Piast Gliwice

History

The club was founded in June 1945 by the Poles who had been forced to leave their homes in former eastern Poland annexed by the Soviet Union (present-day Ukraine). The club's name comes from the Piast dynasty, which ruled Poland from its beginnings as an independent state in the 10th century, until 1370, and in the city itself until 1532.

In 1949, five local teams were merged with Piast, and the team was renamed to Metal Piast Gliwice, and then to Stal Gliwice, before its original name Piast Gliwice was restored in 1955. Piast continued to play their matches on ul. Robotniczej. In 1964, Piast merged with GKS Gliwice, a team formed in 1956 from a fusion of the three other local clubs, and the name was changed to GKS Piast Gliwice. Since the 1950s, Piast mostly played in the Second Division. During that period, Piast have twice (1978, 1983) managed to reach the final of the Polish Cup, losing on both occasions.

In the 1990s, due to financial difficulties, the team was rebuilt from the Klasa B (7th tier), achieving four consecutive promotions from the seventh to the third tier in 1997–2001, and afterwards it won promotion to the II liga (second tier) in 2003. Piast played as many as 33 seasons in the Polish Second Division, before finally being promoted to the Ekstraklasa in 2008. Having played two seasons in the top division, the club was relegated in 2010 to come back in 2012. It is the first football team in Poland to gain promotion from the 7th tier to the Ekstraklasa (Polish top tier of football) and later to the European club competition.

In the 2010s, Piast enjoyed its greatest success, being runners-up in the 2015–16 Ekstraklasa and winning its first Polish championship in the 2018–19 season.

There is also a futsal department of Piast Gliwice, which competes in the Futsal Ekstraklasa (top division). Its home venue is the Gliwice Arena. It won its first Polish Championship in the 2021–22 season.

Naming history

• 18 June 1945 – KS Piast Gliwice
• 23 May 1946 – KSM Piast Gliwice
• September/November 1947 – ZKSM Piast Gliwice
• 5 March 1949 – ZS Metal Piast Gliwice (merged with ZKSM Huta Łabędy, ZKS Walcownia Łabędy, RKS Jedność Rudziniec, RKS PZS Gliwice and ZKS Silesia Gliwice)
• 1 November 1949 – ZKS Stal Gliwice
• 11 March 1951 – ZKS Stal GZUT Gliwice
• 15 March 1955 – ZKS Piast Gliwice
• 20 January 1957 – KS Piast Gliwice
• 1 January 1961 – SKS Piast Gliwice
• 15 March 1964 – GKS Piast Gliwice (merged with GKS Gliwice and KS Metal Gliwice)
• 17 October 1983 – MC-W GKS Piast Gliwice
• 12 September 1989 – CWKS Piast-Bumar Gliwice
• 1989 – merged with ZTS Łabędy (Gliwice)
• 1990 – CWKS Bumar-Piast Gliwice
• 4 April 1990 – KS Bumar Gliwice
• 11 May 1990 – KS Bumar Łabędy (Gliwice)
• 1 July 1990 – KS Bumar Gliwice
• 1991 – KS Piast-Bumar Gliwice
• 1 July 1992 – MC-W GKS Piast Gliwice
• 1 August 1995 – KS Bojków Gliwice (merged with KS Bojków Gliwice)
• 15 September 1995 – KS Piast Bojków Gliwice
• 2 September 1996 – GKS Piast Gliwice

Crest

The club's crest is derived from the coat of arms of the city of Gliwice, and thus contains the Piast Eagle of the Upper Silesian line of the medieval Polish Piast dynasty, which ruled the city until 1532.

Honours

• Ekstraklasa
  • Champions: 2018–19
  • Runners-up: 2015–16
  • Third place: 2019–20
• I liga
  • Champions: 2011–12
• Polish Cup
  • Runners-up: 1977–78, 1982–83

Seasons

• Seasons in Ekstraklasa: 14 (2008–10, 2012–)
• Seasons in I liga: 35
• Seasons in II liga: 16
• Seasons in III liga: 23

European record

Results

;Notes

• 1Q: First qualifying round
• 2Q: Second qualifying round
• 3Q: Third qualifying round

UEFA Team ranking

As of 4 May 2025.

Stadium

Piast plays their home games at the 10,000 capacity Piotr Wieczorek Stadium in Gliwice.

Supporters

Piast have a friendship with fans of Belarusian club BATE Borisov since 2011. The friendship started when BATE fans on their way to a Champions League match in Copenhagen stopped for a Piast game against local rivals GKS Katowice. The Piast fans then went to Alkmaar to support BATE versus AZ. After another visit for a Champions League game against Sturm Graz, the friendship became official and both sets of fans regularly visit each other.

Piast's major rivals are Górnik Zabrze, with whom they contest the local derby. The stadiums are located just a few kilometres from each other. Other rivals are local teams GKS Katowice and the two Bytom clubs, Szombierki and Polonia.

Players

Current squad

Out on loan

Retired numbers

Notable players

Had international caps for their respective countries at any time. Players with names listed in bold represented their countries while playing for Piast.

;Algeria

• Algeria Akim Zedadka

;Barbados

• Barbados Thierry Gale

;Belarus

• Belarus German Barkovsky

;Bosnia and Herzegovina

• Bosnia and Herzegovina Stojan Vranješ

;Cyprus

• Cyprus Andreas Katsantonis

;Czech Republic

• Czech Republic Michal Papadopulos
• Czech Republic Kamil Vacek

;Estonia

• Estonia Rauno Sappinen
• Estonia Konstantin Vassiljev

;Georgia

• Georgia Valerian Gvilia

;Latvia

• Latvia Artūrs Karašausks
• Latvia Artis Lazdiņš

;Lithuania

• Lithuania Edvinas Girdvainis
• Lithuania Gediminas Paulauskas

;Netherlands

• Netherlands Collins John

;North Macedonia

• North Macedonia Tihomir Kostadinov

;Poland

• Poland Michael Ameyaw
• Poland Piotr Brożek
• Poland Lucjan Brychczy
• Poland Andrzej Buncol
• Poland Patryk Dziczek
• Poland Kamil Glik
• Poland Tomasz Jodłowiec
• Poland Damian Kądzior
• Poland Rafał Leszczyński
• Poland Igor Lewczuk
• Poland Rafał Pietrzak
• Poland Marcin Robak
• Poland Bartosz Rymaniak
• Poland Jakub Świerczok
• Poland Kamil Wilczek
• Poland Michał Żyro

;Serbia

• Serbia Aleksandar Sedlar
• Serbia Nikola Stojiljković

;Slovakia

• Slovakia Martin Bukata
• Slovakia Jakub Holúbek
• Slovakia Csaba Horváth
• Slovakia Tomáš Huk
• Slovakia Erik Jirka
• Slovakia František Plach
• Slovakia Rudolf Urban

;Slovenia

• Slovenia Saša Živec

Managers

• Poland Krzysztof Zagórski (16 December 2001 – 23 October 2002)
• Poland Józef Dankowski (21 April 2003 – 19 October 2004)
• Poland Wojciech Borecki (19 October 2004 – 31 December 2004)
• Poland Jacek Zielinski (31 December 2004 – 14 September 2006)
• Poland Jan Furlepa (interim) (14–20 September 2006)
• Poland Boguslaw Pietrzak (20 September 2006 – 30 June 2007)
• Poland Piotr Mandrysz (3 July 2007 – 30 June 2008)
• Poland Marek Wlecialowski (1 July 2008 – 5 January 2009)
• Poland Dariusz Fornalak (5 January 2009 – 15 March 2010)
• Poland Ryszard Wieczorek (15 March 2010 – 31 May 2010)
• Poland Marcin Brosz (15 June 2010 – 6 May 2014)
• Spain Ángel García (7 May 2014 – 18 March 2015)
• Czech Republic Radoslav Látal (20 March 2015 – 15 July 2016)
• Czech Republic Jiří Neček (15 July 2016 – 30 August 2016)
• Czech Republic Radoslav Látal (1 September 2016 – 2 March 2017)
• Poland Dariusz Wdowczyk (3 March 2017 – 19 September 2017)
• Poland Waldemar Fornalik (19 September 2017 – 25 October 2022)
• Serbia Aleksandar Vuković (27 October 2022 – 30 June 2025)
• Sweden Max Mölder (1 July 2025 – 23 October 2025)
• Poland Daniel Myśliwiec (23 October 2025 – present)

Notes

References

References

1. (2008-05-27). "Kapitan Piasta awansował z nim od B-klasy do ekstraklasy". Sport.pl.
2. (22 May 2022). "Piast Gliwice po raz pierwszy mistrzem Polski w futsalu".
3. "Club coefficients".
4. Kuczyński, Tomasz. "Sztama GieKSy z Banikiem, Ruchu z Atletico, Piasta z BATE. Czy to ma sens? [SŁYNNE SZTAMY]".
5. "Piast Gliwice - Górnik Zabrze 3:2. Festiwal goli w śląskich derbach [ZDJĘCIA]".
6. SG, JU. "Piast Gliwice - Górnik Zabrze. Dziś derby przy Okrzei WYNIK NA ŻYWO GDZIE W TV, TRANSMISJA ONLINE".
7. "Piast Gliwice current squad". Piast Gliwice.
8. "Lech Poznań – Strona Oficjalna. Specjalista od awansów – Jacek Zieliński". Lechpoznan.pl.
9. (19 September 2017). "Waldemar Fornalik trenerem Piasta". 90minut.
10. (15 May 2025). "Max Mölder nowym trenerem Piasta Gliwice od początku sezonu 2025/26!". Piast Gliwice.
11. (23 October 2025). "Daniel Myśliwiec trenerem Piasta Gliwice".