The Most Successful Football Clubs In Poland

Poland’s top division, the Ekstraklasa, has produced 20 different champions across its 97 year history, a greater variety to most. This is despite Legia Warsaw and Gornik Zabrze both enjoying sustained periods of dominance, accruing titles by the plentiful.

Of the rest, some are sadly no longer with us, while others have plummeted into semi-obscurity. Many though have thrived, navigating a path to success, at times with the football odds stacked against them.

Polish football’s past is rife with political interference and financial challenges. Simply to survive from then to now is an achievement. To win a trophy or two along the way is nothing short of exceptional.

Lech Poznań

Brits are most aware of the ‘Railwaymen’ due to their unusual style of celebration, that entails fans turning their back to the pitch when rejoicing in a goal. This eye-catching act, complete with jumping up and down on the spot, has since been adopted by Manchester City supporters and become known as ‘doing the Poznan’.

In Poland meanwhile, despite being an almost constant fixture of the top-flight beyond the Second World War the club were rarely viewed as a threat. This made them popular among neutrals. A second favourite team to many.

That all changed in 1980 when Wojciech Lazarek took charge, the manager completely transforming the club’s fortunes and turning them into regular title challengers.

Back-to-back Ekstraklasa triumphs were attained in the early Eighties and there followed a rich vein of success that is showing no signs of abating.  In the last three decades, Lech have won eight league crowns, five domestic cups, and competed in over 150 European games.

Wisła Kraków

Presently the ‘White Star’ languish in the second tier (I Liga) but even in a relative slump they remain a trophy-winning proposition. In 2024 they secured the Polish Cup, becoming only the fifth side outside of the top-flight to ever do so.

Still, finishing mid-table last term, with promotion never part of the conversation, is a reflection on how far this giant of Polish football has fallen, a club that once reached the last eight of the European Cup and has competed in the UEFA Cup on ten occasions.

Formerly called TS Wisla, the occupants of the Henryk Reyman Municipal Stadium have won 13 Ekstraklasa titles across its 118-year existence and are, by some distance, the biggest club in Kraków, a city that used to be Poland’s capital.

That honour was switched to Warsaw in the sixteenth century which partly explains the intense rivalry with Legia Warsaw, as two of the most successful clubs in Polish football’s history compete while representing the north and south of the country.

The fixture has been dubbed ‘The Derby of Poland’.

Ruch Chorzów

With a population of two million, Chorzów resides in Upper Silesia, a region known for its heavy industry and mining. The club therefore is deeply proud of its working class roots.

Nicknamed the Blues for very obvious reasons, Ruch won the Ekstraklasa five times pre-war then a further five more times leading up to the nineteen-seventies whereupon the club elevated itself to even greater heights by experiencing a golden period.

Led by legendary coach Michal Vican, the Blues secured a famous double in 1974 before advancing to the quarter finals of the UEFA Cup and European Cup in consecutive seasons. These achievements were inspired by some wonderful talents, most notably Zygmunt Maszcyzk and striker Joachim Marx, admired for his powerful shooting.

Subsequent financial problems resulted in the Blues nose-diving to Poland’s third tier but in recent times some much-needed equilibrium has been restored. Indeed, Ruch are well fancied in the betting to make a welcome return to the top-flight in the not-too-distant future.

Górnik Zabrze

A pedigree name in Poland, Górnik are another club with an association with Manchester City, losing to the English side in the UEFA Cup Winners Cup final in 1970. They additionally reached the last eight of the European Cup two years earlier.

A remarkable 14 league crowns and six Polish Cups places the Miners as the second most successful Polish club and even if such successes have dried up in recent years – last lifting a meaningful trophy in 2001 – they will forever be Ekstraklasa aristocracy.

Moreover, their fan-base to worth considering, a fervent and loyal horde who turn up in great numbers. When the club reclaimed their top division status in 2017 Górnik boasted the highest attendances that season by far, with every game sold out.

Legia Warsaw

One of the founding members of the Ekstraklasa, Legia have not experienced relegation since regrouping after the Second World War. They have won a record 15 league titles, along with 20 Polish Cups and five Polish Super Cups. They have also been blessed with a plethora of true homegrown greats down the generations, including Lesław Ćmikiewicz and Kazimierz Deyna.

Unquestionably then, the club with strong military links dating back to their forming in 1916 are the biggest, and most successful Polish club of them all.

That being said, could it be argued that their record in European competition has historically been somewhat underwhelming?

Granted, reaching the semi-finals of the European Cup and UEFA Cup Winners Cup – in 1970 and 1991 respectively – is no small feat. Yet it’s still notable that a club of such stature has failed to feature in a single final.

No matter, because the Legionaries will once again be well backed to secure the league title this season for a century’s worth of reasons.