Jastrzębski Węgiel, is a professional men's

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...

club based in

Jastrzębie-Zdrój Jastrzębie-Zdrój (, ) is a city in the Silesian Voivodeship in southern Poland with 86,632 inhabitants (2021). Its name comes from the Polish words ''jastrząb'' ("hawk") and ''zdrój'' ("spa" or "spring"). From 1861 until the 20th century, it w ...

in southern

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 ...

, founded in 1961. They compete in the Polish

PlusLiga The PlusLiga is the highest level of men's volleyball in Poland, a professional league competition featuring volleyball clubs located in this country. It is overseen by Polska Liga Siatkówki SA (PLS SA). It is currently a 14 teams league from Oc ...

. Since foundation the club has been closely linked to coal mining in the region.

Honours

Domestic

* Polish Championship :Winners (4): 2003–04,

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

2022–23 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

, 2023–24 *

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 ...

:Winners (2): 2009–10, 2024–25 *

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 2024, the Polish Super Cup has been p ...

:Winners (2): 2021–22,

International

CEV Champions League The CEV Champions League is the top official competition for men's volleyball clubs from the whole of Europe. The competition is organised every year by the European Volleyball Confederation. Formula (2018–19 to present) Qualification A tota ...

:Silver (2):

, 2023–24 :Semifinalists (1): 2021–22 :Final Four (3):

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

, 2013–14, 2024–25 * FIVB Club World Championship :Silver (1):

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

CEV Challenge Cup The CEV Challenge Cup is the third tier official competition for men's volleyball clubs from the whole of Europe. The competition started in the 1980–81 season under the name CEV Cup. In 2007 it was renamed to CEV Challenge Cup. History * # ...

:Silver (1): 2008–09

Club history

The history of volleyball in

dates back to 1949 when a group of young boys from the local schools gathered by a sports executive Jan Maciejewski formed a club under the name ''LZS Jastrzębie''. In 1961 the club ceased to exist and in the same year due to the population increase, caused by the beginning of coal mining in the region, was founded a club named ''Górnik Jastrzębie'', later in 1963 renamed to ''Górnik JAS–MOS''. The club consisted of 4 departments:

boxing Boxing is a combat sport and martial art. Taking place in a boxing ring, it involves two people – usually wearing protective equipment, such as boxing glove, protective gloves, hand wraps, and mouthguards – throwing Punch (combat), punch ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

and

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...

. In 1970, the club changed its name to ''GKS Jastrzębie'' and under this name the team led by Jerzy Tomczyk in 1979 won a historical promotion to the 2nd Polish Volleyball League. In 1983, Leszek Dejewski joined the team, still to this day associated with the club, currently as an assistant coach. In 1989, ''GKS Jastrzębie'' led by Waldemar Kuczewski for the first time in club's history was promoted to the 1st Polish Volleyball League, and in the next year in the upper league ended the season in 4th place. Just before the 1990–91 season, ''GKS Jastrzębie''

table tennis Table tennis (also known as ping-pong) is a racket sport derived from tennis but distinguished by its playing surface being atop a stationary table, rather than the Tennis court, court on which players stand. Either individually or in teams of ...

and

departments seceded from the club with the volleyball department taking over the ''Jastrzębie Borynia'' name. During the 1990s acting as ''Jastrzębie Borynia'' the team took part in the 1990–91

CEV Cup The CEV Cup is the second tier official competition for men's Volleyball clubs of Europe. The competition takes place every year. Until 2000, it was the CEV Cup Winners' Cup. In 2000 it was renamed to CEV Top Teams Cup and in 2007 to CEV Cup. T ...

(former CEV Challenge Cup), reaching the second round and eventually losing to Belgian team Debic Zonhoven (3–2, 0–3). In the same season, the team led by Bronisław Orlikowski achieved its first medal of the Polish Championship, beating

Płomień Milowice GKS Płomień Milowice was a volleyball section of the same name club from Poland, located in the city of Sosnowiec, founded in 1961. Płomień Milowice was one of the most important sports clubs in Poland during the PRL era. In 1992, the club ...

in four matches (3–1) for third place. Unfortunately, the next season did not end well with ''Jastrzębie'' being eliminated from the European Cups in the early stage of the competition. In the domestic league, ''Jastrzębie'' ended the season in 6th place. In 1993, the club was relegated from the 1st Polish Volleyball League and had to wait until 1997 when the team led by Zdzisław Grodecki for the second time in club's history was promoted to the 1st Polish Volleyball League (official name since 2008:

), playing there until this day. In 1999, Jan Such became the head coach of ''Jastrzębie Borynia''. With him on the bench, the club achieved its 2nd bronze medal in 2001, exactly on the tenth anniversary of achieving the first one in 1991, defeating

Czarni Radom WKS Czarni Radom, officially known for sponsorship reasons as Enea Czarni Radom, is a professional men's volleyball team based in Radom in central Poland. Founded in 1921 as a football club, the club had many sections in the past, however sinc ...

. In 2002, the club changed its name to ''Ivett Jastrzębie Borynia''. Jan Such remained as the club head coach until 2003. He ended his work with the club, winning 3rd bronze medal. He has been replaced by a Slovak expert Igor Prieložný. With Igor Prieložný as the ''Ivett Jastrzębie Borynia'' head coach, the club reached the

quarterfinals, losing there with Serbian club Vojvodina Novi Sad (0–3, 0–3) while in the domestic league ''Jastrzębie'' achieved its first Polish Championship, winning with AZS Olsztyn in three matches (3–0). In 2004, the club has been taken over by the coal mining company JSW, what resulted in the club's new name – ''Jastrzębski Węgiel''. During the 2004/05 season ''Jastrzębski Węgiel'' competed in the

where the club reached the Playoff 12 stage and eventually lost to Belgian club

Noliko Maaseik Greenyard Maaseik is a Belgian professional men's volleyball club from the city of Maaseik. They compete in the Lotto Volley League, and their home stadium is Steengoed Arena. Greenyard Maaseik holds most of the titles in the Lotto Volley L ...

(0–3, 1–3). The 2004–05 PlusLiga season, ''Jastrzębski Węgiel'' ended in 4th place. The 2005–06 PlusLiga season, ''Jastrzębski Węgiel'' spent playing in the

and despite winning the first match with Russian club

Iskra Odintsovo VC Iskra Odintsovo is a professional Volleyball team based in Odintsovo, Russia. Palmarès *Russian Volleyball Super League ::Runners-up (4) : 1994, 2003, 2008, 2009 ::Third place (5) : 1999, 2000, 2001, 2006, 2007 *CEV Champions League ::Runners- ...

(3–2) in the 1/8 stage, ''Jastrzębski Węgiel'' lost the second match (0–3) and has been eliminated from the further competition. At the end of 2005, Igor Prieložný was dismissed as the club head coach and has been replaced by

Ryszard Bosek Ryszard Bosek (born 12 April 1950) is a Polish former volleyball player and coach. He was a member of the Poland national team from 1969 to 1986, and a participant in three Olympic Games (1972, 1976, 1980). During his career, he won gold medals ...

. The team led by him made it to the final of the Polish Championship but had to credit the superiority of BOT Skra Bełchatów, and eventually was awarded with the first ever silver medals won by the club. In the next

season, Jastrzębski Węgiel participated in the

, losing in the quarterfinals to Italian club

Copra Berni Piacenza Volley Piacenza was an Italian professional men's volleyball club based in Piacenza, northern Italy. They played in the Italian Volleyball League. The club ceased to exist in 2018 due to financial problems. Although the club reached the Italian ...

(1–3, 3–2).

has decided to resign his post a month after that defeat and has been replaced by an Italian coach Tomaso Totolo who led the club to its 2nd silver medal, again losing in the final of the Polish Championship to BOT Skra Bełchatów. After the season, Tomaso Totolo decided to leave the club and has been replaced by his compatriot – Roberto Santilli. Roberto Santilli led the team until 2010. During his work with the club, ''Jastrzębski Węgiel'' managed to reach the final of the

2008–09 CEV Challenge Cup The 2008–09 CEV Challenge Cup was the 29th edition of the European Challenge Cup volleyball club tournament, the former CEV Cup. The Turkish club Arkas İzmir beat Polish club Jastrzębski Węgiel in the final and achieved its first CEV Challe ...

held in

İzmir İzmir is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, third most populous city in Turkey, after Istanbul and Ankara. It is on the Aegean Sea, Aegean coast of Anatolia, and is the capital of İzmir Province. In 2024, the city of İzmir had ...

. ''Jastrzębski Węgiel'' lost in the final to Turkish club Arkas İzmir (2–3) and achieved silver medals. In 2010, the team led by him not only ended the season in 2nd place but also for the first time in club's history won the

, beating Asseco Resovia in the final (3–2). In 2010, Roberto Santilli left the club from

. Igor Prieložný again became the head coach of the club but only remained as such until December 2010 when he has been replaced by one of the best players of the 20th century –

Lorenzo Bernardi Lorenzo Bernardi (born 11 August 1968) is an Italian professional volleyball coach and former player, a silver medallist at the Olympic Games Atlanta 1996, two–time World Champion (1990, 1994), and a two–time European Champion (1989, 1995 ...

. The 2010/11 PlusLiga season, the club ended in 2nd place, losing in the final to

PGE Skra Bełchatów PGE may refer to: * Pacific Gas and Electric Company, commonly abbreviated PG&E * Pacific Gas & Electric (band), an American blues rock band * Pacific Great Eastern Railway, the original name of BC Rail * Parser Grammar Engine, Perl 6 rule compil ...

in three matches (1–3). With

as a head coach, the club for the first time in its history advanced to the Final Four of the

in 2011, and achieved a silver medal of the 2011 FIVB Club World Championship. In the 2012/2013 season ''Jastrzębski Węgiel'' won a bronze medal of the Polish Championship. In 2014, the club for the second time in its history advanced to the Final Four of the

held in

Ankara Ankara is the capital city of Turkey and List of national capitals by area, the largest capital by area in the world. Located in the Central Anatolia Region, central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5,290,822 in its urban center ( ...

, Turkey and after defeating

Zenit Kazan VC Zenit-Kazan (), until 2008 known as Dinamo Tattransgaz Kazan (), is a professional men's volleyball team based in Kazan, Russia. It plays in the Super League (11-time champion). Achievements International competitions * CEV Champions Leag ...

won a bronze medal. The club, ended the

2013–14 PlusLiga The 2013–14 PlusLiga was the 78th season of the Polish Volleyball Championship, the 14th season as a professional league organized by the Professional Volleyball League SA () under the supervision of the Polish Volleyball Federation (). The n ...

season with another bronze of the Polish Championship. After the season,

and one of the club main players

Michał Kubiak Michał Jarosław Kubiak (born 23 February 1988) is a Polish professional volleyball player who plays as an outside hitter for Shanghai Bright. He is a former member of the Poland national team, a participant in the Olympic Games (London 2012, ...

left the team. An Italian coach Roberto Piazza, became the successor of

. The team led by

Piazza A town square (or public square, urban square, city square or simply square), also called a plaza or piazza, is an open public space commonly found in the heart of a traditional town or city, and which is used for community gatherings. Rela ...

took 4th place of the Polish Championship and has been eliminated in the Playoff 12 stage of the

2014–15 CEV Champions League The 2014–15 CEV Champions League was the 56th edition of the highest level European volleyball club competition organised by the European Volleyball Confederation. Participating teams League round 28 teams have been drawn to 7 pools of 4 tea ...

by Italian club Sir Safety Perugia (2–3, 0–3). Piazza left the club after that season and has been replaced by an Australian coach

Mark Lebedew Mark Lebedew (born 6 May 1967) is an Australian professional volleyball coach. He serves as head coach for Lycurgus Groningen. Personal life Mark Lebedew lives in Żory, and is married to Anita with whom he has a son, Daniel. He obtained Polis ...

. Except for the coach, a few significant players left the club: previous captain and opposite

Michał Łasko Michał Eryk Łasko (born 11 March 1981) is an Italian former volleyball player of Polish people, Polish descent, member of the Italy men's national volleyball team, bronze medallist at the Olympic Games (2012 Summer Olympics, London 2012), 2005 ...

, opposite

Mateusz Malinowski Mateusz Malinowski (born 6 May 1992) is a Polish professional volleyball player who plays as an opposite spiker for LUK Lublin. Career Club In 2011, Malinowski joined Jastrzębski Węgiel. In the same year, he won a silver medal of the Club Wo ...

and outside hitter

Zbigniew Bartman Zbigniew Andrzej Bartman (born 4 May 1987) is a Polish former professional volleyball player, a member of the Poland national team in 2008–2013, a participant in the 2012 Olympic Games, 2009 European Champion, and the 2012 World League winne ...

. It was all caused by the financial crisis in the mining industry, the branch closely related to the club's main sponsor – JSW.

remained as the ''Jastrzębski Węgiel'' head coach for 3 seasons, during his work the club achieved its 7th bronze medal of the Polish Championship after 2 matches for 3rd place against Asseco Resovia (3–1, 3–2). As a result, ''Jastrzębski Węgiel'' once again gained the right to compete in the upcoming

season. On 12 January 2018, the club informed about dismissing

. The dismissal of the head coach took place two days after losing the quarterfinals of the

2017–18 Polish Cup The 2017–18 Polish Cup was the sixty-fourth season of the annual Polish football knockout tournament. It began on 14 July 2017 with the first matches of the preliminary round and ended on 2 May 2018 with the final at PGE Narodowy. Winners of th ...

Onico Warsaw Projekt Warsaw, officially known as PGE Projekt Warszawa, is a professional men's volleyball club based in Warsaw in central Poland. They compete in the Polish PlusLiga, the top flight of Polish volleyball. The club started as the volleyball se ...

(2–3). His duties were taken over by his assistant Leszek Dejewski and the next official head coach

Ferdinando De Giorgi Ferdinando De Giorgi (born 10 October 1961) is an Italian professional volleyball coach and former player, a participant in the Olympic Games Seoul 1988, three–time World Champion (1990, 1994, 1998), and the 1989 European Champion. He serve ...

took over the team on 12 January 2018. De Giorgi was a head coach of the Polish national team from 2016 to 2017, and prior to that – of

ZAKSA Kędzierzyn-Koźle ZAKSA Kędzierzyn-Koźle, is a professional men's volleyball club based in Kędzierzyn-Koźle in southern Poland, founded in 1994. They compete in the Polish PlusLiga. ZAKSA have won 9 domestic league titles, 10 national cups, and three CEV Cha ...

. The

2017–18 PlusLiga The 2017–18 PlusLiga was the 82nd season of the Polish Volleyball Championship, the 18th season as a professional league organized by the Professional Volleyball League SA () under the supervision of the Polish Volleyball Federation (). PGE S ...

season ''Jastrzębski Węgiel'' finished in 5th place. Before the

2018–19 PlusLiga The 2018–19 PlusLiga was the 83rd season of the Polish Volleyball Championship, the 19th season as a professional league organized by the Polish Volleyball League SA () under the supervision of the Polish Volleyball Federation (). Due to fina ...

season, a few notable players reinforced the squad: two–time World Champion

Dawid Konarski Dawid Andrzej Konarski (born 31 August 1989) is a Polish professional volleyball player who plays as an opposite spiker for Al Nassr. He is a former member of the Poland national team, a participant in the Olympic Games Rio 2016, and a two–tim ...

and two national team members: Julien Lyneel and Christian Fromm. In the middle of December, De Giorgi decided to break an agreement with the club, after receiving an offer from Italian club Cucine Lube Civitanova. On 16 December 2018, Roberto Santilli was announced as the new head coach. Santilli was already coaching ''Jastrzębski Węgiel'' from 2007 to 2010, and returned to the club from

after 8 years. Santilli led the club to its 8th bronze medal of the Polish Championship after defeating Aluron Virtu Warta Zawiercie in 3 matches (3–2, 3–2, 3–0). Thanks to that, ''Jastrzębski Węgiel'' returned to the

after a one–year break. A month after the beginning of the

2019–20 PlusLiga The 2019–20 PlusLiga was the 84th season of the PlusLiga, Polish Volleyball Championship, the 20th season as a professional league organized by the Polish Volleyball League SA () under the supervision of the Polish Volleyball Federation (). Th ...

season, the club management decided to dismiss Roberto Santilli due to ''"the unsatisfactory team performance and lack of expected results"''. Slobodan Kovač was announced as the new head coach on 1 December 2019. The team from

finished 1st in its

2019–20 CEV Champions League The 2020–21 CEV Champions League was the 61st edition of the highest level European volleyball club competition organised by the European Volleyball Confederation. The tournament has been cancelled due to the 2020 coronavirus outbreak. Qualif ...

group, defeated Russian team

two times and ultimately reached the quarterfinals. During the away game against Zenit Kazan, ''Jastrzębski Węgiel'' managed to come back from 9–14 in the 5th set, and defeated the six–time CEV Champions League winners 16–14. Unfortunately, the team did not have a chance to play the quarterfinals against Italian team Itas Trentino due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. In the domestic league, ''Jastrzębski Węgiel'' ended the season in 4th place, after having played 24 out of 26 games of the

regular season. As a result of CEV decision, the club was granted a place in the qualification stage of the next

edition, despite not being entitled to start in the competition. On 31 May 2020, the club management informed about not extending the contract with 8 players and the head coach Slobodan Kovač. An Australian coach

Luke Reynolds Lucas Fitzpatrick Reynolds (born April 20, 1979) is an American guitarist and multi-instrumentalist, artist, writer and producer. He also plays the But Why theme song which comes from his song “no way to know what’s coming.” Career Stud ...

, so far acting as an assistant coach of ''Jastrzębski Węgiel'' was announced as the new head coach on 3 June 2020.

Team

''As of 2024–25 season''

Coaching staff

Players

Season by season

Former names

Youth Academy

Akademia Talentów Jastrzębskiego Węgla (Jastrzębski Węgiel Talent Academy) – is an academy under the patronage of Jastrzębski Węgiel and JSW, founded in 2012, focused on training and development of the youth in the skills needed to play professional volleyball. The academy gathers many talented young people from all over the country, being one of the strongest training centres in Poland.

References

External links

Official website

Team profile
at ''PlusLiga.pl''
Team profile
at ''Volleybox.net'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Jastrzebski Wegiel Volleyball clubs in Poland Sport in Jastrzębie-Zdrój Volleyball clubs established in 1961 1961 establishments in Poland