Don’t Let Your Dreams Be Memes
When Championship Manager debuted nearly 30 years ago, the game featured four playable divisions in England.
The game has featured more than 100 leagues from over 50 countries spread across 5 continents in recent years, with fan-created files expanding the database to encompass football in even the most remote corners of the globe.
Yet, despite all my years of playing the series, I have never found myself managing in what is considered by some to be the best league in the world — a league oft-overlooked by the elite, who are too busy with their prawn sandwiches to enjoy a good, proper day of football.
No, no. We aren’t talking about the Premier League.
No, not La Liga.
Nein, the Bundesliga is too pedestrian for the likes of us, my good friend.
We’re going to the Promised Land, the proverbial land of milk and honey.
We’re going to Poland. Where the footballing gods have bestowed upon mankind a kindness that has been — fairly or unfairly — relegated to meme-tier status.
The Ekstraklasa. A league that is long-past ready for its close up. A veritable fountain of unpredictable joy for anyone in search of something “new” in Football Manager.
Ekstraklasa – League Overview
The Polish FA was founded in December 1919 and began hosting annual non-league championships in 1920.
The Liga Polska — known as the PKO Ekstraklasa for sponsorship reasons — was founded in December 1926, with its first season kicking off in April 1927.
Accordingly, the 2021-22 Ekstraklasa campaign is the 88th season of national league competition and the 96th Polish championship overall. The 2021-22 campaign also sees the Ekstraklasa expand to 18 teams (up from 16 in the 2020-21 campaign).
Over the years, 81 clubs have competed in the Ekstraklasa. Legia Warsaw are the most successful club in league history, claiming 15 titles, followed closely by Górnik Zabrze and Wisła Kraków (14 each) and Ruch Chorzów (13). The all-time leading Ekstraklasa goalscorer is Ernst Pohl (186 goals), whose name now graces Górnik Zabrze‘s stadium. Łukasz Surma is the all-time league appearances leader, at 559 matches.
League Structure
Structurally, the Ekstraklasa is straightforward — the 18 teams play each other home-and-away for a total of 34 games. The Ekstaklasa winners claim a spot in the Champions League qualifying rounds, with the 2nd and 3rd-place finishers qualifying for the Europa Conference League. Teams finishing 16th-18th will be relegated to the Fortuna I liga.
In terms of squad registration, the rules closely track those for UEFA competition — clubs must include 3 homegrown players in their 25-man squad, with 8 players trained at a club in Poland.
For those who enjoy developing youth, league rules require that clubs include one Polish U22 player in the playing XI, while providing modest financial incentives for clubs to field U21 players. Further, for the 2021/22 campaign, the league permits the naming of 9 players on the bench, with 5 substitutions permitted.
Unfortunately, the Ekstraklasa’s objective, indisputable greatness is not reflected in the league’s prize money or current television deal. For the 2021-22 campaign, the league winner will earn $1.45 million for claiming the title in-game. The league’s collective television rights total £46,800,000 — roughly on par with the Swedish Allsvenskan, Greek Superleague, and Danish Superliga. It may not be enough to finance a literal revolution, but it will certainly suffice to kickstart a footballing revolution.
Other Domestic Competitions
In addition to contesting the league, Polish clubs compete in the Polish Cup (known as the Totolotek Puchar Pulski, for sponsorship reasons), the winner of which earns the country’s third and final Europa Conference League spot. (Note: clubs are required to include two Polish U22 players in the playing XI for Cup matches.)
The Superpuchar Polski also serves as the traditional curtain-raiser each summer, featuring the previous year’s league and cup winners.
Speaking Straight From The Bridge: Recommended Teams
This is all well and good. I can tell that you’re ready to dive into Poland headfirst. You’re excited. I’m excited. We’re excited. Together.
But the big question remains — under which banner will you conquer?
Will it be the defending champions, Legia Warsaw? The rising phoenix of Radomiak Radom, back in the top tier for the first time in decades? Perhaps Bruk-Bet Termalica, who hail from a village of just 723 people — the smallest European town with a team playing top flight football? Perhaps you have a soft spot in your heart for Jakub “Kuba” Błaszczykowski, who is not only a part owner at Wisła Kraków, he’s in the playing squad on $35 per week ($25, after taxes). Looking for a European journey, but not with one of the “big” clubs? Then Raków Częstochowa or Śląsk Wrocław may be the ticket, as they look to juggle the league campaign with entry in the Europa Conference League.
While there is no objectively right or wrong answer, several clubs caught my eye.
Bruk-Bet Termalica Nieciecza
Recently promoted Bruk-Bet may be in for a relegation scrap in what will only be the 4th top-flight campaign in the club’s 99-year history.
Then again, Bruk-Bet are one of the few clubs who can claim a winning league record against giants Legia Warsaw (3 wins, 2 draws, 2 losses). Hopes are also high for an attack comprised of Muris Mesanović (who scored more goals than Polish-born German international Lukas Podolski during the 2020-21 Turkish Super Lig campaign) and Roman Gergel (who led the club and Liga 1 with 19 goals during last year’s promotion campaign).
Standing in the way? An owner with a reputation for interference, whose wife sends out official press releases accusing referees of corruption in the middle of matches, who also allegedly placed his son in charge of scouting (via Football Manager).
What’s not to love? The in-game narrative practically writes itself. And with the club’s centenary season on the immediate horizon, there may be no better place to begin your quest for in-game immortality.
- Nickname(s): Elephants, Crazy Farmers
- City: Nieciecza
- Stadium: Stadion Sportowy Bruk-Bet Termalica (4,653)
- Facilities: Average training facilities; adequate youth facilities
- Media Prediction: 14th
- Club Culture: Sign Slovak players
Górnik Zabrze
To those of you who were surprised to learn (above) that Lukas Podolski is still playing football, you’ll be truly surprised to learn that he is “back” in his native land at the age of 36 — the first World Cup winner to take the pitch in the Ekstraklasa.
Can you join hands with Lukas, to return Górnik Zabrze to the glory days of the 60s and 80s, when they claimed 10 of their 14 titles? Though they would not qualify as a “fallen giant,” there are echoes of Stade de Reims and Saint-Etienne in their departure from the spotlight.
You will need to move quickly to surround Lukas with an assortment of free transfers and players sourced on the cheap from lower reputation leagues in Scandanavia and Eastern Europe (both of which are tried-and-true in-game transfer policies for “smaller” Polish sides), but there is a story waiting to be written in Zabrze.
- Nickname(s): Miners, Tricolores
- City: Zabrze
- Stadium: Stadion im. Ernesta Pohla (24,563)
- Facilities: Average training facilities; adequate youth facilities
- Media Prediction: 12th
- Club Culture: Develop players using the youth system; sign players from the lower levels of the domestic game; sign players under the age of 19 for the future
Jagiellonia Białystok
Always the bridesmaid, never the bride.
Such is the lot of Jagiellonia in recent years, as they’ve looked like competing for the league title, only to fall short — runners-up in 2016-17 and 2017-18, after a third-place finish in 2014-15. In 2019, the fickle hand of fate poured salt in the wound with an injury time loss to Lechia Gdańsk in the Polish Cup final, on a 96th minute goal.
It doesn’t help when you concede goals like this. But I digress.
While the Board is rumored to be temperamental and lack patience, this is a club tailor-made for someone looking to knock the established, old guard off their ****ing perch.
One possible weapon in your arsenal? Much-heralded youngster Oliwier Wojciechowski. Can he live up to the hype?
Another? Goalkeeper Xavier Dziekoński, who you will certainly want to retain.
If you can surround Oliwier and Xavier with other young, promising players poached from smaller domestic clubs (another tried and true transfer approach, and one consistent with the Club Culture), you’ll be more than ready to challenge for a spot in Europe.
- Nicknames: Jaga, Yellow-Reds, Pride of Podlasie, Bees
- City: Białystok
- Stadium: Stadion Jagiellonii (22,372)
- Facilities: Great training facilities; great youth facilities
- Media Prediction: 5th
- Club Culture: Develop players using the youth system; sign players from the lower levels of the domestic game; sign players under the age of 20 for the future
Lech Poznań
Lech enter their centenary season looking to atone for past sins, having finished a distressing 11th in 2020-21, despite challenging Legia for the title one year earlier. Moments like this didn’t help, if we’re being honest..
However, if you want a club that is on solid financial footing with a track record of producing brilliant youth players, Lech is your club. The big question is whether you can keep any of those promising talents, or if they’re merely being developed for the purpose of selling them on and ensuring a profit (as some supporters would accuse the Board of doing).
The first decision you’ll have to make in this regard will likely focus on Jakub Kamiński — a brilliant young winger, who is poised to take the next steps after earning his first (real world) cap for Poland in September 2021.
Similarly, if you want to launch an assault on Fortress Europe but are unwilling to join forces with the likes of Legia, this is your next-best bet.
- Nickname(s): Railwayman, Posenian Locomotive
- City: Poznań
- Stadium: Stadion Poznań (aka INEA Stadion; 41,609)
- Facilities: Great training facilities; great youth facilities
- Media Prediction: 2nd
- Club Culture: Develop players using the youth system; sign high-reputation players
Legia Warsaw
Legia are winners of 7 of the last 8 league titles and a force of nature given that they have what is — on paper — arguably the best squad in the Ekstraklasa. Anything less than the league title will be seen as a catastrophic failure by the Board, who have had something of a hair-trigger when it comes to sacking managers deemed to be underachieving.
You also would not want to anger your ‘keeper, 41 year-old Artur Boruc. You wouldn’t like him when he’s angry.
It should go without saying that the beauty of the Ekstraklasa is found in its unpredictability, on both the micro and macro levels. The blooper-reel moments are as entertaining as they are plentiful, but even a side as strong as Legia cannot take the title for granted when “smaller” sides make a regular habit of scalping the domestic giants.
Thus, while progressing in Europe has to be the goal for anyone who takes the reins at Legia, you take your eye off the ball domestically at your own peril.
- Nickname(s): Militarists, Legionaries
- City: Warsaw
- Stadium: Stadion Wojska Polskiego (aka Pepsi Arena; 30,967)
- Facilities: Superb training facilities; superb youth facilities
- Media Prediction: 1st
- Contintental Competition: Champions League
- Club Culture: Develop players using the youth system; sign high-reputation players; sign players from domestic rivals
Piast Gliwice
Founded in the immediate aftermath of World War II (by Poles who were forced to leave their homes in present-day Ukraine), Piast is a club seemingly steeped in romantic notions that Football Manager addicts find so alluring.
Piast is the first club in Polish football history to rise from the 7th tier to the Ekstraklasa. Their first foray into the rarified air of the top flight ended after just 2 seasons (2008-10), but they promptly secured their return by winning the Liga 1 in 2011-12. They have since characterized the unpredictable, volatile nature of the league — finishing as runners up in 2015-16, narrowly avoiding relegation in 2017-18, only to win it all in 2018-19 and reach the Champions League.
For those of us who adore the Crusader Kings series, you’ll also note that the club’s name derives from the Piast dynasty, which ruled Poland from its beginnings as an independent state in the 10th century until 1370. (Whether you seduce your in-game rival’s significant others is, in both games, entirely up to you.)
Despite losing club hero (a verified, in-game legend) Gerard Badia under bizarre circumstances (it’s always the mother-in-law), Piast appear to have a solid squad, capable of challenging for domestic glory. And, as a club with a reputation for being well-run, you should be looking to take them back to Europe sooner rather than later, to complete the fairy tale.
- Nickname(s): Custodians, Keepers
- City: Gliwice
- Stadium: Stadion im. Piotra Wieczorka (9,913)
- Facilities: Basic training facilities; poor youth facilities
- Media Prediction: 8th
- Club Culture: Sign players based in Spain
Pogoń Szczecin
It’s reductive and possibly a bit insulting, but I can’t help but draw comparisons between Pogoń and Tottenham — 2 long-established, well-supported clubs in their respective top tiers, with very little to show for it in terms of silverware and a nasty habit of falling out of contention for titles. (They also Spurs’d it up in what is arguably the biggest “Ekstraklasa Boner” of the 2020-21 campaign, against Piast Gliwice.)
Should you determine that you are the one destined to break their duck, you will be aided by arguably the most exciting young player in the Ekstraklasa, Kacper Kozłowski…if you can keep him.
- Nickname(s): the Dockers, Pride of Pomerania
- City: Szczecin
- Stadium: Stadion im. Floriana Krygiera (4,600)
- Facilities: Average training facilities; good youth facilities (moving into new training facilities, effective June 2022)
- Media Prediction: 6th
- European Competition: Conference League
- Club Culture: Play attacking football; develop players using the youth system; play possession football
Warta Poznań
Warta were a founding member of the original Liga Polska and one of the most important Polish clubs prior to World War II, securing titles in 1929 and 1947, before a series of decisions by Stalinist minions (who favored Lech) resulted in the club being forced to change its name and later merge with another local club.
Revived in 1956, the club bounced around the lower leagues for decades before a brief, two-year return to the Ekstraklasa in the ’90s. Having now returned to the top tier again, Warta is a relatively small, family club in the shadow of cross-town behemoth, Lech.
Despite history and proximity, supporters of the two Poznań clubs apparently maintain good relationships, with Warta’s anthem singing of how they are the Queen of Polish football, with an oblique reference to Lech as the King.
Since they have new eco-friendly stadium is in the works, Warta was forced to play away from home in 2020-21 but nevertheless managed a 5th place finish, playing above themselves and claiming results that appeared impossible on paper given their squad…although there was this special moment.
Is it another fairy-tale season, or is a relegation battle in the cards?
- Nickname(s): the Greens
- City: Poznań
- Stadium: Stadion Dyskobolii Grodzisk Wielkopolski (5,383)
- Facilities: Below average training facilities; basic youth facilities
- Media Prediction: 17th
- Club Culture: Make the most of set pieces; play direct football
Zagłębie Lubin
What do you get when you combine a youth academy teeming with brilliant prospects, and a complete lack of ambition at the senior level? Zagłębie, apparently.
The saga of Kamil Piątkowski exemplifies the existential pain of being a Zagłębie supporter. Though a wildly promising young player, he was left to rot with the reserves and allowed to leave on a free…only to join Raków Częstochowabe, who sold him to RB Salzburg for millions within the year.
There is a conveyor belt of talented young players in Lubin, but a strange reluctance to trust or use them. Do I smell a Dafuge challenge?
(Or, perhaps the missus is cooking up some chili. Either way, it smells like victory.)
- Nickname(s): the Coppers
- City: Lubin
- Stadium: Stadion Zagłębia Lubin (16,068)
- Facilities: Good training facilities; great youth facilities
- Media Prediction: 9th
- Club Culture: Develop players using the youth system
While these are the teams that caught my attention, I’m sure that I’ve missed something about them or another team that has caught your eye. Don’t hesitate to drop your suggestions into the comments or on over Twitter!
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