Polonia Bytom

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Polonia Bytom

Full name	Klub Sportowy Polonia Bytom Spółka Akcyjna
Nickname(s)	"Blue & Reds", "Queen of Silesia"
Founded	4 January 1920
Ground	Stadion Edwarda Szymkowiaka
Capacity	5,500[1]
Manager	Kamil Rakoczy
League	III liga
2019–20	2nd[2]
Home colours Away colours
Current season

Polonia Bytom (Polish pronunciation: [pɔˈlɔɲja ˈbɨtɔm]) is a Polish football club founded on 4 January 1920 in the Upper Silesian city of Bytom, during the hectic months of the Silesian Uprisings. In late 1922, however, as a result of the Upper Silesia plebiscite, Bytom remained part of Germany and the club ceased to exist.

In May 1945, numerous players and officials of another Polish club, Pogoń Lwów, arrived in Bytom and decided to revive Polonia. On 17 May 1945, the team played its first game in over two decades, defeating Warta Poznań 3–2.

Polonia is considered the continuation of Pogoń Lwów; its logo is very similar to the logo of Lwów's team as well as their colours, red-blue.

Polish international player and goalkeeper Edward Szymkowiak played for the club. The club stadium is named after him, and has a capacity of 5,500 spectators.

Polonia has won the Polish championship twice, in 1954 and 1962. In 1952, 1958, 1959 and 1961 Bytom was the vice-champion of Poland. In June 2007 Polonia Bytom, after many years, returned to the Polish Ekstraklasa. However, in 2011, the club was relegated to the I liga after finishing bottom of the table with just six wins all season.^[3]

Honours[]

Domestic[]

• Ekstraklasa
  • Winners (2): 1954, 1962
  • Runner-up (4): 1952, 1958, 1959, 1961
• Polish Cup
  • Runner-up (3): 1963–64, 1972–73, 1976—77

Continental[]

• UEFA Intertoto Cup
  • Winners (1): 1964–65
  • Runner-up (1): 1963–64
• International Soccer League
  • Winners (1): 1965

Youth Teams[]

• • Polish U-19 Champion: 1963, 1970, 1978
  • Polish U-19 Runner Up: 1956

Supporters[]

Polonia Bytom supporters were the first organised fan-club in Poland. They have introduced scarfs, flags and organised chants. Many of the other supporters groups were travelling to Bytom only to watch how Polonia's fans are cheering their club and behaving on the stadium.

The fans have friendships with fans of Arka Gdynia which dates back to 1974, one of the longest friendships in supporter history which has survived to date;^[4] and with fans of Odra Opole, since 1987.

Polonia biggest rivals are local teams Górnik Zabrze, Ruch Radzionków, Ruch Chorzów (The Oldest Silesian Derby) and Szombierki Bytom (Derby of Bytom). The other groups which are not very welcome in Bytom are fans from Zaglebie Sosnowiec, Legia Warszawa and Lechia Gdańsk.

Polonia Bytom firm is commonly known as Desperados.

League participations^[5][]

Ekstraklasa: 1948–1949 (2 seasons), 1951–1955 (5 seasons), 1957–1976 (20 seasons), 1977–1980, 1986–1987, 2007–2011

First League: 1950, 1956, 1976–1977, 1980–1986, 1987–2001, 2005–2007, 2011–2013

Second League: 2001–2005, 2013–2014, 2015–

Third League: 2014–2015

Current squad[]

As of 13 April 2020

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK  POL Dawid Gargasz 3 DF  POL Michał Bedronka 7 MF  POL Tomasz Pośpiech 9 MF  POL Łukasz Matusiak 10 MF  POL Dawid Krzemień 11 FW  POL Łukasz Krakowczyk (on loan from Piast Gliwice) 12 GK  POL Maciej Wierzbicki 13 MF  POL Wojciech Mróz 14 FW  POL Dawid Rudnik (on loan from Polonia Gościęcin) 15 MF  POL Jakub Czajkowski 16 MF  POL Patryk Stefański

No. Pos. Nation Player 17 FW  POL Filip Zagiel 18 FW  POL Adam Zak 19 MF  POL Jakub Belica 21 MF  POL Krzysztof Hałgas 22 MF  POL Mariusz Fornalczyk 23 MF  POL Marcin Lachowski 24 MF  POL Dominik Budzik 25 MF  POL Dominik Konieczny 27 DF  POL Dawid Kozicki 29 MF  POL Przemysław Mizgała 30 DF  POL Norbert Radkiewicz

Polonia in Europe[]

Season	Competition	Round	Country	Club	Home	Away	Aggregate/Position
1964–65	Intertoto Cup	Group C3		Lens	4-0	1-3	Winner/1st
				Schalke 04	6-0	0-2
				Degerfors IF	6-0	1-1
		1R	Bye
		Quarter final		Karl-Marx-Stadt FC	0-2	4-1	4-3
		Semi-final		RFC Liège	0-1	3-1	3-2
		Final		Lokomotive Leipzig	0-3	5-1	5-4
1958/59	European Cup	Q		MTK Budapest	0–3	0–3	0-6
1962/63	European Cup	Q		Panathinaikos FC	2–1	4–1	6-2
		1R		Galatasaray S.K.	1–4	1–0	2-4

References[]

External links[]

• Club logo
• Official website
• Official FanClub

Coordinates: 50°21′27.21″N 18°53′55.38″E / 50.3575583°N 18.8987167°E / 50.3575583; 18.8987167