dominant team for much of the game, a late goal from 17 year old Filip Koperski secured a 1–0 win against their league rivals, and keeping themselves in touching distance of a top 3 finish. The win against Lech proved to be a blip, with the club failing to win any of the next three games including losing against

who were also trying to reach the top 3, and only drawing with relegation candidates Wisła Kraków. Financial struggles around the club were once again raised, and could be seen as a reason for the clubs poor performance, however these concerns were soon quashed and the situation was not as bad as first feared. Despite these concerns, Lechias form improved, with the club going on to win 5 of the next 7 games, and with Raków Częstochowa winning the

, 4th place would be good enough for Lechia to secure European football. One game of note in this run was against

Warta Poznań Warta Poznań () is a multi-sports club based in Poznań, Poland. The name means ''the Guard'' in Polish and also the name of the river Warta on which Poznań is located. Founded in 1912, the association football club are two-time winners of the ...

, with Flávio Paixão scoring both goals in a 2–0 win, and in the process scoring Lechia's 1000th Ekstraklasa goal, and becoming the first foreign player to score 100 goals in the Ekstraklasa. The penultimate game of the season saw them face off against Pogoń Szczecin knowing that a draw would secure 4th place in the league and the chance to play in Europe. Despite both teams starting the game strongly the contest fizzled out to a 0–0 draw. This was enough for Lechia to secure their place in the following seasons

Europa Conference League The UEFA Europa Conference League (abbreviated as UECL) is an annual football club competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. Clubs qualify for the competition based on their ...

, only their third time of playing European football in their history.

Historic club names

The fans

Lechia Gdańsk is the most supported club in northern Poland, and is one of the most supported clubs in the country, despite not always being successful. Most of the support comes from

and the Pomeranian region. The biggest supporters group is the "Lions of the North" group ( pl, Lwy Północy) who organise displays in the stadium as well as travel to away games. Outside of Gdańsk the club have 24 official fan groups linked to the club, with more unofficial fan groups. The official and unofficial fan groups can be found in the towns of;

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 ...

Bytów Bytów (; csb, Bëtowò; formerly german: Bütow ) is a town in the Gdańsk Pomerania region of northern Poland with 16,730 inhabitants as of December 2021. It is the capital of Bytów County in the Pomeranian Voivodeship. The origins of Bytó ...

Chojnice Chojnice (; , or ''Chòjnice''; german: Konitz or ''Conitz'') is a town in northern Poland with 39,423 inhabitants as of December 2021, near the Tuchola Forest. It is the capital of the Chojnice County in the Pomeranian Voivodeship. History Pias ...

Czersk Czersk (; ; formerly german: Czersk, (1942-5): ) is a town in northern Poland in Chojnice County, Pomeranian Voivodeship. As of December 2021, the town has a population of 9,844. Today the center of the city of Czersk in is the Village Square. ...

Dzierzgoń Dzierzgoń (formerly also: ''Kiszpork''; german: Christburg) is a town in the Pomeranian Voivodeship in northern Poland. It is located in Sztum County east of Malbork and south of Elbląg on the river Dzierzgoń. Dzierzgoń has a population of 5 ...

Frombork Frombork (; german: Frauenburg ) is a town in northern Poland, situated on the Vistula Lagoon in Braniewo County, within Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship. As of December 2021, it has a population of 2,260. The town was first mentioned in a 13th-centur ...

Gniew Gniew (pronounced ; csb, Gméw, or ''Gniéw''; formerly german: Mewe) is a historic town situated on the left bank of the Vistula River, in the Pomeranian Voivodeship, in northern Poland. It has 6,870 inhabitants (2016). It is one of the oldes ...

Kartuzy Kartuzy () ( Kashubian ''Kartuzë'', ''Kartëzë'', or ''Kartuzé''; formerly german: Karthaus) is a town in northern Poland, located in the historic Eastern Pomerania (Pomerelia) region. It is the capital of Kartuzy County in Pomeranian Voivodesh ...

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 ...

Kwidzyn Kwidzyn (pronounced ; german: Marienwerder; Latin: ''Quedin''; Old Prussian: ''Kwēdina'') is a town in northern Poland on the Liwa River, with 38,553 inhabitants (2018). It is the capital of Kwidzyn County in the Pomeranian Voivodeship. Geogra ...

Lębork Lębork (; csb, Lãbòrg; formerly german: Lauenburg in Pommern) is a town of 37,000 people on the Łeba and Okalica rivers in the Gdańsk Pomerania region in northern Poland. It is the capital of Lębork County in Pomeranian Voivodeship. Histo ...

Malbork Malbork; ; * la, Mariaeburgum, ''Mariae castrum'', ''Marianopolis'', ''Civitas Beatae Virginis'' * Kashubian: ''Malbórg'' * Old Prussian: ''Algemin'' is a town in the Pomeranian Voivodeship, Poland. It is the seat of Malbork County and has a ...

Mława Mława (; yi, מלאווע ''Mlave'') is a town in north-east Poland with 30,403 inhabitants in 2020. It is the capital of Mława County. It is situated in the Masovian Voivodeship. During the invasion of Poland in 1939, the battle of Mława wa ...

, Miłobądz, Nowe,

Nowy Dwór Gdański Nowy Dwor Gdanski (; ; formerly german: Tiegenhof) is a town in Poland on the Tuja (river), Tuja river in the Żuławy Wiślane region, capital of Nowy Dwór Gdański County, located in Pomeranian Voivodeship, with 10,171 inhabitants (2012). Hist ...

Nowy Staw Nowy Staw (german: Neuteich; csb, Nowi Stôw, Nytëch) is a small town in northern Poland on the Tuja (river), Święta river in the Żuławy region, with 3 896 inhabitants (2004). Situated in Malbork County in the Pomeranian Voivodeship since ...

Nowy Targ Nowy Targ (Officially: ''Royal Free city of Nowy Targ'', Yiddish: ''Naymark'', Goral Dialect: ''Miasto'') is a town in southern Poland, in the Lesser Poland Voivodeship. It is located in the Orava-Nowy Targ Basin at the foot of the Gorce Mount ...

Pelplin Pelplin (; csb, Pôłplëno; formerly German also: ''Pelplin'') is a town in northern Poland, in the Tczew County, Pomeranian Voivodship. Population: 8,320 (2009). Pelplin is located in the ethnocultural region of Kociewie in Pomerania. It is hom ...

Pisz Pisz (pronounced , previously also ''Jańsbork'', german: Johannisburg) is a historic town in the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship in northern Poland, with a population of 19,466 (2016). It is the seat of Pisz County. Pisz is situated at the juncti ...

Pruszcz Gdański Pruszcz Gdański (; former pl, Pruszcz; german: Praust) is a town in Pomerania, northern Poland with 26,834 inhabitants (2010). Pruszcz Gdański is an industrial town neighbouring Gdańsk, part of the Tricity, Poland, Tricity urban agglomeratio ...

, Prabuty,

Przodkowo Przodkowo ( csb, Przedkòwò, german: Seefeld) is a village in Kartuzy County, Pomeranian Voivodeship, in northern Poland. It is the seat of the gmina (administrative district) called Gmina Przodkowo. It lies approximately north-east of Kartuz ...

, Pszczółki,

Rumia Rumia (; Kashubian: ''Rëmiô''; German until 1945: ''Rahmel'') is a town in northern Poland, in the Wejherowo County in Pomeranian Voivodeship, with some 45,000 inhabitants. It is a part of the Kashubian Tricity (Rumia, Reda, Wejherowo) and ...

, Sierakowice,

Skarszewy Skarszewy ( csb, Skarszewò, german: Schöneck in Westpreußen) is a small town south of Gdańsk in Starogard Gdański County, Pomeranian Voivodeship, northern Poland. It is located between Kościerzyna and Tczew. Population: 6 809 (30 June ...

Skórcz Skórcz (german: Skurz, 1942-45: Großwollental) is a town in Starogard County, Pomeranian Voivodeship, in northern Poland, with 3,609 inhabitants (2017). It is located in the ethnocultural region of Kociewie in the historic region of Pomerania ...

, Smętowo,

Sopot Sopot is a seaside resort city in Pomerelia on the southern coast of the Baltic Sea in northern Poland, with a population of approximately 40,000. It is located in Pomeranian Voivodeship, and has the status of the county, being the smallest city ...

Starogard Gdański Starogard Gdański (; until 1950: ''Starogard''; csb, Starogarda; formerly german: Preußisch Stargard) is a city in Pomeranian Voivodeship in northern Poland with 48,328 inhabitants (2004). Starogard is the capital of Starogard County. It is ...

Sztum Sztum () (; formerly german: Stuhm) is a town in northern Poland in the region, located in the Pomeranian Voivodeship. It is the capital of Sztum County, with some 10,141 inhabitants (2004). History Signs of settlement dating back to the Roman ...

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 ...

, Tuchom,

Ustka Ustka (pronounced ; csb, Ùskô; german: Stolpmünde) is a spa town in the Middle Pomerania region of northern Poland with 17,100 inhabitants (2001). It is part of Słupsk County in Pomeranian Voivodeship. It is located on the Slovincian Coast on ...

Władysławowo Władysławowo ( Kashubian/ Pomeranian: ''Wiôlgô Wies'', german: Großendorf) is a city on the south coast of the Baltic Sea in Kashubia in the Pomerelia region, northern Poland, with 15,015 (2009) inhabitants. History In 1634 engineer Fryde ...

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 199 ...

Zblewo Zblewo (german: Hochstüblau) is a village in Starogard County, Pomeranian Voivodeship, in northern Poland. It is the seat of the gmina (administrative district) called Gmina Zblewo. It lies approximately west of Starogard Gdański and south-we ...

and

Żukowo Żukowo ( csb, Żukòwò, german: Zuckau, la, Sucovia) is a town in the Kartuzy County, in the Pomeranian Voivodeship of northern Poland, in the geographical region of Kashubia, with 6,236 inhabitants (2005). It is located along the Radunia ri ...

, with the club also having a fan group in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. In the 1980s many of the club's fans were active in the

movement which was fighting the communist regime in

. This included

, a fan of Lechia Gdańsk who was at the front of the Solidarity movement and became the first elected

President of Poland The president of Poland ( pl, Prezydent RP), officially the president of the Republic of Poland ( pl, Prezydent Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej), is the head of state of Poland. Their rights and obligations are determined in the Constitution of Polan ...

after the fall of communism. Due to Gdańsk's role with the Solidarity movement, it is not unusual to see anti-communist slogans on banners in the stadium. A phrase often used by the club and the fans is "We're creating history" ( pl, My tworzymy historię), which can be associated to the role Lechia fans have had on the fall of communism in Poland, and with the club's increasing competitiveness in recent years, such as winning the

, the

and finishing third in the

all in 2019. Famous Lechia fans include;

, the leader of the

Solidarity trade union ''Solidarity'' is an awareness of shared interests, objectives, standards, and sympathies creating a psychological sense of unity of groups or classes. It is based on class collaboration.''Merriam Webster'', http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictio ...

which helped to bring an end to communist rule in Poland and Poland's second President.

Donald Tusk Donald Franciszek Tusk ( , ; born 22 April 1957) is a Polish politician who was President of the European Council from 2014 to 2019. He served as the 14th Prime Minister of Poland from 2007 to 2014 and was a co-founder and leader of the Civic Pla ...

, former Polish prime minister and

President of the European Council The president of the European Council is the person presiding over and driving forward the work of the European Council on the world stage. This institution comprises the college of heads of state or government of EU member states as well as t ...

from 2014 to 2019 is also a Lechia fan.

Paweł Adamowicz Paweł Bogdan Adamowicz (; 2 November 1965 – 14 January 2019) was a Polish politician and lawyer who served as the city mayor of Gdańsk from 1998 until his assassination in 2019. Adamowicz was one of the organizers of the 1988 Polish strik ...

, the mayor of Gdańsk from 1998–2019 until his assassination in 2019, was a life Lechia fan. He used his role as mayor of the city to help the club during its reformation in 2001.

Fan trouble

As with most football clubs during their history, both in the sport in general and in Poland, Lechia Gdańsk have had their own issues relating to the clubs fans. On 25 May 2021 Gdańsk hosted the Europa League Final match between

Villarreal Villarreal ( ca-valencia , Vila-real) is a city and municipality in the province of Castellón which is part of the Valencian Community in the east of Spain. The town is located at 42 m above sea level, 7 km to the south of the province's ...

and

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

. The night before the match saw Manchester United fans being attacked at a bar in the city, destroying the bar and leaving three United fans injured. While the reports after the attack were unconfirmed as to whether the fans were those of Lechia, the fans chanted "Lechia Gdańsk" as they were leaving the scene. On 7 July 2022 an incident between Lechia fans before the match spilled into the stands during Lechia's

with

Akademija Pandev Fudbalska Akademija Pandev ( mk, Фудбалска Академија Пандев), commonly known as Akademija Pandev ( mk, Академија Пандев), is a football club based in Strumica, North Macedonia which competes in the Macedonia ...

. The stadiums bar, T29 Sports Pub, was damaged before the group of fans entered the stadium and caused fighting in the stadiums Zielony section. The fight saw the match being suspended on 8 minutes, with the break lasting for 40 minutes before play resumed. Police made arrests in the days after the match, with the Mayor of Gdańsk stating that taxpayer money would not be used to help the refurbishing of the bar. On 15 July, UEFA announced that Lechia would be handed a €50k fine, and one match to be played behind closed doors. The stadium closure punishmet was announced to be suspended for 2 years, meaning the club would not have to serve the suspension if there was to be no crowd trouble within this time.

Friendships

Current friendships

The fans have a friendship with

with which the two clubs fans have had a friendship since 1977, and have had friendly relations since 1967. This is the oldest fan friendship in Polish football. During the 2017/18 season, the two sets of fans celebrated their 40th Friendship Anniversary. Games between the two are often called ''" The Friendship Match"''. There is also a mutual friendship between fans of Gryf Słupsk and Lechia Gdańsk. Gryf Słupsk are also from the Pomeranian area of Poland. The two teams have rarely met competitively due to Gryf often playing in the lower regional divisions. Gryf set up the Amber Cup Tournament, an indoor football tournament which takes place during the winter break. Gryf Słupsk hosted the tournament and have featured many times, winning in 2009, before the tournament was moved to Gdańsk due to the rise in popularity, and was hosted by Lechia Gdańsk from 2016 to 2018. There are many other teams in the Pomeranian province which have friendly relations with Lechia or have sympathies towards the team. The

which is contested by the two biggest teams in the Pomeranian area has split the teams in the region with many fans backing Lechia in the derby. These are generally fans from;

Chojniczanka Chojnice Chojniczanka Chojnice is a Polish football club located in Chojnice, Poland. It currently plays in I liga. The team's colors are yellow, white and red Red is the color at the long wavelength end of the visible spectrum of light, next to ...

Bytovia Bytów Bytovia Bytów is a Polish semi-professional association football club based in Bytów, Poland, founded in 1946. Bytovia currently plays in the IV liga Pomerania. Players Current squad Out on loan League histor ...

Cartusia Kartuzy Cartusia Kartuzy is a Polish football club based in Kartuzy, 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 . ...

Czarni Pruszcz Gdański Czarni Pruszcz Gdański is a Polish football team from Pruszcz Gdański, Poland. History The club were founded in 1961. Throughout the club's history they have played in the lower regional divisions in Poland. The club have only had success in ...

, KP Starogard Gdański,

Unia Tczew Unia Tczew is a sports club based in Tczew, Poland. The sports club was created in 1922 and is separated into two areas, Association Football, football and Rowing (sport), rowing. Football The club was founded in 1922 as ''Tczewski Sports Clu ...

, Pomezania Malbork, Rodło Kwidzyn and Olimpia Sztum. Other teams' fans who have friendly relations with Lechia include; Jeziorak Iława,

Miedź Legnica Miedź Legnica is a Polish professional football club, based in Legnica, Poland, that competes in the Polish Ekstraklasa. Miedź was founded in 1971. The club's manager is Wojciech Łobodziński. In 2018, Miedź Legnica achieved promotion to t ...

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 ...

, Mławianka Mława and

Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus' Places *Czech, ...

team

SFC Opava Slezský FC Opava is a professional football club based in Opava, Czech Republic. The club plays in the Czech National Football League, the second of Czech football after being relegated from the Czech First League at the end of the 2020–21 seas ...

. Despite being a basketball team,

Czarni Słupsk Czarni Słupsk, more commonly known as Grupa Sierleccy Czarni Słupsk because of sponsorship reasons, is a Polish basketball team, based in Słupsk, playing in Polish Basketball League (PLK). The home arena of the club was Hala Gryfia. History I ...

fans are also closely linked with Lechia fans. While not a friendship, Lechia fans have had an “agreement” ( pl, układy) with Stomil Olsztyn since 2016. Typically if agreements last the two teams become friends and develop a “friendship” ( pl, zgody). Lechia fans supposedly also have an agreement with

, and friendly relations with

Former friendships

From 1983 until 1988 Lechia was part of a fan coalition which consisted of

, and

, being the biggest coalition in Poland at the time. The coalition broke up when Lechia fans wanted

to join the coalition, but opposition from Widzew, Jagiellonia and Ruch prevented the coalition from growing. As a result, the coalition split with Lechia and Wisła fans siding with Śląsk. Lechia fans had an agreement with Wisła Kraków dating back to 1973, and from 1988 until 2016 both sets of fans were involved in a fan coalition with Śląsk Wrocław. Wisła left the "Three Kings of Great Cities" ( pl, Trzej Królowie Wielkich Miast) coalition to join a new coalition of Widzew Łódź and Ruch Chorzów. This upset both Lechia and Śląsk fans as fans of

and

were involved in the murder of a Śląsk fan in 2003. The main Lechia Gdańsk fan group posted that the decision for Wisła to form a friendship with Ruch was unacceptable for the fans of Lechia, and that the friendship was to be terminated. The main Śląsk Wrocław fan group posted a similar response the following day officially ending the TKWM alliance. While not technically a former friendship it was also documented that Lechia fans had agreements with both

and

since at least 2017 until around 2020. While this agreement didn't progress into a friendship between fans, it is unlikely that there will be negative thoughts between each team's fans, as with the case of Wisła Kraków, and have a more neutral opinion of each other.

Rivals

Their biggest rivals are

, the games between the two are known as the "

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 ...

" ( pl, Derby Trójmiasta). The two teams are the largest in the Tricity area, with Lechia representing

and Arka representing

, these are the two largest cities in the Tricity area. The Tricity derby impacts the Pomeranian region as a whole as fans of the smaller clubs in the region will also sympathise with either Arka or Lechia, with some counties being fully behind one of the teams with other counties being split between the two. Lechia receives the greatest support outside of Gdańsk from

Słupsk Słupsk (; , ; formerly german: Stolp, ; also known by several alternative names) is a city with powiat rights located on the Słupia River in the Pomeranian Voivodeship in northern Poland, in the historical region of Pomerania or more specific ...

, and

. Arka receives most of its support outside of Gdynia from

, and

. Lechia has the most success in the derby winning 16 to Arka's 11, with Lechia also being undefeated to Arka in the

(10 wins, 4 draws).

and

are rivals dating back to the time with their alliance with Wisła. This was due to the two largest fan coalitions in Poland, "Three Kings of Great Cities" (Lechia, Śląsk, and Wisła) and "The Great Triad" (Arka, Cracovia, and Lech) with any of the opposite coalition teams playing each other resulting in a big and hotly contested match. In recent years there has been a growing rivalry with

. While Legia have often been challenging for titles and trophies for much of their history, Lechia have not. While Lechia has been more competitive in recent years, and are finishing higher in the table, the matches between the two sides is starting to have more importance, with the Lechia home game against Legia often being one of the highest attended games of the season. Other clubs whose fans have negative views of Lechia and vice versa are;

Pogoń Szczecin Pogoń Szczecin Spółka Akcyjna, commonly referred to as Pogoń Szczecin (), is a Polish professional football club, based in Szczecin, West Pomeranian Voivodeship, which plays in the Ekstraklasa, the top tier of the national football league s ...

(due to both clubs being from Northern regions in Poland, where historically there have been few competitive football clubs),

(due to Zagłębie being the main rivals of Śląsk Wrocław, Lechia's biggest friendship),

Motor Lublin Motor Lublin () is a Polish professional football team based in Lublin. The club was founded in December 1950 with their nickname ''The Yellow, White and Blues'' reflecting their official colours. They compete in II liga in the 2021–22 season. ...

(despite Motor fans having a friendship with Śląsk Wrocław),

GKS Katowice GKS Katowice (; GKS stands for , "Miners Sporting Club") is a Polish football club based in Katowice, Poland. The club currently plays in the I liga, after having won promotion in 2021. History In 1963 in Katowice a special organizational ...

Elana Toruń Elana Toruń is a Polish football club based in Toruń. It competes in the IV liga, 5th tier of the Polish football league system (2022–23 season). History The team was at the 2nd level of the Polish pyramid in the 1990s, but were relegated ...

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 ...

, and Russian club

FC Spartak Moscow FC Spartak Moscow (russian: Футбольный клуб «Спартак» Москва, Futbolʹnyy klub «Spartak» Moskva, ) is a Russian professional football club based in Moscow. Having won 12 Soviet championships (second only to Dyna ...

. Since 2016 Wisła Kraków has since turned into a rivalry for some fans, while other fans still see the club in a more positive light.

is another rivalry due to the geographically close proximity between the two clubs. Over recent years, however, this fixture hasn't been much of a rivalry due to the teams being in different divisions for many seasons. This rivalry was at its biggest in the 1990s when the two clubs played each other often in the second tier.

and Stoczniowiec Gdańsk have historically been a derby for Lechia with games between any of the three teams being known as the

( pl, Derby Gdańska). The rivalry with Gedania was at its biggest in the 1940s and 1950s while the rivalry with Polonia was at its height from the late 1960s to early 1980s. Due to the current leagues, the teams are in, this is no longer seen as a major rivalry, with fans of both Gedania and Stoczniowiec more likely to support Lechia in big games than Lechias opponents. While not rivals per se with any of these teams in a competitive capacity, these local teams fans are all aligned with Arka for the Tricity derby and are, as such seen in lower regard compared to other local teams;

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 ...

, Kaszubia Kościerzyna,

Gryf Wejherowo Gryf Wejherowo is a Polish football club in Wejherowo, Poland. The club plays in the Polish Fourth League (). It was founded as in 1921, but after World War II the club was renamed Gryf Wejherowo. Gryf Wejherowo is the oldest football club in ...

Wisła Tczew Wisła Tczew is a Polish professional football and boxing club based in Tczew, Pomerelia, Poland. Founded in 1924, the club has traditionally worn a white and home kit as well as red and white for away appearances. since inception. The word '' ...

and Orkan Rumia.

Tricity derby

The

is a match between Lechia and

. The first derby was held on 2 September 1964 and was a 2–1 win for Lechia Gdańsk.

Gdańsk derby

The

are games between teams based in

. Historically the derby has referred to games between Lechia Gdańsk,

and Stoczniowiec Gdańsk. The first derby held between Lechia and Gedania Gdańsk was held on 23 September 1945 and was a 7–2 win for Lechia Gdańsk. The last time this derby was played was on 27 June 2004. The first derby held between Lechia and Stoczniowiec Gdańsk was held on 20 August 1967 and was a 2–1 win for Stoczniowiec Gdańsk. The last time this derby was played was on 7 May 1983.

Stadia

Stadion Gdańsk

The Polsat Plus Arena Gdańsk, previously called the ''Baltic Arena'', ''PGE Arena Gdańsk'' (2010 – 2015), ''Stadion Energa Gdańsk'' (2015 – 2020) is the home

stadium A stadium ( : stadiums or stadia) is a place or venue for (mostly) outdoor sports, concerts, or other events and consists of a field or stage either partly or completely surrounded by a tiered structure designed to allow spectators to stand o ...

of Lechia Gdańsk. The stadium is located on ul. Pokoleń Lechii Gdańsk ("Generations of Lechia Gdańsk street") in the northern part of the city (Letnica district). The capacity of the stands is 41,620 spectators, all seated and roofed. Stadion Gdańsk is the largest arena in Ekstraklasa and the third largest in the country (after National Stadium and Silesia Stadium). Construction of the stadium started in 2008 and was completed mid-2011. The opening match was between Lechia Gdańsk and Cracovia and ended with 1–1 draw. The first international match, Poland – Germany, took place on 6 September 2011 and ended 2–2. The match was relocated from Warsaw because the National Stadium was not ready. Stadion Gdańsk is used by Lechia Gdańsk since 'the White-and-Green' relocated there from MOSiR Stadium. The stadium was also one of the designated venues for the finals of Euro 2012. It hosted four matches during the tournament. Three matches in Group C and one quarter-final were played here. In 2010 the official name of the stadium changed to PGE Arena Gdańsk, on the basis of a sponsorship agreement with Polska Grupa Energetyczna (PGE Group). The contract with PGE ended, however, on 30 September 2015, after PGE chose not to renew the contract. On 9 November 2015

Energa Energa SA is a Polish corporate group which deals in the generation, distribution, and supplies electricity to approximately 2.7 million people in Northern Poland. Energa is Poland's third largest distribution network operator serving North and C ...

was revealed as the new stadium's sponsor until 30 November 2020. On 21 May 2021 stadium's management signed a sponsorship agreement with

Polsat Polsat is a Polish free-to-air television channel that was launched on 5 December 1992 by Zygmunt Solorz-Żak. , it is the most watched television channel in Poland with a market share of 11.30% Polsat belongs to Grupa Polsat Plus ( WSECPS, whi ...

TV broadcaster. The stadium hosted the

2021 UEFA Europa League Final The 2021 UEFA Europa League Final was the final match of the 2020–21 UEFA Europa League, the 50th season of Europe's secondary club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 12th season since it was renamed from the UEFA Cup to the UEFA ...

as the ''Gdańsk Stadium'' due to UEFA sponsorship regulations.

MOSiR Stadium / Gdańsk Sports Center Stadium

The Lechia Gdańsk stadium from 1945 to 2011 was the MOSiR Stadium. In 2000 the ownership of the stadium changed from MOSiR to Gdańsk Sports Center, also seeing a change in the stadiums name. Now it's officially known as ''Gdańsk Sports Center Stadium'', the ''Lechia Gdańsk Stadion'' or simply the ''Lechia Stadion'' but has often been called by Lechia fans, ''Traugutta'' or ''Traugutta 29'', the street and address of the stadium. The stadium is most well known for the European Cup game against

where around 40,000 fans attended the game, just over three times more than the capacity of 12,244. Since Lechia moved to the Stadion Energa Gdańsk the stadium has been used for first team training, matches for the Lechia Gdańsk Ladies team, the Lechia Gdańsk II team, and formerly also held games for the Lechia Gdańsk rugby team.

Avenue of Stars

At the MOSiR Stadium Lechia have an "Avenue of Stars" which commemorates the efforts and success of former players and coaches. There are currently 21 players with stars at the stadium, including all-time top goalscorer,

, and all-time appearance maker,

. Due to MOSiR becoming the training ground in 2011 after the move to the PGE Arena Gdańsk there have been calls for the stars to be moved due to the new stadium by some fans, while others see the stadium as the historic home of Lechia Gdańsk and the perfect place to keep the players' commemorative stars. The players who have a star to commemorate their time with Lechia Gdańsk are Jerzy Apolewicz, Michał Globisz, Józef Gładysz, Andrzej Głownia, Henryk Gronowski, Robert Gronowski, Jerzy Jastrzębowski,

Bogusław Kaczmarek Bogusław Kaczmarek (born 6 March 1950) is a Polish former Manager (association football), football manager and Football player, player. Personal life Kaczmarek is commemorated by a star at the MOSiR Stadium (Gdańsk), MOSiR Stadium in Gdańsk. ...

, Alfred Kokot,

Henryk Kokot Henryk Kokot (27 October 1926 – 22 May 1997) was a Polish footballer who played as a midfielder. Career Kokot is known to have started playing football in his youth for AKS Chorzów. In 1946 Kokot joined Lechia Gdańsk, where he played until ...

Lech Kulwicki Lech Kulwicki (born 2 November 1951) was a Polish footballer who played as a defender. He played for five teams in the Pomeranian Voivodeship, Pomeranian region, ending his playing career by spending 5 seasons in Australia. Football Early years ...

, Hubert Kusz,

Władysław Musiał Władysław Musiał (22 March 1931 – 20 December 2010) was a Polish former footballer. Musiał played for Lechia Gdańsk in the Polish Ekstraklasa. In 1965 Musiał transferred to Australian club Cracovia where he played four seasons. Musia ...

Ryszard Polak Ryszard Polak (26 February 1959 – 9 September 2017) was a Polish footballer who played as a forward. He is most well known for his spell with Lechia Gdańsk. Biography Born in Sopot Polak started his footballing career training with the yo ...

, Andrzej Salach, Jakub Smug,

Attendance

Attendance statistics since the start of the 2011–12 season after the club moved to the

Stadion Energa Gdańsk Stadion (Greek , Latin ''stadium'', nominative plural ''stadia'' in both Greek and Latin) may refer to: People * Christoph von Stadion (1478–1543), Prince-Bishop of Augsburg * Johann Philipp Stadion, Count von Warthausen (1763–1824), Austrian ...

. *All of the released attendance figures for Lechia Gdańsk before the 2011-12 Ekstraklasa season were rounded to the nearest 500. †Season still in progress.

Colours, badges and banners

Kit history

Lechia Gdańsk's colours have always been green and white. In the first years of the club, Lechia wore green shirts with white shorts and either green or white socks. Predominantly throughout Lechias history the team has worn all green shirts, however, there were a few seasons in which Lechia wore white as their home colours. During the 1960–61 season, Lechia wore green and white stripes for the first time. It was this season when the Lechia badge featured on the shirts for the first time, however, the badge did not return to the Lechia shirts until the 1996–97 season. After that season Lechia wore all green shirts until the 2002–03 season when Lechia wore an all-white kit. 2006–07 saw for the first time in Lechia's history the team wore an all-white kit with green hoops on the shirt, the same colours worn by Lechia Lwów, from which the expelled fans after WW2 created Lechia Gdańsk. Since the turn of the century, Lechia has been more creative with their designs for the home kits. From the team wearing all green home shirts from 1960 to 2002, there has since been a return of the green and white stripes for the 2011–12 season, an all-white kit with a green sash on the front for the 2012–14 seasons, as well as the hooped design, which was first worn in the 2006–07, and has since been worn during the 2008–10 seasons, and continuously since the 2015–16 season. The only time in Lechia's early history when the club deviated from their traditional white or green was in the

1982–83 Polish Cup The 1982–83 Polish Cup was the 29th edition of the annual Polish football knockout tournament. It started on the 23 July 1982 and finished on 22 June 1983. The finalists were 2nd division Piast Gliwice and 3rd division Lechia Gdańsk, with Lechia ...

final when the team wore white shirts, red shorts, and white socks, colours reminiscent of the Poland national team. During Lechia's history, the away shirt colours have often always been the opposite of the home shirt. When the home shirt was green, the away was white, and vice versa. 2009 saw the introduction of Lechia's first non-white/green kit, with an all-black away kit introduced. Lechia released an all red third shirt for the 2014–15 season, with an all-red kit being used as the club's away or third colours from 2014 to 2020. The 2018–19 season saw the introduction of another previously unused colour for a kit. Lechia wore an all-grey away kit for that season, replacing the all green kit which had been the away kit for the previous season. This grey kit was used by the team from 2018 to 2022 and was notably worn by Lechia in two cup finals. While white and green have always been the club's home colours, Lechia have not always worn these colours while playing at home. On 9 February 2019 Lechia wore an all-black kit for their home game against

to commemorate the death of

, the mayor of Gdańsk at the time of his murder, and a lifelong Lechia fan. This was the first time in their history a predominantly green or white kit wasn't worn by Lechia for a home game. The game finished 2–1 to Lechia, with goals from

and

. An all-red kit was worn on 10 November 2019, again against

, to commemorate the 101st anniversary of Polish independence,. That same match Lechia attempted to break the Polish record for most people singing the full Polish

national anthem A national anthem is a patriotic musical composition symbolizing and evoking eulogies of the history and traditions of a country or nation. The majority of national anthems are marches or hymns in style. American, Central Asian, and European n ...

at the same time, which was 3,171 people, breaking the record with 7,614.

Cup winning kits

The Lechia Gdańsk kits worn when the club has won a cup final.

Badge history

The badge design of Lechia has stayed roughly the same since 1945 with only slight changes when the club's name changed or when Lechia had a merger with another club. The design of the Lechia badge has always been a triangular pennant with the flagpole on the left. The flag has always been green, with a white horizontal stripe through the middle, and the symbol of

coat of arms in the centre. The name "Lechia" has always featured on the badge. In 1995 Lechia experienced a major change to their official club badge. The merger with Olimpia Poznan saw the flag featured in a circle with "''Olimpia–Lechia Gdansk''" featured at the bottom. A similar thing happened again when Lechia experienced a merger with Polonia Gdańsk in 1998. After the Polonia merger broke up in 2001, Lechia returned once again to their normal badge design, which has been used continuously since then with only minor changes in 2016. The badge was often not worn on the shirts. They were first worn on the kits in 1960, with a return in 1963. After the 1963–64 season the badges did not reappear again until 1996 but have featured on every shirt since. The first symbol to appear on a Lechia shirt was a large white "L" which featured on the shirts for the 1947–48 season.

Banners

Banners first started to appear at Lechia's MOSiR Stadium in the 1980s with the first Lechia banners made and displayed being "Lechia Pany!''" (as is the case with most flags and banners, it is stylised in all capitals) and "''Lechia Karwiny''" (Karwiny being a district in Gdynia). Other older flags that make regular appearances in Lechia games are those displaying "''Forza Lechia''", "''Lechia Pride of Gdańsk''", "''Biało-Zieloni''", and "''Lechia Gdańsk Forever''". Banners have been used to display support for the team, show where the fans are from (such as the English fan club, Malbork, Sopot, etc.), political statements, and support for friendly teams (such as Śląsk Wrocław, Gryf Słupsk, and formerly Wisła Kraków). Over the years some of the older flags displayed have been damaged, stolen, or remade. Many flags were stored by the Lechia Ultra's in a warehouse which was broken into and the flags stolen, leaving only those stored elsewhere, or kept by individuals, to survive the raid, while many of the older flags have been damaged through wear and tear, complications with storage, and simply through age. Many iconic flags for the fans throughout the clubs history have often been remade due to age, these include the remaking of the original flags showing the Gdańsk districts, such as "''Chełm''", "''Orunia''", "''Oliwa''", and "''Morena''". In total over 300 flags and banners have been documented throughout Lechia's history. The stealing of banners can give ultra groups a sense of prestige and a higher status and standing among ultra groups from other clubs. Once instance of Lechia stealing a flag was in 2007 when Lechia fans stole a "Władcy Północy" banner belonging to Arka Gdynia. During the Tricity Derby that season the Lechia fans showed disrespect to Arka by hanging the banner upside down before setting the banner on fire. After the banner had been burned the fans revealed their own version of the "Władcy Północy", in the same style as the Arka banner, but in white and green instead of blue and yellow. The Lechia "Władcy Północy" banner has featured predominantly at home games since 2007.

Records and statistics

All-time

*First Ever Game: September 2, 1945, Milicyjnym Klubem Sportowym z Wrzeszcza, 4–6 *First Ever Win: September 9, 1945, Wojskowy Klub Sportowy, 9–1 *Biggest Win: May 11, 2000, LKS Waplewo – 15–0 *Biggest Defeat: November 13, 1949,

– 8–0 *Highest Scoring Game: May 11, 2000, LKS Waplewo – 15–0 *Most Goals in a Game: September 20, 1945,

Stanisław Baran Stanisław Franciszek Baran (26 April 1920 – 12 May 1993) was an interwar Polish football player, who started his career in Resovia Rzeszów, then, sometime in 1938 (at the age of around 18) moved to Warszawianka Warszawa. Regarded as one of ...

vs Wojskowy Klub Sportowy – 7 goals * Most Total Goals in a Season: Bartłomiej Stolc – 2001–02 season – 40 goals * Most League Goals in a Season: Bartłomiej Stolc – 2002–03 season – 34 goals *Most League Goals in a Season: ''(top three divisions)''

1983–84 season – 31 goals *Most League Goals for Lechia Gdańsk:

– 73 goals *Most Goals in all Competitions for Lechia Gdańsk:

– 109 goals *Most Apps for Lechia Gdańsk:

– 325 apps *Highest Transfer Fee Paid: Daniel Łukasik, 2014 – PLN 3.75 million (£720k, €800k) *Highest Transfer Fee Received:

Vanja Milinković-Savić Vanja Milinković-Savić ( sr-Cyrl, Вања Милинковић-Савић, ; born 20 February 1997) is a Serbian professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Italian club Torino. Born in Spain, he represents the Serbia national team. ...

, 2017 – PLN 10.5 million (£2.34 million, €2.6 million)

Ekstraklasa

*Debut Match in Ekstraklasa: March 20, 1949,

– Lechia Gdańsk 5–1 *First Win in Ekstraklasa: March 27, 1949, Lechia Gdańsk –

5–3 *Most Lechia Goals in the Ekstraklasa:

– 60 goals *Most Lechia Apps in the Ekstraklasa:

– 207 apps

Individual achievements

*League Top Goalscorer:

(1983–84 – II Liga) – 31 goals *League Top Goalscorer:

( 2016–17 – Ekstraklasa) – 18 goals *Most Different Leagues Played in for Lechia

(2000–2010, 2013–17) 6 different divisions – Klasa A group Gdańsk IV (sixth tier), Liga okręgowa group Gdańsk II (fifth tier), IV liga group Pomorska (fourth tier), III liga group II (third tier), II liga (second tier), Ekstraklasa (first tier). *Most Promotions with Lechia:

(2000–10, 2013–17) 5 promotions – Sixth tier to first tier. *First non-Polish player:

Sargis Khachatryan Sargis Khachatryan ( hy, Սարգիս Խաչատրյան; born 23 October 1964) sometimes also listed as Sarkiz Khachaterian, is an Armenian former Armenian footballer who played as a forward. He was documented to have spent a few months with L ...

(

Armenia Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ''Ox ...

) – Debut: 13 May 1993

Stadium statistics

*Last Game at the MOSiR Stadium Gdańsk: May 29, 2011,

, 1–2 *Last Win at the MOSiR Stadium Gdańsk: May 22, 2011,

, 2–1 *Last Lechia Goalscorer at the MOSiR Stadium Gdańsk: May 29, 2011,

Abdou Razack Traoré Abdou Razack Traoré (born 28 December 1988) is an Ivorian-born Burkinabé professional footballer who plays for Chinese club Nantong Zhiyun. Career Rosenborg Traoré was born in Abidjan, the Ivory Coast. He played for Raja Casablanca before ...

*First Game at the Stadion Energa Gdańsk: August 14, 2011,

, 1–1 *First Win at the Stadion Energa Gdańsk: September 12, 2011,

, 2–1 *First Lechia Goalscorer at the Stadion Energa Gdańsk: August 14, 2011,

Fred Benson Fredua Buadee Benson Erchiah (born 10 April 1984) is a professional footballer who plays as a striker. He most recently played for RKC Waalwijk. Club career In January 2005 Benson was promoted to the Eredivisie team from Vitesse Arnhem. In tw ...

*Highest Attendance: September 29, 1983,

, UEFA Cup Winners Cup – 40,000 (estimate)

Player statistics

The top ten most appearances and goal scorers for Lechia Gdańsk. (Stats correct as of 4 November 2022)

Club sponsors and kit manufacturers

It is important to note that sometimes there is an overlap between the years and when there are different club sponsors and kit manufacturers. This is due to the fact that in the late 1990s and early 2000s it was common for Lechia to wear multiple kits made by different manufactures in the same season. For example, during the 2003–04 season Lechia wore kits manufactured by wit-sport, Legea, Erima, and kits that were self-made. Notes † During the 1995–96 season the Olimpia-Lechia team started the season with kids being made by local kit manufacturer PJ Sport and with the team sponsor being Nata. During the winter break Kelme took over as kit manufacturer and Canal+ became the teams main sponsor. ‡ During the 1999–2000 season the Lechia-Polonia team used four different kits made by three different manufacturers. With each different manufactured kit Lechia had a different sponsor on the front of that shirt. § This design was the only one worn by the three teams that have played under the Lechia Gdańsk name. This particular shirt shown was worn by Lechia Gdańsk between 1996 and 1998. When this design was worn by Olimpia-Lechia in 1996 it was with Canal+ sponsorship and not with the Nata sponsorship.

Honours

* Third place:

, 2018–19

* Winners: 1982–83, 2018–19 * Runners-up: 1955, 2019–20

: * Winners:

1983 The year 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to Internet protocol suite, TCP/IP is officially completed (this is consid ...

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 ...

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 ...

* Winners: 1951, 1983–84, 2007–08 * Runners-up: 1954, 1974–75, 1975–76, 1977–78 * Third place: 1978–79

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'' referr ...

* Winners: 1971–72, 1982–83, 2004–05 * Runners-up: 1967–68, 1970–71 * Third place: 1969–70, 1997–98 European Competitions *

European 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 ...

: ** First round: 1983–84 *

** Second qualifying round: 2019–20

League participation

As of the 2021–22 season.

Lechia in Europe

Ownership

During the communist era of the club's history, it was owned and run by employment sectors. When the club was first created it was used for the workers of the Port Reconstruction Office ( pl, Biuro Odbudowy Portów), and thus owned by the Port Reconstruction Office itself, later becoming a club for construction workers ( pl, Budowlani). Both ''Biuro Odbudowy Portów'' and ''Budowlani'' being included in the club's official name when they were run by these sectors. In 2007 Tadeusz Dąbrowski unsuccessfully tried to invest in the club. In 2009 Andrzej Kuchar became the majority shareholder for the club, a position he held until late 2013 when he sold his shares. In 2014 it became known that 72% of the club shares are controlled by an investment company named Wroclawskie Centrum finansowo (WCF) with the club being owned by Franz-Josef Wernze. WCF is owned by Swiss investor W&C Vermögensverwaltungs AG in which Philipp Wernze, the son of the German businessman and Lechia owner Franz-Josef Wernze, is involved. In summer 2014 this German control over Lechia became more and more obvious when several players from Germany joined the club. Under Wernze's wings are also the German clubs

Viktoria Köln Viktoria usually refers to Viktoria, a name which is the same as Victoria (name), but may also refer to: Places * FK Viktoria Stadion, stadium of Viktoria Žižkov * Viktoria-Luise-Platz, building in Berlin * Viktoriastadt, now known as Victoria ...

and

Lok Leipzig 1. Fußballclub Lokomotive Leipzig e.V. is a Football in Germany, German football club based in the locality of Probstheida in the Südost borough of Leipzig, Saxony. The club may be more familiar to many of the country's football fans as the h ...

. In 2017 the shares of the company's main shareholder, Lechia Investment, were taken over from W&C Vermögensverwaltungs by Advancesport AG. This saw Franz-Josef Wernze staying as the owner of Lechia, but with his son Philipp Wernze, the main shareholder in Advancesport AG, having a greater role within the club and within his father's company, ETL Group.

Players

Current squad

Out on loan

Notable players

The players below played for their respective countries at any point during their career with the dates showing their time with Lechia. ; Poland *

Arkadiusz Bąk Arkadiusz Bąk (; born 6 October 1974) is a Polish former football (soccer), footballer. Career Club Having started in the 1992/1993 season, Bąk also played for Ruch Chorzów, Polonia Warsaw, Birmingham City F.C., Birmingham City, Widzew Łód ...

(1995) *

Krzysztof Baszkiewicz Krzysztof Baszkiewicz (27 October 1933 - 25 November 1993) was a Polish international footballer who played as a midfielder for Lechia Gdańsk and Gwardia Warsaw. Biography Baszkiewicz started his career playing football for the youth levels at ...

(1950–1953) *

Jarosław Bieniuk Jarosław Bieniuk (; born 4 June 1979) is a Polish former professional Association football, footballer who played as a Defender (association football), defender. In July 2012, he moved from Widzew Łódź to another Polish Ekstraklasa team, Lec ...

(1995–1998), (2012–2014) *

(2014–2016), (2018–2019) * Piotr Brożek (2012–2013) *

(1945) *

Adam Buksa Adam Buksa (born 12 July 1996) is a Polish professional footballer who plays as a centre forward for Ligue 1 club Lens and the Poland national team. Besides Poland, he has played in Italy, United States and France. He is the older brother of A ...

(2014–2016) * Stanisław Burzyński (1965–1969) *

Paweł Dawidowicz Paweł Marek Dawidowicz (born 20 May 1995) is a Polish professional footballer who plays for Serie A club Hellas Verona and the Poland national team as a defender. Besides Poland, he has played in Portugal, Germany, and Italy. Club career Daw ...

(2011–2014) *

Tomasz Dawidowski Tomasz Dawidowski (born 4 February 1978 in Gdynia) is a Polish footballer. He plays as a striker or a midfielder. Club career Dawidowski started his career at Lechia Gdańsk. In 1998, he joined Amica Wronki. In 2004, he moved to Wisła Kraków. ...

(2009–2012) * Jan Erlich (1978–1981) * Adam Fedoruk (1998–2001) *

Przemysław Frankowski Przemysław Adam Frankowski (born 12 April 1995) is a Polish professional footballer who plays as a winger for Ligue 1 club Lens and the Poland national team. Club career Jagiellonia Białystok On 1 August 2014, Frankowski signed a three-year ...

(2012–2014) * Zygmunt Gadecki (1960–1962) * Jacek Grembocki (1982–1986), (1996–1997) * Henryk Gronowski (1949–1967) * Robert Gronowski (1949–1958) * Tadeusz Hogendorf (1945) * Marcin Kaczmarek (2008–2010) *

Rafał Kaczmarczyk Rafał Kaczmarczyk (born 2 June 1972, in Dzierzgoń) is a retired Polish professional footballer. Kaczmarczyk played several seasons in the Polish Ekstraklasa with Stomil Olsztyn and Widzew Łódź RTS Widzew Łódź () is a Polish football ...

(1989–1994) *

Jerzy Kasalik Jerzy Kasalik (born 10 September 1949) is a Polish former footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American footbal ...

(1975–1976) * Alfred Kokot (1946–1953) *

(1953–1967) *

Jakub Kosecki Jakub Kosecki (; born August 29, 1990) is a Polish professional footballer who plays as a winger for Weszło Warsaw. Career Having been around the world in various youth teams as a child, in March 2009, Kosecki moved to Legia Warsaw. He was ...

(2011–2012) *

Rafał Kosznik Rafał Kosznik (born 17 December 1983) is a Polish former professional footballer who played as a left-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and pr ...

(2006–2008), (2010) * Juliusz Kruszankin (1996) *

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 ...

(1986–1988) * Marek Ługowski (1985–1994) * Daniel Łukasik (2014–2020) * Maciej Makuszewski (2014–2017) *

Sebastian Małkowski Sebastian Małkowski (born 2 March 1987) is a Polish professional football (soccer), footballer, who plays as a Goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper for Worksop Town F.C., Worksop Town. He is a former Poland national football team, Pola ...

(2008–2013) * Marcin Mięciel (1990–1993) * Sebastian Mila (2000–2001), (2015–2018) * Jarosław Nowicki (1985–1989) *

Mariusz Pawlak Mariusz Pawlak (born 19 January 1972 in Gdańsk) is a Polish football manager and former player, currently in charge of II liga club Olimpia Grudziądz. Career Club In June 2007, he joined Polonia Warsaw on a two-year contract. International ...

(1988–1996), (2006–2007) *

(2015–2020) *

Mirosław Pękala Mirosław Mieczysław Pękala (born 15 October 1961) was a former Polish international footballer who played as a midfielder. His playing career lasted 11 years during which time he played for Śląsk Wrocław and Lechia Gdańsk. Career Born i ...

(1985–1988) * Rafał Pietrzak (2020–) *

(1966–1981), (1986–1988) *

Grzegorz Rasiak Grzegorz Rasiak (; born 12 January 1979) is a Polish former professional footballer. After starting his career in his native Poland, Rasiak moved to England with Derby County in 2004. He subsequently had a spell with Tottenham Hotspur before jo ...

(2012–2013) *

(2018–2019) * Janusz Stawarz (1985–1990) *

Łukasz Surma Łukasz Surma (born 28 June 1977 in Kraków) is a retired Polish footballer (defensive midfielder). He is the current record holder in number of appearances in Polish Ekstraklasa. He played 559 matches. Career He was a captain of Legia Warsaw f ...

(2009–2013) * Grzegorz Szamotulski (1991–1993) * Mirosław Tłokiński (1975–1976) *

Łukasz Trałka Łukasz Trałka (born 11 May 1984 in Rzeszów) is a Polish former professional footballer who played mainly as a defensive midfielder. He made 431 Ekstraklasa appearances for Pogoń Szczecin, ŁKS Łódź, Lechia Gdańsk, Polonia Warsaw, Lech Poz ...

(2008) *

(2015–2018) *

Jakub Wilk Jakub Wilk (born 11 July 1985 in Poznań) is a Polish professional footballer who plays as a left midfielder for Wiara Lecha. Career He is one of the youngest players to make their debut in Ekstraklasa. He started playing for SKS 13 Poznań in ...

(2012) *

Sławomir Wojciechowski Sławomir Wojciechowski (born 6 September 1973 in Gdańsk) is a Polish former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. Honours * Bundesliga: 2000–01 * DFB-Pokal: 1999–2000 * DFB-Ligapokal: 2000 * UEFA Champions League Th ...

(1989–1993), (2004–2007) *

(2015–2019) * Rafał Wolski (2016–2020) * Hubert Wołąkiewicz (2007–2011) *

Paweł Wszołek Paweł Marek Wszołek (Polish pronunciation: ; born 30 April 1992) is a Polish professional footballer who plays for Ekstraklasa club Legia Warsaw. Club career Polonia Warsaw Born in Tczew, Poland, Wszołek played at the academies of Wisła T ...

(2004–2005) *

Marek Zieńczuk Marek Zieńczuk (born 24 September 1978) is a Polish professional Manager (association football), football manager and former Football player, player who played as a midfielder. He is currently the assistant manager of Chojniczanka Chojnice. Clu ...

(1996–1999), (2010) ; Afghanistan * Omran Haydary (2020–) ; Armenia *

Levon Hayrapetyan Levon Hayrapetyan ( hy, Լևոն Հայրապետյան, born 17 April 1989), also known as Levon Hairapetian, is an Armenian former professional footballer who played as a left-back. He is the son of Olympic medal winning field hockey player ...

(2011–2013) ; Bosnia and Herzegovina *

Stojan Vranješ Stojan Vranješ (Serbian Cyrillic: Стојан Врањеш; born 11 October 1986) is a Bosnian professional footballer who plays as a midfielder. Club career Early career Vranješ started his career at his hometown club Borac Banja Luka. There ...

(2014–2015) ; Bulgaria *

Simeon Slavchev Simeon Nenchev Slavchev ( bg, Симеон Славчев; born 25 September 1993) is a Bulgarian professional footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder for Wieczysta Kraków. Slavchev began his professional career at Litex Lovech in 2010. ...

(2016–2018) ; Burkina Faso *

(2010–2012) ; Canada *

Steven Vitória Steven de Sousa Vitória (born 11 January 1987) is a Canadian professional soccer player who plays as a centre-back for Primeira Liga club Chaves and the Canada national team. Having started out at Porto, he went on to play for several clubs ...

(2016–2019) ; Congo DR * Christopher Oualembo (2012–2014) ; Croatia * Antonio Čolak (2014–2015) *

Mario Maloča Mario Maloča (born 4 May 1989) is a Croatian professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for Lechia Gdańsk. Club career Maloča spent most of his youth career at Dinamo Zagreb and had spells with youth teams at NK Zagreb, Inter Zapre� ...

(2015–2018) (2019–) *

Mato Miloš Mato Miloš (; born 30 June 1993) is a Croatian professional footballer who plays for Ekstraklasa side Widzew Łódź as a right-back. Club career Born in Pula, Miloš went through the ranks of his hometown club NK Jadran Poreč, before moving t ...

(2017–2018) *

Luka Vučko Luka Vučko (born 11 April 1984, in Split) is a Croatian retired footballer who played as a defender. Career Club A product of HNK Hajduk Split, Vučko had stints with Prva HNL sides Hajduk Split and NK Rijeka, after before moving to Süper ...

(2011–2012) ; Curaçao *

Gino van Kessel Gino Ronald van Kessel (born 9 March 1993) is a Curaçaoan professional footballer who plays for the Curaçao national team as a forward. Club career Youth career Van Kessel joined the youth ranks of AZ Alkmaar in 2008. In 2012, he finished as ...

(2017) ; Ghana *

Joseph Aziz Joseph Annor Aziz (born 7 January 1974 in Accra) is a Ghanaian retired professional footballer who played as a forward for several clubs in Latin America and Europe and the Ghana national team. Career In 1995, Aziz moved to Poland to pla ...

(1995) * Emmanuel Tetteh (1995–1996) ; Guinea-Bissau * Romário Baldé (2017–2019) * Rudinilson Silva (2014–2016) ;Haiti * Joenal Castma (1999–2000) ; Indonesia *

Egy Maulana Vikri Egy Maulana Vikri (born 7 July 2000) is an Indonesian professional footballer who plays as a winger for the Indonesia national team. In 2017, Egy was named as one of the 60 most talented and promising players born in the year 2000 by ''The Gua ...

(2018–2021) *

Witan Sulaeman Witan Sulaeman (born 8 October 2001) is an Indonesian professional footballer who plays as a winger or attacking midfielder for Liga 1 club Bhayangkara, on loan from Persija Jakarta, and the Indonesia national team. A youth product of Ragun ...

(2021–2022) ; Israel * Joel Abu Hanna (2022–) ; Japan *

Daisuke Matsui is a Japanese professional footballer who plays for YSCC Yokohama. He played for Japan national team. His wife is Japanese actress Rosa Kato. Club career Early years In 2000, Matsui graduated from and began his professional career with Kyo ...

(2013) ; Latvia *

Oļegs Laizāns Oļegs Laizāns (born 28 March 1987) is a Latvian football midfielder currently playing for Super Nova and the Latvia national football team. Club career Early career, Skonto and loans As a young player Oļegs Laizāns played for JFC Skonto, ...

(2010) *

Ivans Lukjanovs Ivans Lukjanovs (born 24 January 1987) is a retired Latvian footballer, who played as a winger. Club career Lukjanovs was born in Daugavpils, Latvian SSR, Soviet Union. As a youth player he played for JFC Skonto, making his first first-team ap ...

(2009–2012) *

Kristers Tobers Kristers Tobers (born 13 December 2000) is a Latvian professional footballer who plays as a centre-back or defensive midfielder for Ekstraklasa side Lechia Gdańsk and the Latvia national team. Career Tobers made his international debut for Lat ...

(2020–) ; Lithuania *

Vytautas Andriuškevičius Vytautas Andriuškevičius (born 8 October 1990), commonly known as Vytas, is a retired Lithuanian footballer who played as a left back. He is now an assistant coach for the Portland Thorns FC of the American National Women's Soccer League (N ...

(2010–2013) *

Donatas Kazlauskas Donatas Kazlauskas (born 31 March 1994) is a Lithuanian professional footballer who plays as a winger for FK Žalgiris and Lithuania national team. Club career On 6 January 2015, Kazlauskas joined Lechia Gdańsk on three-and-a-half year contr ...

(2015–2016) ;Mali * Bassekou Diabaté (2021–) ;Martinique *

Bedi Buval Bedi Bastien Buval (born 16 June 1986) is a former professional footballer who played as a striker. Born in France, he made one appearance for the Martinique national team scoring once. Club career Born in Domont, Val-d'Oise, Buval joined Bo ...

(2010–2011) ; Serbia *

Danijel Aleksić Danijel Aleksić (Serbian Cyrillic: Дaниjeл Aлeкcић; born 30 April 1991) is a Serbian professional footballer who plays for Turkish club İstanbul Başakşehir. Early life Born in Pula, SR Croatia, Yugoslavia, Aleksić was several month ...

(2014) *

(2015–2018) *

(2016–2017) *

(2018–2020) ; Slovakia *

(2015–2020) *

(2017–) * Jaroslav Mihalík (2019–2021) ; United States * Jerzy Panek (1973) ; Dual nationals; ;Israel & United States * Kenny Saief (2020–2021)

Lechia Gdańsk II and Lechia's Academy

Lechia Gdańsk II

Lechia Gdańsk operates an official second team, known as Lechia Gdańsk II, which currently plays in the fifth tier in the IV liga Pomerania. In its early years the second team was only used for games in the

, fielding teams in four cup competitions in their first 50 years as a club. For the 1995–96 season the merger between Lechia Gdańsk and

creating Olimpia-Lechia Gdańsk, saw the second team running as the continuation of the "Lechia Gdańsk" team in the III liga. Lechia Gdańsk II officially became the second team in the Polish league system for the 2005–06 season. The purpose of the second team was to provide more playing experience for the younger players, while providing game time for players returning from injury. The second team played for 11 continuous seasons, achieving their highest result of 2nd in the III liga in the 2014–15 season. In 2016 it was announced that the second team was to be discontinued before it was reintroduced again for the start of the 2018–19 season.

Lechia Gdańsk Academy

In 2015 it was announced that all of the youth teams would once again be returning to Lechia, with Lechia taking control of coaching and player development. It was announced that there would be 11 age groups which would make up the academy starting from the Under-7's to the Under-23's. After 3 years, the Lechia Academy had 12 teams under their control, with other 200 staff seeing over the development. From the summer of 2019 the academy has been home to multiple levels of girls football teams with the formal incorporation of the Lechia Gdańsk Ladies into the Lechia Gdańsk structure.

Partnerships

Lechia have partnerships with academies in the Gdańsk and surrounding regions. The agreements provide Lechia with the best players, the teams to take part in competitions organised by Lechia, and better training for the coaches. Currently Lechia have partnerships with APK Jedynka Kartuzy, GAP Sparta Gdańsk, Unia Tczew, and AWFiS Gdańsk. Current partnerships Former partnerships

Lechia Gdańsk Ladies

Initially Lechia Gdańsk was in close cooperation with

Grupa Lotos Grupa Lotos S.A. was a vertically integrated oil company based in Gdańsk, Poland. The company is listed in the Polish index WIG30. The Polish state is the majority shareholder with 53% percent. The company's main activity branches are: crude oil ...

for the AP LOTOS Gdańsk academy and ladies football team. The team was formerly known as ''"Akademia Piłkarska Lechia Gdańsk"'' due to the close association the two teams once had. The ladies team wore the Lechia kits to start with before disagreements led to Lechia and APLG starting to work more independently. Due to APLG and Lechia going in different directions Lechia's focus was less on the APLG ladies team and making a team of their own. Lechia became closely linked with Biało-Zielone Gdańsk, which was formed in 2014. Biało-Zielone was another team closely linked with Lechia but was not officially part of the Lechia set up. In 2019 it was announced that the team would be incorporated into the Lechia Gdańsk academy structure and that their name was to become Lechia Gdańsk Ladies. The Lechia Ladies team currently plays in the III liga (Pomeranian group).

Managers

The following list contains the statistics from all competitive games after 1 July 2001, when Lechia Gdańsk was re-founded in the sixth tier. Stats correct as of 1 December 2022. The managers in ''italics'' were given the contract on a caretaker basis.

Managerial statistics

Stats correct as of 31 December 2021. *Most games as manager: Jerzy Jastrzębowski – (156 games) *Most wins as manager: Jerzy Jastrzębowski – 103 *Most draws as manager:

– 44 *Most defeats as manager:

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 ...

– 66 *Highest win percentage in managers Lechia career (minimum 10 games): Tadeusz Małolepszy - 78.9% (30 wins in 38 games) *Lowest win percentage in managers Lechia career (minimum 10 games): Edward Wojewódzki - 7.7% (1 wins in 13 games) *Managers who have managed at least 100 games for Lechia: Jerzy Jastrzębowski (156),

(148),

(139),

(127)

Lechia Lwów (1903–1939)

Lechia Gdańsk shares a lot of its history with Lechia Lwów, most notably the club's name as well as the colours used. Lechia Lwów was the oldest football team in Poland with many of the fans of the team moving to Gdańsk after Poland's borders were changed after World War II,

being given to

Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic ( uk, Украї́нська Радя́нська Соціалісти́чна Респу́бліка, ; russian: Украи́нская Сове́тская Социалисти́ческая Респ ...

, and the expulsion of Poles from Ukraine. Due to Lechia Lwów and Lechia Gdańsk sharing many of the same fans, Lechia Gdańsk is often seen as Lechia Lwów's ''"sister team"''. Lechia Lwów often played in the Polish second division, playing once in the top tier in the 1931 season suffering relegation that same season. The Lechia Gdańsk 2012–13 kit had "1903" written on their socks in commemoration of Lechia Lwów's 110 year anniversary since their founding. In 2019 the Retro Liga was formed in Poland of teams who had been disbanded in 1939 due to the outbreak of World War II. The league followed the same rules and kit standards of those in 1919 when the

Polish Football Association The Polish Football Association ( pl, Polski Związek Piłki Nożnej; PZPN) is the governing body of association football in Poland. It organizes the Polish football leagues (without the Ekstraklasa), the Polish Cup and the Polish national footb ...

was formed. Lechia Lwów were crowned the inaugural winners of the Retro Liga at the end of the 2019 season, also defending their title for the 2020 season.

Amber Cup Tournament

The Amber Cup Tournament (created 2006) is the biggest indoor footballing event in Poland, taking place in January during the football leagues' winter break. Lechia Gdańsk took a team to the Amber Cup every year from 2011 until 2018 and are the tournaments most successful team, winning the tournament four times (2011, 2013, 2016 & 2017). Players who have won the tournament with Lechia on more than one occasion are; *

(2011 & 2017) * Michał Chrapek (2016 & 2017) *

(2016 & 2017) *

(2016 & 2017) The teams for Lechia's Amber Cup wins are; ; 2011 *

* Wojciech Pawłowski * Rafał Janicki * Deleu * Jakub Popielarz * Marcin Pietrowski *

* Patryk Brzeski *

; 2013 * Patryk Sobczak * Michał Jajkowski *

Adrian Bielawski Adrian Bielawski (born 14 April 1996) is a Polish footballer who plays as a right back for Warta Gorzów. Senior career Bielawski started his career with Lechia Gdańsk, making the move up to the Lechia second team in 2012. After a good start ...

* Przemysław Czerwiński *

* Krzysztof Iwanowski * Andrzej Kaszuba * Oktawian Skrzecz * Adam Szamp *

Damian Kugiel Damian Kugiel (born 30 May 1995) is a Polish Association football, footballer who plays as a Striker (association football), forward for GKS Kowale. References External links

* 1995 births Living people Polish men's footballers Poland ...

* Dawid Żmijewski ; 2016 * Łukasz Budziłek * Marko Marić *

* Daniel Łukasik *

Adam Chrzanowski Adam Chrzanowski (born 31 March 1999) is a Polish professional footballer who plays as a left-back for Ekstraklasa side Wisła Płock. Club career On 13 March 2020, Chrzanowski signed a contract with Italian Serie B club Pordenone, which became ...

* Michał Chrapek *

* Juliusz Letniowski * Adam Gółński * Michał Żebrakowski * Przemysław Macierzyński ; 2017 *

* Damian Podleśny * Denis Perger * João Nunes (footballer, born 1995), João Nunes *

* Paweł Stolarski * Michał Chrapek *

References

External links

Official website – lechia.pl
(in Polish) {{DEFAULTSORT:Lechia Gdansk Lechia Gdańsk, Association football clubs established in 1945 1945 establishments in Poland Sport in Gdańsk Football clubs in Pomeranian Voivodeship

History

Early years (1945–1948)

First years of top flight football (1949–1954)

Early "Golden Years" and top division stay (1955–1963)

Decline and fall to the third division (1963–1971)

A decade in the second division (1972–1982)

'Rebirth', cup wins, and Ekstraklasa football (1982–1988)

Lower leagues and mergers (1988–2001)

Re-formation and re-start from the sixth tier (2001–2008)

Return to the Ekstraklasa (2008–2018)

Stokowiec and new success (2018–2021)

Current era (2021–)

Historic club names

The fans

Fan trouble

Friendships

Current friendships

Former friendships

Rivals

Tricity derby

Gdańsk derby

Stadia

Stadion Gdańsk

MOSiR Stadium / Gdańsk Sports Center Stadium

Avenue of Stars

Attendance

Colours, badges and banners

Kit history

Cup winning kits

Badge history

Banners

Records and statistics

All-time

Ekstraklasa

Individual achievements

Stadium statistics

Player statistics

Club sponsors and kit manufacturers

Honours

League participation

Lechia in Europe

Ownership

Players

Current squad

Out on loan

Notable players

Lechia Gdańsk II and Lechia's Academy

Lechia Gdańsk II

Lechia Gdańsk Academy

Partnerships

Lechia Gdańsk Ladies

Managers

Managerial statistics

Lechia Lwów (1903–1939)

Amber Cup Tournament

See also

References

External links