The Polish Cup in

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 ...

( ) is an annual

knockout A knockout (abbreviated to KO or K.O.) is a fight-ending, winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, Muay Thai, mixed martial arts, karate, some forms of taekwondo and other sports involving striking, ...

football competition for Polish

football clubs A football team is a group of players selected to play together in the various team sports known as football. Such teams could be selected to play in a match against an opposing team, to represent a football club, group, state or nation, an All-st ...

, held continuously since 1950, and is the second most important national title in Polish football after 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 ...

title. Due to mass participation of teams, the tournament is often called ''The Cup of the Thousand Teams'' ( ). Participation is open to any club registered with the Polish FA, regardless of whether it competes in any league in the national pyramid or not. Reserve and veteran teams are also eligible, with reserve teams reaching the final on two occasions (and winning it once). The Cup is popular among lower-level teams, as it gives them a chance to play better known sides. In some cases, the underdogs have even reached the final, with the most famous example being

Czarni Żagań Czarni Żagań is a Polish association football club based in Żagań, Lower Silesia. They play in the IV liga Lubusz, the fifth level of the national football league system. History The club was founded in 1957 by soldiers from the Żagań ...

, who were playing in the third division, when they reached the 1964–65 final, eventually won by

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

. Lower league clubs have to enter regional qualification rounds and the winners of these join the teams from the first and second division in the competition proper. The regional qualifications are played in the preceding season, so that one edition of Polish Cup for lower ranked clubs can last two seasons. Each tie is decided by a single game which is held at the lower league side's stadium. The final used to be a single match, but 2002–2006 it was contested over two legs. Since 2007, the Cup has returned to the single-game final. The first edition of the Polish Cup took place in 1926, but it was quickly abandoned. In the late 1930s, the President of Poland's Football Cup was organized, which featured teams of the

Polish Football Association The Polish Football Association ( PZPN) is the governing body of association football in Poland. It organizes the Polish football leagues (without the ), the national cups, and manages the men's and women's national teams. It also runs the nati ...

's regional districts. The reigning champions, and the competition's most successful club with 21 wins, are

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 a record 15 champions titles, a record 2 ...

, who defeated Pogoń Szczecin 4–3 in the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...

of the 2024–25 edition. Raków Częstochowa hold the record for most consecutive tournament game wins (16) between 2020 and 2023, winning the cup in 2021 and 2022.

Polish Cup winners

Previous cup winners are: * 1925–26: Wisła Kraków^II * 1927–50: ''not played'' * 1950–51: Unia Chorzów * 1951–52: Kolejarz Warsaw * 1952–53: ''not played'' * 1953–54:

Gwardia Warsaw WKS Gwardia Warszawa () was a Polish sports club based in Warsaw. The club was founded in 1948. The club was dissolved in 2018. Football It participated in the Polish 1st League from 1953 to 1960 (8 seasons), 1962–1966 (5 seasons), 1967–19 ...

* 1954–55: CWKS Warsaw * 1955–56: CWKS Warsaw (2) * 1956–57: ŁKS Łódź * 1958–61: ''not played'' * 1961–62: Zagłębie Sosnowiec * 1962–63: Zagłębie Sosnowiec (2) * 1963–64:

(3) * 1964–65:

* 1965–66:

(4) * 1966–67: Wisła Kraków (2) * 1967–68:

(2) * 1968–69:

(3) * 1969–70:

(4) * 1970–71:

(5) * 1971–72:

(6) * 1972–73:

(5) * 1973–74:

Ruch Chorzów Ruch Chorzów () is a Polish professional association football, football club based in Chorzów, Upper Silesia. It is one of the most successful football teams in Poland, having won fourteen List of Polish football champions, Polish Championship ...

(2) * 1974–75: Stal Rzeszów^II * 1975–76:

Śląsk Wrocław Wrocławski Klub Sportowy Śląsk Wrocław Spółka Akcyjna, commonly known as WKS Śląsk Wrocław (), is a Polish professional Association football, football club based in Wrocław that plays in , the second level of the Polish football leagu ...

* 1976–77: Zagłębie Sosnowiec (3) * 1977–78: Zagłębie Sosnowiec (4) * 1978–79: Arka Gdynia * 1979–80:

(6) * 1980–81:

(7) * 1981–82:

Lech Poznań Kolejowy Klub Sportowy Lech Poznań S.A., commonly referred to as KKS Lech Poznań or simply Lech Poznań (), is a Polish professional football club based in Poznań and currently competing in the Ekstraklasa, the nation's highest division. ...

* 1982–83: Lechia Gdańsk^III * 1983–84:

(2) * 1984–85:

Widzew Łódź RTS Widzew Łódź () is a Polish football (soccer), 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-wh ...

* 1985–86: GKS Katowice * 1986–87:

(2) * 1987–88:

(3) * 1988–89:

(8) * 1989–90:

(9) * 1990–91: GKS Katowice (2) * 1991–92: Miedź Legnica^II * 1992–93: GKS Katowice (3) * 1993–94:

(10) * 1994–95:

(11) * 1995–96:

^II (3) * 1996–97:

(12) * 1997–98: Amica Wronki * 1998–99: Amica Wronki (2) * 1999–2000: Amica Wronki (3) * 2000–01: Polonia Warsaw (2) * 2001–02: Wisła Kraków (3) * 2002–03: Wisła Kraków (4) * 2003–04:

(4) * 2004–05: ''not awarded''The original winners were Dyskobolia Grodzisk Wielkopolski. By the resolution of the PZPN management board of 2 September 2020, they were deprived of the title in connection with proven cases of match-fixing.Skarb - Dyskobolia Grodzisk Wielkopolski
. 90minut.pl (in Polish). 2021-01-21. * 2005–06: Wisła Płock * 2006–07: Dyskobolia Grodzisk Wielkopolski * 2007–08:

(13) * 2008–09:

(5) * 2009–10: Jagiellonia Białystok * 2010–11:

(14) * 2011–12:

(15) * 2012–13:

(16) * 2013–14: Zawisza Bydgoszcz * 2014–15:

(17) * 2015–16:

(18) * 2016–17: Arka Gdynia (2) * 2017–18:

(19) * 2018–19: Lechia Gdańsk (2) * 2019–20: Cracovia * 2020–21: Raków Częstochowa * 2021–22: Raków Częstochowa (2) * 2022–23:

(20) * 2023–24: Wisła Kraków^II (5) * 2024–25:

(21) :

^II ''Team played in the second level of the Polish league football''

^III ''Team played in the third level of the Polish league football''