Lechia-Polonia Gdańsk was a team which played in the Polish second division from 1998 to 2001. The team was created by a merger of Lechia Gdańsk and Polonia Gdańsk.
History
Pre-merger
Polonia Gdańsk
Polonia Gdańsk were founded in 1945 as NS Nit Gdańsk. After years of playing football in the lower divisions, and further name changes (Stal Gdańsk and RKS Stoczniowiec Gdańsk ). The team finally found stability and were called Polonia Gdańsk.
The team finally achieved promotion to the second division in 1973 after winning their division, and finishing as runners up the previous season. The 1970s saw the team's high point in their history. The team enjoyed 9 seasons in the second division before being relegated in 1982. The team's greatest achievement so far came in the 1976/77 season when the team finished 3rd, just missing out on promotion to the top division. From 1982 to 1998 Polonia experienced another 3 seasons in the second tier, each time only lasting in the division for one season. The team won the third tier 3 times during this period, as well as finishing runners up a further 5 times.
Lechia Gdańsk
Lechia Gdańsk were also founded in 1945. Lechia's greatest success in the top flight came during the 1950s, when the club finished 3rd during the 1956 season. After spending the 1960s and 70s in the lower divisions, Lechia won the Polish Cup and the Polish SuperCup in 1983. After a spell back in the top flight, Lechia soon found themselves playing in the lower divisions once more. During the 1995 season, Lechia had previously been part of another merger, this time with Olimpia Poznań to create Olimpia-Lechia Gdańsk. The merger lasted only one season before both teams split. It was only two seasons after their first merger that Lechia were to be involved in another, this time with Polonia.
Lechia-Polonia Gdańsk
The first season for Lechia-Polonia was moderately successful. The previous season Polonia finished in 5th place, for the 1998–99 season Lechia-Polonia managed to achieve 7th in the league. The following season was more unsuccessful, finishing the season in 14th. Robert Kubiel finished as the team's highest goalscorer with 10 goals to his name. The following season got worse for Lechia-Polonia, with the team finishing 19th out of 20 teams. Despite being in a lower division the team proved to be less than competitive, and the team once again faced relegation, this time finishing in 15th. After the 2001–02 season, the Lechia-Polonia dissolved.
After the merger
Polonia Gdańsk created a separate team in 1999, one year after the merger. Despite the team still being involved in the merger by name, most saw this as the teams continuation of the original team, and not the Lechia-Polonia team. The reforming meant that Polonia had to restart from Poland's lowest divisions. The highest the team has achieved since the turn of the century was 2 seasons in the third division, finishing 14th and 16th from 2012 to 2014. Back to back relegation's meant the team were playing in the firth tier once again, and currently find themselves playing in the District Division - Gdańsk Group I.
Lechia Gdańsk also created a separate team from the Lechia-Polonia team in 2001, and was also seen as the continuation of the team before the merger. In 2001 there were therefore 3 teams playing football as a result of the merger; Lechia-Polonia Gdańsk, Lechia Gdańsk, and Polonia Gdańsk. While the dissolved Lechia-Polonia team left both Lechia and Polonia in much worse positions than before the merger, Lechia took full advantage of the situation they found themselves in. After having to start from the bottom, Lechia's fortunes changed and they found themselves playing in the Ekstraklasa once again for the 2008/09 season. After 11 seasons of continuous top flight football Lechia won both the Polish Cup and the Polish SuperCup in 2019, leading to the team playing European football for only the second time in their history.
Seasons
Season Tier Division Position Polish CupComments1998/99IIII League (west)7 of 14Round of 16Team created by a merger between Lechia Gdańsk and Polonia Gdańsk.1999/00II League14 of 24Round of 16Polonia Gdańsk left the merger, restarting in the IV liga (sixth tier).2000/01II League19 of 20Round 2Lechia-Polonia Gdańsk are relegated.2001/02IIIIII League (g. 2)15 of 19-Lechia Gdańsk create an independent club at the start of the season, restarting in the IV liga (sixth tier).Lechia-Polonia Gdańsk suffer financial difficulties and folded at the end of the season.
Player statistics Seasonal top goalscorers
The players who scored the most goals for the club during a season.
Season Player Goals1998–99Adam Fedoruk91999–2000Robert Kugiel102000–01Dariusz Preis72001–02Robert Kugiel7
Top player statistics
The top 5 players with the most appearances and goals in the league for Lechia-Polonia.
+Apps No. Name Apps1Bartosz Skierka1282Robert Kugiel1133Tomasz Borkowski1064Maciej Zezula865Grzegorz Miłkowski82
+Goals No. Name Goals1Robert Kugiel232Maciej Zezula183Adam Fedoruk114Marek Zieńczuk85Miroslaw Feith8
League statistics
All of the league statistics of all players over the four seasons of the clubs existence.
1998–991999–20002000–012001–02total Player Nat pos apps goals apps goals apps goals apps goals apps goalsGoalkeepersTomasz BorowiecGK0000100010Krzysztof DadaczGK0000006060Tomasz DargaczGK0000002020Artur DyszkiewiczGK0000006060Mariusz GiergielGK3000000030Artur JażdżewskiGK0000003030Maciej KozakGK003101000320Maciej KudryckiGK120000000120Krzysztof PilarzGK00140370190700Krzysztof SkrzyńskiGK110000000110DefendersPiotr AntkowiczDF000000122122Jarosław BachDF000010170180Bartosz BerlikDF000000101101Tomasz BorkowskiDF1303413202701061Piotr BubiłekDF0000200000Jarosław ChwastekDF000016000160Artur ChrzonowskiDF0070000070Jacek CuchDF90601000160Daniel CzukDF000014000140Mauro Sérgio da SilvaDF0000500050Piotr JacynaDF000013000130JulcimarDF6000000060Zbigniew KaczmarekDF120000000120Marcin KlaczkaDF001610000161Grzegorz KrysiakDF001410000141Marcin KubsikMF14138018000701Wojciech KupiecDF0000007070Michał LatosDF0000003030Adam MerchutDF1000000010Tomasz MichalskiDF160180170150660Grzegorz MiłkowskiDF101301281140823Grzegorz MotykaDF002140000214Paweł OnychDF000000150150Henryk PatykDF000000190190Dariusz PawskiDF8000000080Jacek PaszulewiczDF5100000051Jacek PieniążekDF0000800080Paweł PredehlDF7100000071Robert RzeczyckiDF001200000120Wojciech SekułaDF000010140150Robert SierpińskiDF0050000050Bartosz SkierkaDF2604213212821284Adam TaneckiDF000000121121Daniel WeberDF003130000313Marcin WłódarczykDF0061000061MidfieldersArtur AntończukMF000000130130Michał BiskupMF002100000210Marcin BorzęckiMF0000006060Tomasz BronerMF000000123123Maciej CzuczełoMF000000110110Andriy DanayevMF0000500050Bartosz DolańskiMF000000130130Justin EvansMF0080000080Adam FedorukMF217122172005011Andrzej GoleckiMF2524040000656Piotr KasperskiMF000013000130Piotr KasperskiMF000013000130Marcin KubsikMF14138018000701Maciej LewnaMF003030051354Sebastian MilaMF0012222200344Sebastian OsmólskiMF0000009090Saulo Pereira de CarvalhoMF110000000110Karol PiątekMF001017031211Dariusz PreisMF000034600346Oskar StanekMF000000235235Adam SzymuraMF1407011020340Marek WidzickiMF000000100100Marcin WiewiórskiMF0000002020Maciej ZezulaMF265427001868618Marek ZieńczukMF2132350000448Andrzej ZiębaMF000011100111ForwardsNapoleon AmaefuleFW000017100171Dawid BanaczekFW5100000051Sérgio BatataFW7100000071Michael ButlerFW0010000010Joenal CastmaFW0010000010Jarosław ChwiałkowskiFW151000000151Marcin DanielewiczFW122000000122Marek FanslauFW0000008181Michał FedorowiczFW000000141141Miroslaw FeithFW21331300112638Marcin FlorekFW000014100141Piotr GrudzieńFW0040000040Austin HamletFW6100000061Marcin KalińskiFW0000910091Adrian KlimowiczFW0000007272Robert KugielFW203381026329711323Tomasz MoskalFW000016600166Arkadiusz MulinekFW1000000010Krzysztof RusinekFW000051155206Rafał RzepeckiFW0000008282Piotr ZagórskiFW401021000152Marek ZawadaFW000015200152Dzidosław ŻuberekFW001620000162
Managerial statistics
This is a list of Lechia-Polonia Gdańsk managers and their statistics in all competitive competitions. This list includes caretaker managers, shown here in italics.
NameNatFromToGWDL%WWitold Kulik1 July 199830 June 1999291341244.8%Jerzy Jastrzębowski1 July 19994 March 200027971133.3%Wiesław Wika5 March 200011 March 20001100100%Romuald Szukiełowicz12 March 20004 October 2000341291335.2%Stanisław Stachura5 October 200030 June 20026516133624.6%
Kits
The kits worn by Lechia-Polonia during their four seasons of existence.
1998–99
The 1998–99 kits were produced by Uhlsport with Pomorskie Towarzystwo Leasingowe being the sponsor on the shirts.
1999–2000
Lechia-Polonia started the season with the same kits as the previous season, adding a third shirt which bore the sponsor Centertel. After the winter break Lechia dropped what they used as their home kit in favour of using one of the Kelme shirts used by Lechia Gdańsk between 1996 and 1998. The three kits made by three different manufacturers were used on a rotational basis, with the green and white "half and half" kit being used more often as it incorporated the most green and could be used against more opponents.
2000–01
In 2000 Adidas became the manufacturer of the Lechia-Polonia kits, with Centertel being the main club sponsor. Canal+ also held a minor sponsorship role, with a small logo also featuring on the front of the shirts. The two Adidas shirts were used interchangeably with neither kit having a preference as the "home shirt". Lechia-Polonia also used two previously used shirts, with the "half and half" shirt having the Canal+ logo placed above the Uhlsport logo removing any indication of who previously made the shirt.
2001–02
In the last year of Lechia-Polonia's existence they played in the same Adidas kits as the season before.
References