Widzew Łódź

RTS Widzew Łódź

Full name	RTS Widzew Łódź
Founded	1910 as TMRF Widzew 1922 reformed as RTS Widzew 2015 reformed as RTS Widzew
Ground	Stadion Miejski Widzewa Łódź, Poland
Capacity	18,008
Chairman	Piotr Szor
Manager	Janusz Niedźwiedź
League	I liga
2020–21	9th
Home colours Away colours Third colours
Current season

RTS Widzew Łódź (Polish pronunciation: [ˈɛr ˈtɛ ˈɛs ˈvʲidzɛf ˈwut͡ɕ]) is a Polish 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-white-reds).

History[]

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The club was founded in 1910 as Towarzystwo Miłośników Rozwoju Fizycznego Widzew (Society of Physical Development Fans Widzew).

After the first world war the club was reactivated in 1922 as Robotnicze Towarzystwo Sportowe Widzew Łódź (Workers' Sports Association Widzew Łódź).

Widzew has won four Polish league championships (in 1981, 1982, 1996 and 1997) and the 1985 Polish Cup.^[1]

After winning the League in 1982, 14 years later in 1996 Widzew Łódź managed to win the Polish League Championship after a record season once again.^[2] During the successful season of 96 Widzew Łódź conceded only 22 goals in 34 matches. In that season no other team in the polish league had such a strong defensive. But also the offensive in that year was extraordinary scoring 84 goals securing altogether 88 points.^[3] Thanks to the great performance of Wozniak the team remained unbeaten for the whole season.

In the following season 1996–1997 the team from Widzew Łódź played a great season as well. At the end they were rewarded with winning the polish league championship a consecutive time. Once again the defence secured a solid result with 74 to 21 goals.^[4]

They have appeared in 117 matches in European Cups, of which they won 42. Widzew knocked European giants Manchester United out of the 1980–81 UEFA Cup, although their biggest achievement was reaching the semi-final of the 1982–83 European Cup, eliminating then 3 times winners Liverpool along the way.

Recent history[]

In the beginning of season 2007/2008 Widzew was bought by one of the wealthiest men in Poland – .^[5]

In January 2008, while playing in the Second League, the Polish Football Association ruled that Widzew Łódź should be relegated due to their involvement in a corruption scandal. However, Widzew became champions that year and were allowed to stay in the second division, which was renamed First League (I liga) before the start of the 2008–09 season. Despite the deduction of six points as a penalty, Widzew managed to become champions once again, and were finally promoted to the Ekstraklasa. In total, Widzew played 35 seasons at the highest level before being relegated in the 2013–14 season.

Due to financial problems, Widzew finished last at the end of the 2014–15 I Liga season. Subsequently, the club ruled by Sylwester Cacek went bankrupt.

In consequence local businessmen led by and decided to take on amateur status as a new association called Stowarzyszenie Reaktywacja Tradycji Sportowych Widzew Łódź (Association of the Reactivation of the Sports Traditions of Widzew Łódź),^[6] which continues the tradition of the old RTS Widzew Łódź. The new association was registered in a Polish court on 2.07.2015, and within a few weeks of summer 2015 they managed to find new coach and collect a new squad, which started the 2015/2016 season in the fifth tier of Polish football. In first season in IV League Widzew has promoted to higher tier. In season 2016/17 Widzew achieved third place in III League, after and ŁKS Łódź but next season yielded promotion to II League. In the season 2018/19 they finished on the fifth place with 55 points. The current season 2020/21 did not start to good with Widzew Łódź being on the 13th place.^[7]

Achievements[]

Domestic[]

• Ekstraklasa (First Division):
  • Winner (4): 1980–81, 1981–82, 1995–96, 1996–97
  • 2nd place (7): 1976–77, 1978–79, 1979–80, 1982–83, 1983–84, 1994–95, 1998–99
• Polish First League (Second Division):
  • Winner (3): 2005–06, 2008–09, 2009–10
• Polish Cup:
  • Winner (1): 1985
• Polish SuperCup:
  • Winner (1): 1996
  • Finalist (1): 1997
• Polish League Cup:
  • Finalist (1): 1977

Europe[]

• UEFA Champions League/European Cup:
  • Semi-Finalist (1): 1982–83
• Copa del Sol:
  • Runner-up (1): 2013

Youth Team[]

• Polish U-19 Runner Up: 1995
  • Polish U-19 Bronze Medal: 1936, 1937, 1997

Honours in the Polish Ekstraklasa (to 2008 Polish 1st Division)[]

	Season	Position	Matches	Points	Goals	W.-D.-L.
1	1948	14 (relegation to 2nd division)	26	13 pts.	31–99	5–3–18
2	1975/76	5	30	32 pts.	33–33	10–12–8
3	1976/77	2	30	38 pts.	46–31	14–10–6
4	1977/78	10	30	28 pts.	34–40	9–10–11
5	1978/79	2	30	39 pts.	37–26	14–11–5
6	1979/80	2	30	36 pts.	47–39	13–10–7
7	1980/81	1	30	39 pts.	39–25	14–11–5
8	1981/82	1	30	39 pts.	45–31	14–11–5
9	1982/83	2	30	38 pts.	50–30	13–12–5
10	1983/84	2	30	42 pts.	43–25	15–12–3
11	1984/85	3	30	38 pts.	34–16	13–12–5
12	1985/86	3	30	41 pts.	40–25	15–11–4
13	1986/87	6	30	36 pts.	34–29	14–7–9
14	1987/88	5	30	31 pts.	28–24	8–15–7
15	1988/89	7	30	29 pts.	27–27	9–12–9
16	1989/90	15 (relegation to 2nd division.)	30	17 pts.	22–39	4–12–14
17	1991/92	3	34	43 pts.	48–28	17–9–8
18	1992/93	5	34	43 pts.	60–42	16–11–7
19	1993/94	6	34	39 pts.	45–33	12–15–7
20	1994/95	2	34	45 pts.	48–25	17–11–6
21	1995/96	1	34	88 pts.	84–22	27–7–0
22	1996/97	1	34	81 pts.	74–20	25–6–3
23	1997/98	4	34	61 pts.	53–34	18–7–9
24	1998/99	2	30	56 pts.	50–33	18–2–10
25	1999/00	7	30	40 pts.	48–54	11–7–12
26	2000/01	12	30	36 pts.	33–40	9–9–12
27	2001/02
	Autumn round – group A:	8	14	11 pts.	9–24	3–2–9
	Spring round – g. relegation:	2	14	31 pts.	19–8	6–7–1
28	2002/03	9	30	37 pts.	29–39	10–7–13
29	2003/04	14 (relegation)	26	19 pts.	25–52	4–7–15
30	2006/07	12	30	28 pts.	27–48	7–7–16
31	2007/08	15 (relegation)	30	26 pts.	27–42	5–11–14
32	2010/11	9	30	43 pts.	41–34	11–10–9
33	2011/12	11	30	39 pts.	25–26	9–12–9
34	2012/13	13	30	33 pts.	30–41	8–9–13
35	2013/14	15 (relegation to 1st division)	37	22 pts.	36–59	8–9–20

Widzew in Europe[]

Season	Competition	Round	Club	Score
1977–78	UEFA Cup	1R	Manchester City	2–2, 0–0
		2R	PSV Eindhoven	3–5, 0–1
1979–80	UEFA Cup	1R	AS Saint-Étienne	2–1, 0–3
1980–81	UEFA Cup	1R	Manchester United	1–1, 0–0
		2R	Juventus FC	3–1, 1–3 p. 4–1
		3R	Ipswich Town	0–5, 1–0
1981–82	European Cup	1R	RSC Anderlecht	1–4, 1–2
1982–83	European Cup	1R	Hibernians FC	4–1, 3–1
		2R	SK Rapid Wien	1–2, 5–3
		1/4F	Liverpool F.C.	2–0, 2–3
		1/2F	Juventus FC	0–2, 2–2
1983–84	UEFA Cup	1R	IF Elfsborg	0–0, 2–2
		2R	Sparta Prague	1–0, 0–3
1984–85	UEFA Cup	1R	Aarhus Gymnastik Forening	2–0, 0–1
		2R	Borussia Mönchengladbach	2–3, 1–0
		3R	FC Dinamo Minsk	0–2, 1–0
1985–86	European Cup Winners' Cup	1R	Galatasaray SK	0–1, 2–1
1986–87	UEFA Cup	1R	LASK Linz	1–1, 1–0
		2R	Bayer 05 Uerdingen	0–0, 0–2
1992–93	UEFA Cup	1R	Eintracht Frankfurt	2–2, 0–9
1995–96	UEFA Cup	Q	Bangor City FC	4–0, 1–0
		1R	FC Chornomorets Odessa	1–0, 0–1 p. 5–6
1996–97	UEFA Champions League	Q	Brøndby IF	2–1, 2–3
		GR	Borussia Dortmund	1–2, 2–2
		GR	Atlético Madrid	1–4, 0–1
		GR	Steaua București	0–1, 2–0
1997–98	UEFA Champions League	1Q	Neftchi Baku	2–0, 8–0
		2Q	Parma FC	1–3, 0–4
	UEFA Cup	1R	Udinese Calcio	1–0, 0–3
1999–00	UEFA Champions League	2Q	Litex Lovech	4–1, 1–4 p. 3–2
		3Q	ACF Fiorentina	1–3, 0–2
	UEFA Cup	1R	Skonto FC	0–1, 2–0
		2R	AS Monaco FC	1–1, 0–2

Current squad[]

As of 31 July 2021^[8]

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 Mateusz Ludwikowski 2 DF  POL Michał Grudniewski 3 DF  POL Filip Becht 5 DF  POL Tomasz Dejewski 7 MF  POL Mateusz Michalski 8 FW  POL Paweł Tomczyk 9 FW  POL Przemysław Kita 10 MF  POL Juliusz Letniowski (on loan from Lech Poznań) 15 DF  POL Krystian Nowak 16 FW  POL Karol Danielak 17 FW  POL Bartosz Guzdek 19 MF  POL Patryk Mucha 22 MF  POL Dominik Kun

No. Pos. Nation Player 23 DF  POL Pawel Zielinski 25 MF  CZE Marek Hanousek 27 DF  POL Daniel Tanżyna 29 MF  POL Mateusz Malec 30 FW  POL Kacper Karasek 31 DF  POL Dawid Owczarek 44 GK  POL Jakub Wrąbel 55 MF  GHA Abdul Aziz Tetteh 68 FW  POL Karol Czubak 69 GK  POL Konrad Reszka 92 DF  POR Fábio Nunes 95 DF  POL Patryk Stępiński 97 MF  POL Radosław Gołębiowski

Out on loan[]

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

No. Pos. Nation Player

Notable players[]

Managers[]

^[9]

Stadium[]

The club's home stadium was the Stadion Miejski opened in 1930. The stadium, which was owned by the city of Łódź, had a capacity of 10,500 seats. In early 2015, it was demolished to make way for a new stadium with 18,000 seats. It was intended the new stadium will be completed by November 2016.

In the 2014–2015 season, its last season as a professional club, Widzewa played their home matches in Byczyna near Poddębice, 40 km west of Łódź.^[10]

After bankruptcy and relegation to the 4th division a rebuilt team was forced to play its domestic games in Łódź at UKS SMS Łódź stadium,^[11] during the construction of a new Widzew's stadium.

The first match on new stadium was played on 18 March 2017, Widzew won against 2:0.^[12] 17,443 fans attended the game.

Fans[]

Widzew has one of the largest fan-bases in Poland with fan-clubs all around the country. Widzew's biggest rival is ŁKS Łódź, with whom they contest the Łódź Derby. Legia Warsaw are also big rivals, with whom they contest the Derby of Poland, which stems from the fact there were frequent title races between the two clubs. GKS Bełchatów is third biggest rival of Widzew. Their fans maintain friendly relations with fans of Ruch Chorzów, Elana Toruń, KKS Kalisz, Wisła Kraków and CSKA Moscow.^[13]

TMRF Widzew Łódź[]

TMRF Widzew was a football team created by the active supporters of Widzew in 2014, who were in a long conflict with the club board. Only Widzew supporters were admitted to the squad.

Regular season[]

See also[]

• Football in Poland
• List of football teams
• Champions' Cup/League
• UEFA Cup

References[]

External links[]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Widzew Łódź.

• Official website (in Polish)
• Widzew Łódź at www.90minut.pl (in Polish)