Sport in Warsaw
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Warsaw is home to 2 major professional football clubs and a number of smaller clubs. The only one currently playing in the first division (Ekstraklasa) is Legia Warszawa.
Contents
Overview
On 9 April 2008 the President of Warsaw, Hanna Gronkiewicz-Waltz, obtained from the mayor of Stuttgart Wolfgang Schuster a challenge award – a commemorative plaque awarded to Warsaw as the European Capital of Sport in 2008.[1]
The National Stadium, holds a capacity of 58,500 seat football (soccer) stadium, Warsaw's recently demolished 10th-Anniversary Stadium.[2] The national stadium is due to host the opening match, 2 group matches, a quarterfinal, and a semifinal of the UEFA Euro 2012 hosted jointly by Poland and Ukraine.[3]
There are many sports centres in the city as well. Most of these facilities are swimming pools and sports halls, many of them built by the municipality in the past several years. The main indoor venue is Hala Torwar, used for all kinds of indoor sports (mainly, indoor skating rink). There is also open-air skating rink (Stegny) and the horse racetrack (Służewiec).
The best of the city's swimming centres is at Wodny Park Warszawianka, 4 km south of the centre at Merliniego Street, where there's an Olympic-sized pool as well as water slides and children's areas.[4]
From the Warsovian football teams, the most famous is Legia Warszawa – the army club with a nationwide following play at Polish Army Stadium, just southeast of the centre at Łazienkowska Street. Established in 1916, they have won the country’s championship 8 times (most recently in 2006) and won the Polish Cup 14 times. They have never been relegated divisions. In the Champions League season 1995/96 they reached the quarter-finals, where they lost to Panathinaikos Athens.
Their local rivals, Polonia Warsaw, have significantly fewer supporters, yet they managed to win Ekstraklasa Championship in 2000. They also won the country’s championship in 1946, and won the cup twice as well. Polonia's home venue is located at Konwiktorska Street, a ten-minute walk north from the Old Town.
Warsaw was chosen as one of four Polish cities to host the UEFA Euro 2012 tournament alongside Ukraine. Its National Stadium (Warsaw) will be hosting just under a sixth of the games in the competition. It will host 3 group A matches (including the opening game), 1 quarter-final and 1 semi-final at the European tournament.[5] Its city emblem (a mermaid) was chosen as the badge to symbolise the area. The city has also 4 teams who have their team base there or thereabouts: Russia, Croatia, Greece and of course, Poland.[6] The stadium is fully equipped including a folding roof (largest cubic volume in Europe) and a 56,000 seater capacity. The host stadium was only completed in November 2011, under a year before the start of UEFA Euro 2012 and it has hosted 2/3 of Poland's group matches.[7]
| Club | Sport | Founded | League | Venue | Head Coach |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Legia Warszawa[8] | Football | 1916 | Ekstraklasa | Pepsi Arena | Henning Berg |
| Polonia Warszawa[9] | Football | 1911 | IV Liga | Stadion Polonii | Igor Gołaszewski |
| Legia Warszawa[10] | Basketball | 1947 | Second League | OSiR Bemowo | Wojciech Kiełbasiewicz |
| Polonia Gaz Ziemny Warszawa[11] | Basketball | 1911 | Polska Liga Koszykówki | Hala Sportowa "Koło" | Wojciech Kamiński |
| AZS Politechnika Warszawa | Volleyball | 1918 | Polska Liga Siatkówki | Hala UCSiR | Radosław Panas |
| Cumann Warszawa (Warsaw GAA) | Gaelic Football and Hurling | 2009 | European Gaelic Football Championship | Stadion Skra, Pole Mokotowskie | Eoin Sheedy |
| Królewscy Warszawa | American Football | 2012 | Polska Liga Futbolu Amerykańskiego | Hutnik Stadium | James Deacon |
Like most of Polish sport clubs, those based in Warsaw have also branches that specialize in other disciplines. The following lists the major sport clubs and the discipline the club is famous for:
Football clubs
- Legia Warszawa – men's football team (Polish Cup titles 12: * 1955, 1956, 1966, 1964, 1973, 1980, 1981, 1989, 1990, 1994, 1995, 1997; Polish Supercup winner 1989, 1994, 1997)
- Polonia Warszawa – men's football team (Polish Cup winner: 1952, 2001; Polish SuperCup winner: 2000)
- Gwardia Warszawa – men's football team (Polish Cup winner 1954)
- Hutnik Warszawa – men's football team
Basketball teams
- Polonia Warbud Warszawa – men's basketball team, 3rd in Era Basket Liga in 2003/2004 season.
- Legia Warszawa (basketball) – basketball team
Volleyball teams
- AZS Politechnika Warszawa – men's volleyball team playing in Polish Volleyball League (Polska Liga Siatkówki, PLS), 5th place in season 2003/2004.
Handball teams
American football
- Warsaw Eagles - Polish Champion (2006, 2008)
- Warsaw Spartans
- Królewscy Warszawa
Other
- Legia Warszawa (boxing) – boxing team
- Polonia GSM Warszawa – chess team
- Warsaw Marathon – annual marathon
- Centaury Warszawa - baseball team
- Feniksy Warszawa - baseball team
References
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