Piast Gliwice

Gliwicki Klub Sportowy Piast Gliwice is a Polish professional football club based in Gliwice, Silesian Voivodeship. Founded in 1945, the club competes in the Ekstraklasa, the top tier of the football league system">association football">football league system.
Piast won their first national championship in the 2018–19 Ekstraklasa season and have regularly qualified for European competitions since. Prior to their rise in the 2010s, the club had spent most of its history in the lower divisions.
Piast Gliwice play their home matches at the Piotr Wieczorek Stadium, a 10,000-seat venue opened in 2011, and traditionally wear blue and red.

WWW Official Site 𝕏 piastgliwicesa FB piastgliwice

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. 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 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, achieving four consecutive promotions from the seventh to the third tier in 1997–2001, and afterwards it won promotion to the II liga 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 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. 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
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
17 October 1983 – MC-W GKS Piast Gliwice
12 September 1989 – CWKS Piast-Bumar Gliwice
1989 – merged with ZTS Łabędy
1990 – CWKS Bumar-Piast Gliwice
4 April 1990 – KS Bumar Gliwice
11 May 1990 – KS Bumar Łabędy
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
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
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

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

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