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

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

based in

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

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

. It is best known for its men's professional football team, which competes in

I liga I liga (, ), currently named Betclic I liga due to its sponsorship by Betclic, is the men's second professional association football division of the Polish football league system, below the Ekstraklasa and above the II liga via promotion/rel ...

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

History

The club was founded in 1979, as a club for the local coal miners. As the years went, the local Bogdanka Coal Mine decided to invest more and more money and as a result the club quickly rose through the leagues. The club shed its relative obscurity when it gained promotion to the

Ekstraklasa (; meaning "Extra Class" in Polish), officially known as PKO Bank Polski Ekstraklasa due to its Sponsor (commercial), sponsorship by PKO Bank Polski, is a professional association football league in Poland and the highest level of the Polish foo ...

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

I Liga I liga (, ), currently named Betclic I liga due to its sponsorship by Betclic, is the men's second professional association football division of the Polish football league system, below the Ekstraklasa and above the II liga via promotion/rel ...

for six years before winning promotion to the

2014–15 Ekstraklasa The 2014–15 Ekstraklasa (also known as T-Mobile Ekstraklasa due to its Sponsor (commercial), sponsorship by T-Mobile Polska) was the 81st season of Sports league, the highest level of football leagues in the Polish football league system since ...

. Since 1 January 2007, the men's football department has been operating as a business entity separate from the rest of the club. In February 2011, the team was renamed GKS Bogdanka () for sponsorship reasons, a decision from the local Bogdanka coal mine. As a result, a group of supporters opposing the name change formed an amateur team GKS Górnik 1979 Łęczna. On 23 July 2013, GKS Bogdanka's board of directors announced the return to the former name.

Honours

**7th place: 2004–05 *

II liga II liga (Druga liga, ), currently named Betclic II liga due to its sponsorship by Betclic, 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'' referre ...

**Champions: 1987–88 (gr. VII), 1995–96 (gr. V), 2007–08 (gr. IV), 2019–20 *

Polish Cup The Polish Cup in Association football, football ( ) is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout football competition for Polish football club (association football), football clubs, held continuously since 1950, and is the second most i ...

**Semi-finalists: 2022–23 *Youth teams ** Polish U-19 Championship ***Third place: 2004, 2005

Players

Current squad

Other players under contract

Out on loan

GKS Górnik 1979 Łęczna

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

Women's section

The women's section of Górnik Łęczna played for years in the second and third-tier leagues of Poland. In 2006–07 the team reached the semi-finals of the Polish Cup but lost to Medyk Konin. In the 2009–10 season with the expansion of the Ekstraliga Kobiet the team finally gained promotion to it by finishing second in its 2nd tier division. In its Ekstraliga debut Górnik was 5th.2010–11 table
in Soccerway.com

References

External links

*
Górnik Łęczna
at the Fans website
Górnik Łęczna
at 90minut.pl (Polish) {{DEFAULTSORT:Gornik Leczna Football clubs in Poland Association football clubs established in 1979 Mining association football clubs in Poland 1979 establishments in Poland