Zawisza Bydgoszcz is a sports club from Bydgoszcz, Poland, founded in 1946. Its name commemorates a legendary Polish 15th-century knight, Zawisza Czarny (Zawisza the Black). The club holds many sections: football, track and field athletics, boxing, rowing, canoeing, weightlifting, gymnastics, shooting, and parachuting ones. Their football team currently competes in group II of the III liga, the fourth tier of national football league system.

History

The team was founded in 1946, as a military-sponsored club in Koszalin, although they only played friendly matches initially. When the army headquarters moved to Bydgoszcz a year later in 1947, the club followed. The football team has achieved some successes, playing for several years in the Polish top-flight, first winning promotion in 1961. They reached the semi-finals of the Polish Cup in 1991 and competed in the 1993 Intertoto Cup. Zawisza was relegated from the second level to the fourth in the 1997–98 season. In 2001, they controversially merged with Chemik Bydgoszcz, and played as Chemik-Zawisza, whilst the reserve team was initially meant to be called Zawisza-Chemik, although ultimately the reserve team remained as simply "Zawisza". The merger turned out to be very unsuccessful, and the senior side started anew from the bottom of the league pyramid, reverting to "Chemik" and leaving the reserve team in the fifth division, which subsequently became Zawisza's senior team. Aside from the ongoing Hydrobudowa scandal between 2006 and 2008, the original team were promoted to the second tier after finishing first in their regional group of the III liga in the 2007–08 season. On 12 June 2011, after a 13-year absence, Zawisza was promoted to the I liga after finishing second 5 points behind Olimpia Grudziądz in the II liga West Group in the 2010–11 season. In 2013, Zawisza won the I liga and were promoted to the Ekstraklasa. They won the Polish Cup in the 2013–14 season, 6–5 on penalties after a goalless 120 minutes against Zagłębie Lubin, and qualified for the UEFA Europa League second qualifying round. After the club had finished 5th in 2015–16 I liga, it did not receive a license for the following season due to financial problems and dissolved. The refounded club SP Zawisza started the 2016–17 season in Klasa B, grupa Bydgoszcz III which is in the 8th tier of Polish football. Zawisza's under-19 team won the national youth championship in 1981.

Hydrobudowa

Zawisza Bydgoszcz SA was a club that was created when Kujawiak Włocławek were moved to Bydgoszcz and renamed by Hydrobudowa, their owners. The original Zawisza Bydgoszcz continued playing in the fourth division. however the new club had a very similar logo and an identical name. As a result, Kujawiak, Zawisza and supporters all over the country boycotted the relocated team. The reserve team continued to play under the name Kujawiak Włocławek in the Fourth Polish league. The club lasted two seasons in the second division, before it folded in 2007 as a result of serious corruption allegations and widespread condemnation.

Crest

Zawisza's crest has changed several times.

Supporters

The fan movement at Zawisza started in the 1970s, one of the first clubs with organised support in the country. Since then club has always attracted a large support considering its relative lack of success. The club enjoys support from around Cuiavia, with fan-clubs in several other major towns, most notably in Inowrocław, Janikowo, Nakło and Mogilno, among several others. The fans have good relations with fans of ŁKS Łódź, GKS Tychy, Zagłębie Lubin and Górnik Wałbrzych. Their arch-rivals are fellow locals Polonia Bydgoszcz, with whom they contest the Bydgoszcz Derby, and regional rivals Elana Toruń, with whom they play the Cuiavian Derby, with the Toruń and Bydgoszcz rivalry between the two cities one which goes even beyond sport.

Protests

In the 21st century, the Zawisza fans have encountered numerous challenges from owners, city council, politicians and the media, frequently battling against them for public support. First they opposed the controversial merger with Chemik Bydgoszcz in 2001, choosing to boycott the new merged club (which turned out to be hugely unsuccessful) and support the reserve team which still played under the Zawisza name. In 2006, the fans opposed the new relocated Zawisza, again opting to continue to support the original team made up of the reserve squad. When the "new Zawisza" failed to win any trophies and was embroiled in a match-fixing scandal, subsequently folding, the fans triumphantly announced victory against the media and politicians who supported it. In 2008, the fans protested against the city council which was insistent on renaming the newly rebuilt stadium as the "Municipal Stadium", with the fans claiming that to omit any link to Zawisza was unfair. In 2014, the fans began to boycott matches after a match against Widzew Łódź. The fans claim that the police assaulted fans, when preventing Zawisza and ŁKS Łódź fans from entering the stadium. Following the incident, the fans asked to see the security footage, however, the footage was claimed to be lost due to an alleged "technical fault". The club chairman, Radosław Osuch, and a large portion of the media and public opinion, attributed the incident to football hooliganism. The players supported the chairman, sparking fury from the fans. Osuch threatened to relocate the club, and has openly declared war against the fans He changed the club crest to the similar crest used by the relocated Zawisza in 2006, further angering the fans. Since 2014, the boycott has been upheld, meaning that there has been low attendances and support during matches, including the historic Polish Cup win. In January 2015, a group of fans broke into the stadium and placed 15 coffins on the pitch, depicting 14 players and the chairman, and a banner with the words "Osuch's whore spares, you are morally dead", as a protest against the chairman and the players. The club issued a criminal investigation into the incident. In May 2015, after Górnik Łęczna keeper Sergiusz Prusak displayed a T-shirt showing his support to the Zawisza fans, the Zawisza fans decided to break their boycott for one match only to come and thank him in a match against Górnik. In order to prevent the fans from coming to Zawisza, Osuch subsequently raised the match ticket price to a very high 200zł in order to stop the fans attending. After 5 years, Osuch decided to leave the club, however upon this announcement the players and staff also all resigned. Without investment, the club was disbanded by Osuch as last act, stating that there is a poor atmosphere surrounding Polish football. The fans reformed the club and had to start the new season from the lowest level on the football pyramid.

Ground

Honours

European record

Players

Current squad

Notable players

Managers