The Making of the Polish National Football Team

polska_brazylia_1938_nac.jpg, default, The Polish team before the match against Brazil at the Meinau stadium, pictured, amongst others: Ewald Dytko, Antoni Gałecki, Gerard Wodarz, Leonard P

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Most Poles today are familiar with the name Robert Lewandowski, the red-and-white of Polish football kit, and the national anthem that’s played before the start of a match. Even those outside of Poland have seen this national team in action at the World Cup, the Euros, or just international friendlies. Less well-known is the actual history of the Polish national team, and its ups and downs since its official start in 1921. Here is that story.

Before Independence

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19th century map of Europe without Poland, photo: Polona.pl

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19th century map of Europe without Poland. Source: Polona.pl

Before Polish independence in 1918, the Polish territories were controlled by three different empires. Split up between the German Empire, Austria-Hungary and the Russian Empire, Poland faced significant oppression under the rule of foreign kings and governments.

Around the same time, a new sport was being played in England – one they called football – in 1863. Through the invention of the telegraph and the movement of British soldiers and citizens, this new game naturally started to gain popularity over the continent of Europe. It is thought that the Polish were first exposed to football through Austria. In 1900, England declared football their new national sport, and by 1904, Austria had founded the Austrian Football Association.

The story goes that in 1888, a Professor Henryk Jordan – a court physician of the Austrian Hapsburgs and called the pioneer of sports in Poland – opened a sports park in Krakow’s Błonia Park, in the open space around the demolished city walls. The new park, together with the Sokoł or Falcon Polish Gymnastic Society, which had been founded in Lwów in 1867, tried to promote healthy living in Poland through activity and sports.

It was Professor Jordan who specifically promoted football as a great way to spend time outside, and he who is credited with bringing the first football to Poland. Supposedly, he brought the ball back from his travels to Brunswick in England in 1890. However, other sources mention a Dr Edmund Cenar as the carrier of the first ball and the one to translate the Cambridge Rules of the game to the Polish language.

Growing in popularity

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Poland's national football squad celebrating qualification for Euro 2016, National Stadium in Warsaw, 11th November 2015, photo: Piotr Bławicki / East News

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Poland's national football squad celebrating qualification for Euro 2016, National Stadium in Warsaw, 11th November 2015, photo: Piotr Bławicki / East News

A few years later, on 14th July 1894, the first football match in Polish history was recorded. It lasted six minutes in total. Nonetheless, during the Second Sokół Jamboree in Lwów, a game struck up between the Lwów members and those from Kraków. The match was won by the Lwów team, with a score of 1-0. The goal was scored by Włodzimierz Chomicki. This is the first known goal in the history of Polish football.

This minor, six-minute match marked the beginning of the rise of football in Poland. Most people played the sport casually and kept the rules very relaxed. Football was most popular amongst school children who played in gymnasiums all over Galicia. However, without an official government to start a national association, Polish football began at a more local level, with the creation of various clubs out of these gymnasiums.

The IV Gymnasium for Boys formed Pogoń Lwów (the Lwów Chase) in 1904. The students of the I and II State Schools formed the Sława (Glory) Lwów club, which was later renamed to Czarni Lwów (the Lwów Blacks). In the same season, the Lechia Lwów was also formed. It is unknown which of the clubs was created first, as they were initially poorly organized, but Czarni Lwów are usually credited as being the first Polish professional football team. Later, the popularity of the sport spread to nearby Rzeszów, where Resovia Rzeszów was formed. In the German-held part of Poland, the 1. FC Katowice and Warta Poznań were formed.

Another gymnasium team, the Jan Sobieski Gymnasium in Kraków, was actually the first Polish team to compete in an international meeting. In the summer of 1906, the Buffalo Bill Wild West Show had been performing in Kraków – right near the football field. On 5th August, the Jan Sobieski Gymnasium team played against the British and American members of the Buffalo Bill Show and won 1-0. This goal is said to be the first goal scored by a Polish team in an international match.

This success led to football’s intense popularity in Kraków, and to the first professional football team, KS Cracovia, based in Krakow. The base of this team were students of the Jan Sobieski Gymnasium. By the autumn of 1906, there were 16 teams in Krakow. By 1911, the Union of Polish Football for Galicia was founded and entered into the Austrian Football Association.

The Great War

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Polish national football team before match against Hungary during Olympic Games (26th May 1924, Paris), photo: www.audiovis.nac.gov.pl (NAC)

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In 1914, World War I broke out, which pulled many football players away to fight. Most Galician players of the local clubs went to join Pilsudski’s Polish Army. Although this paused the game for the clubs, the soldiers themselves never stopped playing. Fighting alongside the Austro-Hungarian Army in the Russian-held area of Poland, the Galician players actually introduced and spread the new sport to this region.

By 1918, when Poland regained independence, football was now popular all over the country, not just in one region. Soon after, the Polish national federation, called the Polish Football Union, was founded. There were 31 delegates, who elected Edward Cetnarowski as the first president. His reign officially began on 20th December 1919.

Football in the Interwar Period

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The Polish team before the match against Brazil at the Meinau stadium, pictured, amongst others: Ewald Dytko, Antoni Gałecki, Gerard Wodarz, Leonard Piątek, Ernest Wilimowski, Wilhelm Góra, Erwin Nytz, Ryszard Piec, Fryderyk Scherfke (or Szerfke), Edward Madejski & team captain Władysław Szczepaniak, World Football Championship in France, 1938, photo: www.audiovis.nac.gov.pl (NAC)

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The Interwar period saw the beginning of the Polish national team. In 1921, the Hungarian-born Jesza Poszony was appointed as the first ever coach of the team. Their first official international match took place on 18th December 1921, against Hungary. They lost 1-0. Their first international win would come a year later against Sweden, with a score of 2-1.

The Polish side joined FIFA, the governing body of international football, in 1923 – meaning they could now play in tournaments like European Championship or the World Cup. Poland qualified for their first World Cup in 1937 and secured their place in the 1938 World Cup in France. Unfortunately, this tournament would be the last international games the team would play for a while.

At war again

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Antoni Łyko, Wisła Kraków club footballer, 1937, photo: www.audiovis.nac.gov.pl (NAC)

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The invasion of Poland in September 1939 meant the end of Polish football. All Polish institutions and associations were completely destroyed. Any attempt of organising football matches for the national team was strictly banned by the German forces.

By the end of the war, nine players of the national team were killed by the German side. Marian Einbacher, Adam Kniola and Antoni Lyko died in Auschwitz. Stefan Fryc and Bronisław Makowski were murdered in mass shootings because of their activity in resistance movements. Jozef Klots, Zygmunt Krumholz, Leon Sperling and Zygmunt Steuermann were killed in Jewish ghettos.

By 1946, after all of the horrors of war that Poland experienced, the national team was back to playing. Their first match was on 11th June against Norway in Oslo, where they lost 3-1.

Resilience over everything

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Polish World Cup team, 2018, photo: Bartek Syta / Polska Press / East News

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More than 75 years since the end of WWII, the Polish national team is still facing challenges. Starting in 2020, like the rest of the football community, the team had to overcome the obstacles of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the team has persevered, just like it pushed through everything else in its tough history.

Now, in the summer of 2021, the first major international football tournament since the pandemic struck is taking place. Poland will be participating in the UEFA Euros starting on 14th June against Slovakia.

Written by Claire Brady, Jun 2021

Language English