Garbarnia Kraków is a Polish football and sports club from
Ludwinów, a historical district of the city of
Kraków
, officially the Royal Capital City of Kraków, is the List of cities and towns in Poland, second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city has a population of 804,237 ...
. The club's name comes from the nearby
tannery () of the Dłużyński brothers, which was the original club sponsor. After withdrawing from the
III liga
III liga (Trzecia liga), currently named Betclic III liga due to its sponsorship by Betclic, 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 ref ...
before the start of the 2024–25 season, Garbarnia currently competes in the western group of the
V liga Lesser Poland.
History
Founded in 1921, Garbarnia's best years were the late 1920s and early 1930s. In 1928, after winning both regional and national qualifiers, the team was promoted to the Polish Football League. Then, in 1929, after an excellent campaign, they finished second to champions
Warta Poznań, thus cementing their position as one of the top teams in Poland.
In
1931, Garbarnia went one better, becoming Polish Champions. Containing little home-grown talent, the Kraków starting lineup consisted of players brought in from other clubs. Among the top players were
Otto Riesner and
Karol Pazurek, both natives of
Katowice
Katowice (, ) is the capital city of the Silesian Voivodeship in southern Poland and the central city of the Katowice urban area. As of 2021, Katowice has an official population of 286,960, and a resident population estimate of around 315,000. K ...
, and both of whom played for the
Poland national team.
In 1937, after 9 years in the top division, Garbarnia were relegated. They returned in 1939, in a season cut short by the outbreak of World War II.
After the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
Garbarnia never regained its status, playing mainly in the Polish Second Division, occasionally managing to win promotion to the first division, only to be relegated after a year or two. The worst was yet to come, as in 1971 the team was relegated to the third division, the Regional Kraków district league.
In 2018, Garbarnia returned to the
second-tier after a 44-year absence. Garbarnia secured promotion after a promotion/relegation play-off win over
Pogoń Siedlce. In 2019, the club was again relegated to the
II liga.
Honours
*
Ekstraklasa
(; meaning "Extra Class" in Polish), officially known as PKO Bank Polski Ekstraklasa due to its Sponsor (commercial), sponsorship by PKO Bank Polski, is a professional association football league in Poland and the highest level of the Polish foo ...
**Champions:
1931
**Runners-up:
1929
Players
Current squad
Former players
*
Kais Al-Ani - Iraq youth international
Managers
*
Emil Rauchmaul (1933)
References
External links
*
Fans' Association website .
{{DEFAULTSORT:Garbarnia Krakow
Association football clubs established in 1921
1921 establishments in Poland
Football clubs in Kraków