Centenary

– Football league a reality! Twelve top clubs have voted for a change in the football system in Poland! – Przegląd Sportowy cried from its front page in December 1926. That was when the first football league in Poland was established. In April 1927, the inaugural season of the competition began. By 1939, twelve Polish champions had been crowned under this system. During the thirteenth edition, however, World War II broke out.

Before that, the Poles had made their debut at the World Cup and reached the medal zone at the Olympic Games. Clubs, meanwhile, were growing increasingly bold on the international stage in friendly matches against foreign rivals. Many Ekstraklasa players had even managed to achieve international fame. Particularly among the forwards, as this period was renowned for its high average goals scored. Five times it exceeded the level of four goals per match. Not once did it drop below 3.6 goals per game! As a result, the early years of the league produced many league records that remain unbroken to this day. These include: the biggest victory, the longest consecutive scoring streak, the most goals scored individually in a season and in a match, and the highest-scoring draw.

There is no shortage of opinions that the Polish league had a chance to become one of the strongest in Europe at the turn of the 1930s and 1940s. However, World War II stood in the way. It took as many as six years of careers from footballers, often during their best sporting period. Some players died on the fronts, in German concentration camps, or in Siberian exile. Some remained outside the country's borders. Others revealed their negative side by signing the Volksliste, which immediately prevented them from playing in Poland again. Thus, only a small handful from the generation known before 1 September 1939 from the pitches joined the league. Their successors were a generation growing up during wartime.

The people changed, and so did the country. Poland lost Lwów with its former Ekstraklasa clubs - Pogoń, Czarni, Hasmonea, and Lechia, and Wilno - with Śmigły. It gained, however, the greater part of Upper Silesia, Lower Silesia with Wrocław, and Pomerania with Gdańsk and Szczecin. It was therefore necessary to plant Polish identity here. Its seed was the native clubs. Soon, new regular league players were born in these cities. Sovereignty was not full, however. A communist system ruled the country. Footballers could not travel to foreign leagues. The authorities even changed the personal details of some of them! Clubs also faced a forced change of their names following the Soviet model. Hence, in the league, instead of Wisła Kraków, Gwardia appeared, Legia became CWKS, Ruch Chorzów became Unia, and Cracovia became Ogniwo. The teams were assigned to professional branches (police, military, textile, metallurgical, mining, etc.), and the footballers were officially amateurs employed at large industrial plants.

After 1945, the Polish champion was determined in a cup system for two seasons. Only from 1948 did the league get going again, and it has operated continuously ever since. Fans could also occasionally watch the exploits of top-flight footballers on Polish television. The first broadcast took place in 1957. Not long after, floodlights made their debut. Sportingly, it was a period of great isolation. Only after Stalin's death did contacts with clubs from other countries revive. A Polish team, Gwardia Warszawa, also took part in the first ever edition of the European Champion Clubs' Cup, today known as the Champions League. The national team - composed exclusively of players from the Polish league - participated in two editions of the Olympic Games (1952 and 1960). The greatest joy, however, was perhaps brought by the unexpected 2:1 victory over the Soviet Union in 1957.

Today one might wonder - how on earth did the generation of players active in the 1960s fail to achieve success on the international stage. After all, it was during that time that Ernest Pohl and Lucjan Brychczy were waging a correspondence duel on the pitches of the Ekstraklasa for the title of the competition's all-time top scorer. In goal, Edward Szymkowiak dazzled. Stanisław Oślizło set an unattainable standard as a defender. And gradually a guard of players born after World War II began to make their voices heard, such as Włodzimierz Lubański, Zygmunt Anczok, Zygfryd Szołtysik, Kazimierz Deyna, Robert Gadocha, Jerzy Gorgoń and Lesław Ćmikiewicz. Despite all this, that impressive blend failed to earn the Poland national team qualification for any major tournament. .

They took revenge for their defeats in the colours of their clubs. It was precisely during these years that the best decade for Polish clubs in European cups fell. Górnik Zabrze reached the final of the Cup Winners' Cup (1969/70) and the quarter-final of the European Cup (1967/68). Legia Warszawa reached the semi-final of the European Cup (1969/70) and the quarter-final of the Cup Winners' Cup. Polonia Bytom, meanwhile, won the Rappan Cup (1965), reached the final of that competition one edition earlier, and in the USA won the America Cup and the Interliga. Three players from the Ekstraklasa scored points in the Ballon d'Or poll during that decade. Several others played in prestigious matches for the World XI.

While in the European cups the results of Górnik, Legia and Polonia drew equal admiration, on the domestic front that decade was clearly dominated by the team from Zabrze. From 1961 to 1970 they won six championship titles. To this day they remain the only team in history to have claimed the title in five consecutive editions. In the remaining seasons they never fell outside the podium. Besides Górnik, the championship was also won by: Polonia Bytom (1962), Ruch Chorzów (1968), and at the close of the decade the double fell to Legia Warszawa (1969 and 1970).

The 1960s in Poland belonged to club football. The following decade, however, marked the beginning of the most glorious episode in Polish international football. At the 1972 Olympic Games, the Poles won gold. A year later they defeated England in Chorzów, and away from home achieved a "winning draw" at Wembley in the most famous match in the national team's history, securing qualification for the World Cup. Among the best teams in the world they claimed third place, defeating Argentina, Italy, Brazil, Yugoslavia, Sweden and Haiti. Then, in Montreal in 1976, the Poles stepped onto the second step of the Olympic podium. And even that result was met with a sense of wanting more… Additionally, Poland had the top scorer of each of those three tournaments. In order: Kazimierz Deyna, Grzegorz Lato and Andrzej Szarmach. Several other Polish players were nominated for the Ballon d'Or.

Those medal-winning squads were composed entirely of players from the domestic league. The Ekstraklasa became known as a breeding ground for world-class stars. League matches were therefore regularly a stage for some of the best footballers on the planet. Clubs boasting such great stars of international calibre managed fairly regularly to reach the quarter-finals of European competitions. In the European Cup of Champion Clubs, that stage was reached by – Legia Warszawa (1971), Ruch Chorzów (1975) and Wisła Kraków (1979), in the Cup Winners' Cup – Górnik Zabrze (1971) and Śląsk Wrocław (1977), and in the UEFA Cup – Ruch Chorzów (1974) and Stal Mielec (1976).

On the domestic front – Górnik Zabrze extended their record to 16 consecutive seasons on the Ekstraklasa podium, capping it with the title in 1972. The club that finished at the top of the table most often during that decade, however, was their derby rivals – Ruch Chorzów (3 times). After years of absence, Wisła Kraków also claimed the gold. Alongside these great clubs, three first-time champions also emerged – Stal Mielec, Śląsk Wrocław and Szombierki. Thanks to the latter club, Bytom became the third city after Kraków and Warszawa from which two teams had won the Polish championship. Later, Łódź and Poznań also joined that group.

The new generation of players, once they had found their footing, did not need to live off the glory of their great predecessors. Their peak form came in the early 1980s. At the World Cup, this group – reinforced by just four medal-winners from Górski's squad – repeated the achievement of their predecessors by finishing in 3rd place. In club football, the greatest feat was accomplished by Widzew Łódź, who reached the semi-finals of the European Champion Clubs' Cup in 1983, thereby equalling the Polish record in that competition. Along the way they eliminated the famous Liverpool FC. The season before, in the UEFA Cup, Manchester United and Juventus FC had been knocked out in clashes with the Łódź side. In addition, Legia Warszawa once appeared in the quarter-finals of the Cup Winners' Cup.

All these achievements took place between 1981 and 1983. Almost every child in Poland knows these dates from history lessons. They coincide with the dates of martial law. Life in the country had almost come to a standstill. This also applied to football. The national team played no friendly matches and even faced the very real threat of being eliminated from the World Cup. During the tournament itself, Telewizja Polska performed miracles to ensure that no one would notice the "Solidarność" flags. Hence the 0:0 draw with the Soviet Union, which secured a place in the semi-finals of the tournament, became a symbol.

It was a period that was difficult in political and social terms. At the same time, it was decidedly better in footballing terms than the second half of the decade. Just as a foreign club had previously represented the epilogue of a Polish player's career, it now became a normal stage, even for players under thirty. Together with foreign clubs, Zbigniew Boniek, Józef Młynarczyk and Andrzej Buncol even went on to win European trophies. Poland continued to produce many talented players. However, they left their home country early. As a result, between 1980 (Andrzej Szarmach) and 1996 (Marek Koniarek and Jerzy Podbrożny), no one new joined the Club 100, which brings together players who have scored at least 100 goals in the Ekstraklasa.

After years of dominance by clubs that had been playing since before the war – Wisła Kraków, Ruch Chorzów, Legia Warszawa – interspersed with the dominance of Górnik Zabrze, the time came for the birth of new powers. These were Widzew Łódź and Lech Poznań, built largely on private money. Between them, they shared the honours in the first four editions of the league in the 1980s. Later, however, Górnik Zabrze came to the fore again, winning four times in a row. During this period, even Ruch Chorzów suffered their first relegation – the last club to have played in the Ekstraklasa continuously since the competition's inaugural season. After a season in exile, they returned and... as a newly promoted side, became champions of Poland!

It was then that Poland achieved their last medal success at a major international tournament, winning the Olympic silver medal in 1992 in Barcelona. The Games were played under different rules than in the seventies, when the white-and-reds had claimed gold and silver. This time, U-23 teams took part. A Lech Poznań player, Andrzej Juskowiak, became the third Polish top scorer in the history of the Olympic tournament. Second place in that ranking went to Legia Warszawa striker Wojciech Kowalczyk.

The Poles' participation would not have been possible without the so-called Olympic Foundation, which enabled the team to be financed from private sources. Club football was also increasingly relying on this pillar. State-owned enterprises were losing significance and profitability, and so they withdrew from supporting clubs. Some Poles, however, managed to amass fortunes during this period (though often only seemingly so) and eagerly entered the football business. Thus Bogusław Cupiał appeared at Wisła Kraków, Janusz Romanowski supported Legia and later Polonia Warszawa, Andrzej Pawelec and Andrzej Grajewski rebuilt the might of Widzew Łódź, while on the other side of Łódź, ŁKS was taken over by Antoni Ptak. Their ideas more than once sent shivers down the spines of tradition lovers. For business reasons, the league at various times featured Legia-Daewoo Warszawa, Hoop-Polonia Warszawa, or short-lived entities following mergers such as Sokół Tychy or Lechia/Olimpia Gdańsk. It was in the nineties that a considerable number of teams made their debuts at the top level of competition. Their premieres included, among others, Odra Wodzisław Śląski, Amica Wronki, GKS Bełchatów, Dyskobolia Grodzisk Wielkopolski, Wisła Płock, Stomil Olsztyn, Hutnik Kraków, Raków Częstochowa, and Ruch Radzionków.

Moreover, it was not only Polish football that was undergoing change. The world of football was increasingly being swept along by currents of commercialisation and marketing. Significant changes took place, among other things, in European competitions. During this time, Europe underwent the greatest administrative transformations since World War II. Several new states emerged from the USSR, led by Russia and Ukraine. Croatia, Slovenia, Macedonia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina separated from Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia split into two countries, and in Germany the Berlin Wall fell. A dozen or so new rivals in Europe thus appeared overnight. The archaic PEMK was renamed the Champions League. The first teams in Poland to reach the group stage of that competition were Legia Warszawa and Widzew Łódź. Legia Warszawa also advanced to the semi-finals of the Cup Winners' Cup at the start of that decade, following their famous battles with Sampdoria Genua. Also to be counted among the successes is Ruch Chorzów's appearance in the Intertoto Cup final.

The political transformation in Poland also opened the door to foreign transfers. Until then, with minor exceptions, the top Polish league had been closed to foreigners for nearly six decades. Following Cameroon's successful performances at the World Cup, a fashion for players from the African continent took hold in Poland in the early 1990s. The first representative of that continent arrived in the top flight in Poland in the spring of 1991. In addition to Africa, players were also brought in en masse from the former Soviet republics and South America. The league also saw some well-known foreign names, most notably the European Championship runner-up Anatoliy Demyanenko, UEFA Cup Winners' Cup winner Uwe Bein, and the World Cup top scorer Oleg Salenko. Famous Polish players also returned. In the 1990s, Ekstraklasa featured, among others, Andrzej Iwan, Dariusz Dziekanowski, Roman Kosecki, Jan Urban, and Mirosław Okoński.

Fans could increasingly watch them on television broadcasts. The 1990s saw the dynamic development of this medium. Ekstraklasa matches appeared regularly on Telewizja Polska, TVN broadcast matches of its sponsored club Wisła Kraków, and from 1995 the now over 30-year partnership between Ekstraklasa and broadcaster CANAL+ also began.

Footballing-wise, the decade began with an unexpected victory by KGHM Zagłębie Lubin. This was followed by a period of back-to-back titles. Two consecutive seasons were won in turn by: Lech Poznań, Legia Warszawa, and Widzew Łódź. The latter two clubs also formed a pair of inseparable rivals during that time. Widzew finished the 1995/1996 season unbeaten, the only team in history to do so, yet still edged out the Army club by just three points. In the following edition, both teams jointly set a record, unbroken to this day, for the most victories in a single Ekstraklasa season (27). Widzew has also held since those competitions the best result in league history for the longest winning streak (13 consecutive matches).

After the turbulent changes of the nineties, the next period brought a degree of normalisation — in social, political, and sporting life alike. The turn of the millennium proved most favourable for Wisła Kraków. From the 1998/1999 season to 2008/2009, they claimed 7 of 11 Polish championships. Throughout that entire decade, they finished outside the TOP-2 only once. Particularly at the beginning of this period, they won the league with a considerable points margin and impressive records. During this time, they set league records including the longest unbeaten run and the longest unbeaten home run.

Wisła Kraków also brought the greatest joy in European competitions. In the 2002/03 season, they even advanced to the last 16 of the UEFA Cup, along the way eliminating, among others, AC Parma and Schalke 04 Gelsenkirchen. In their clash with Lazio Rzym, they came close to reaching the quarter-finals. They were also able to hold their own against Real Madryt and FC Barcelona. They even managed to beat Blaugrana once, thanks to a goal from Cleber. Among other clubs, mention should also be made of Dyskobolia Grodzisk Wielkopolski's run to the last 32 (where they eliminated Manchester City and Hertha Berlin), Lech Poznań reaching the same stage, and Amica Wronki's appearance in the UEFA Cup group stage. Ekstraklasa players also returned to World Cup pitches after a 16-year absence. In 2008, they made their debut at EURO. During this time, the talent of one of the world's finest strikers — Robert Lewandowski — was maturing on the pitches of the top Polish league.

The date of November 18, 2005 marked a milestone towards the professionalization of the competition for the Polish football championship. That was when the first match of the top league was played after Ekstraklasa SA took over the management of the competition. It was a moment in which football competition was covered by professionalism not only in a sporting sense, but also in terms of management, through the centralization of media and marketing rights. For the first time, among other things, a title partner of the competition appeared.

This decade also had its hegemon. Legia Warszawa won the championship in six editions. In two consecutive ones, they finished with silver. The same number of times they had to settle for bronze. Throughout this decade, they always finished on the podium. The club also became the authors of the first Polish team's advancement to the UEFA Champions League group stage in the 21st century. On the domestic front, Lech Poznań became their most dangerous rival. In three consecutive editions (and four overall), they found themselves side by side in the TOP-2.

During this time, a revolution in television production also began. Since July 2011, the exclusive producer of the television signal from all matches in the top league has been Ekstraklasa's subsidiary – Live Park. In that time, it has managed to surpass the barrier of 4,000 produced top-flight matches in Poland. More than 100 of them per season are available in 4K/UHD HDR quality, while the rest are in Full HD quality.

Four seasons – four clubs with the Polish championship, including two for the first time at the top. On the international stage – three UEFA Conference League quarter-finals and advancement to – the highest in history – 12th place in the UEFA national ranking.

This is how this decade began on the Ekstraklasa pitches. Its highlight is the 100th anniversary jubilee of league competition in Poland, falling in the 2026/2027 season.