Zagłębie Wałbrzych is a Polish multisports club in the south-western city of

Wałbrzych Wałbrzych (; german: Waldenburg; szl, Wałbrzich; sli, label= Lower Silesian, Walmbrig or ''Walmbrich''; cs, Valbřich or ) is a city located in the Lower Silesian Voivodeship, in southwestern Poland. From 1975–1998 it was the capital of Wa ...

. The club, based in the Biały Kamień neighbourhood, is the most famous for its football team, which competed in the Polish top division in the past.

History

The club was founded in 1945. Its founders were Polish emigres returning from

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

and

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

, who named the club ''Thorez'', after

Maurice Thorez Maurice Thorez (; 28 April 1900 – 11 July 1964) was a French politician and longtime leader of the French Communist Party (PCF) from 1930 until his death. He also served as Deputy Prime Minister of France from 1946 to 1947. Pre-War Thorez, ...

, a French communist leader. The name was disliked by most fans and was changed in 1968 into Zagłębie, which means ''coal basin'' in Polish, as Wałbrzych was an important center of mining. In 1968, Zagłębie Wałbrzych won promotion to the

Ekstraklasa Poland Ekstraklasa (), meaning "Extra Class" in Polish, named PKO Ekstraklasa since the 2019–20 season due to its sponsorship by PKO Bank Polski, is the top Polish professional league for men's association football teams. Contested by 18 ...

, and in the 1970–71 season, it finished in the 3rd spot, after

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 Po ...

and Legia Warsaw. Zagłębie participated in the games of the

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, clay ...

, advancing to the second round. In the first round, it beat Czechoslovakian team

FK Teplice FK Teplice is a Czech football club based in the city of Teplice. The club currently plays in the Czech First League. The club was founded after World War II in 1945. The club advanced to the Czechoslovak First League in just three years after ...

(1-0, 3-2), in the second round it lost to Romanian side UT Arad (1-1, 1-2). Team's most famous player is goalkeeper Marian Szeja, participant of the 1972 Olympic Games. After the 1973–74 season, Zagłębie was relegated from the top division and has never returned. A difficult financial situation of sports clubs in

meant that in the early 1990s the club merged with fierce rivals Górnik Wałbrzych much to the shock of both sets of fans after over 40 years of rivalry. The new merged club then became "KP Wałbrzych", then "KP Górnik/Zagłębie Wałbrzych". Matches were played at Zagłębie's stadium but eventually the Zagłębie part was dropped from the name and the club ''

de facto ''De facto'' ( ; , "in fact") describes practices that exist in reality, whether or not they are officially recognized by laws or other formal norms. It is commonly used to refer to what happens in practice, in contrast with ''de jure'' ("by la ...

'' ceased to exist. On 6 April 2006 the "Stowarzyszenie GKS Zagłębie Wałbrzych", was created, reactivating the football section of the club. From 2008, the team participates in the regional games of

Lower Silesia Lower Silesia ( pl, Dolny Śląsk; cz, Dolní Slezsko; german: Niederschlesien; szl, Dolny Ślōnsk; hsb, Delnja Šleska; dsb, Dolna Šlazyńska; Silesian German: ''Niederschläsing''; la, Silesia Inferior) is the northwestern part of the ...

. In 2019, a women's football section was founded.

Honours

* 2x 3rd place in

I liga I liga ( pl, Pierwsza liga, ), currently named Fortuna I liga due to its sponsorship by Fortuna, is the men's second professional association football division of the Polish football league system, below the Ekstraklasa and above the II liga v ...

: 1970/1971, 1970/1971 * 2x

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. ...

Quarter-finals: 1962/63, 1992/93 * 1/16th of

: 1971/72

European record

Notable players

Marian Szeja, Joachim Stachuła and Stanisław Paździor have all played in the

Polish national football team The Poland national football team ( pl, Reprezentacja Polski w piłce nożnej) has represented Poland in men's international tournaments football competitions since their first match in 1921. The team is controlled by the Polish Football Assoc ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Zaglebie Walbrzych Sports clubs established in 1945 Association football clubs established in 1945 1945 establishments in Poland Multi-sport clubs in Poland Wałbrzych Sport in Lower Silesian Voivodeship Mining association football clubs in Poland