GKS Bełchatów


GKS Bełchatów is a Polish professional football club based in Bełchatów. The club currently competes in group I of the III liga.
WWW gksbelchatow.com

History

GKS Bełchatów entered Poland's Klasa A in 1977 under the name of Węgiel Brunatny Bełchatów, and gained promotion to the III liga in the 1981–82 season. It took the club another seven years to rise to the II liga, before winning a place in the top-tier I liga in 1992. After another spell in II liga, the club again won promotion to the I liga at the end of the 2004–05 season. The club finished the 2005–06 season in 10th place, with 37 points. The following season they challenged for the league title. After spending much of the latter part of the 2006–07 season in first place, they were ultimately overtaken by Zagłębie Lubin and had to settle for second place.
On 11 March 2022, the club, then playing in the II liga, withdrew from the league and did not start playing in the spring round. As a consequence, they were moved to the last place in the 2021–22 season standings and their remaining matches being declared 0–3 forfeits for their opponents. They declared liquidation on 20 April 2022. On 31 May 2022, the Łódź Football Association admitted its academy as its continuator to the Łódź group of the fifth division for the 2022–23 season.

Honours

Ekstraklasa:

Fans and rivalries

The fans are called Torfiorze. They have friendly relations with fans of Wisła Sandomierz. Their biggest rivals are neighbours RKS Radomsko, and as Bełchatów is located in the Łódź Province, they also have rivalries with the two traditional well-established Łódź teams, ŁKS and Widzew.

Players

Notable players

Players who have been capped at any time and/or have over 80 appearances for the club
; Notable Polish players
; Notable foreign players

Managers