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

Wałbrzych Wałbrzych (; ; or ''Walmbrich''; or ) is a city located in the Lower Silesian Voivodeship, in southwestern Poland, seat of Wałbrzych County. Wałbrzych lies approximately southwest of the voivodeship capital Wrocław and about from the Czec ...

. 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 as ''KS Julia Biały Kamień'', near the ''Julia'' coal mine. Later, immigrant workers from

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

and

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

renamed the club to ''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 (; 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 ...

, 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 association football, football club from Zabrze. Górnik is one of the most successful Polish football clubs in history, winning ...

and

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 ...

. Zagłębie participated in the games of the

UEFA Cup The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

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

FK Teplice FK Teplice is a Czech professional football club based in the city of Teplice. The club competes in Czech First League, the top tier of Czech football. The club was founded after World War II in 1945. The club advanced to the Czechoslovak First ...

(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 Gornik may refer to one of the following. * Gornik, Pleven Province, a village in Cherven Bryag Municipality, Bulgaria *April Gornik, an American painter *Górnik (meaning "miner" in Polish) is a common name of Polish sports teams: **Górnik Konin ...

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'' 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 ( ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ) is a historical and geographical region mostly located in Poland with small portions in the Czech Republic and Germany. It is the western part of the region of Silesia. Its largest city is Wrocław. The first ...

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

Honours

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 ...

**Third place: 1970–71 *

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 ...

**Quarter-finalists: 1962–63, 1992–93 *

**Round of 32: 1971–72

European record

Notable players

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

Poland national football team The Poland national football team () represents Poland in men's international Association football, football competitions since their first match in 1921. It is governed by the Polish Football Association (PZPN), the governing body for football ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Zaglebie Walbrzych Sports clubs and teams 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