Gornik Zabrze

Gornik Zabrze (Polish pronunciation: [ˈɡurɲiɡ ˈzabʐɛ]) is a Polish football club from Zabrze. Gornik is one of the most successful Polish football clubs in history, winning the second-most Polish Championship titles together with Ruch Chorzow. The club was a dominant force in the 1960s and 1980s. Gornik holds the record for winning the most consecutive Polish Championship titles (5) and Polish Cup titles (5). In addition, the club was 1969–70 Cup Winners' Cup runners-up.

The club plays in a white or dark blue-red kit, and is based at the Ernest Pohl Stadium. Their main local rival is Ruch Chorzow.

History

First years

The club was founded in 1948, three years after Polish borders had moved westward and the city of Zabrze became part of the Polish Republic. Gornik was patterned after several smaller sports associations that had existed in Zabrze between 1945 and 1948 – KS Zjednoczenie, KS Pogon, KS Skra, and KS Concordia. The clubs merged into a single organization, which took the name "Gornik", the Polish word for "Miner", reflecting the fact that Zabrze was an important coal-mining centre.

In 1950 Gornik joined the Opole Silesia regional league. In 1952 the club was promoted to the Polish Second Division. Their first game in the second tier was against Skra Czestochowa, and was witnessed by 20,000 fans, with Gornik winning 5–1. The whole season was very successful and Gornik finished second overall, behind Gornik Walbrzych.

The club was promoted to the top division in 1955. In their first game in the top flight Gornik beat local rivals Ruch Chorzow 3–1, with 25,000 in attendance; the club finished the season in 6th place.

First successes

In 1957, just a year after promotion, Gornik won its first championship of Poland. The team, with star, Ernest Pohl, was third in 1958, to regain the crown in 1959 and 1961, together with such players as Stanislaw Oslizlo and Hubert Kostka. In 1961 Gornik for the first time appeared in Eur

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