Nielba Wągrowiec (handball)

The handball section at the Nielba Wągrowiec club was established in 1960.[1] In the 1960s and early 1970s the handball players of the team from Wągrowiec played in the "A Division", the "regional league" and the "territorial league".[1] In 1973 they won the Polish Championship of the Railways Federation.[1] In the 1973/1974 season they were promoted to the 2nd national league, in which they played for two years.[1] They played again at this level in the 1980/1981 and 1984/1985 seasons.[1] after that were promoted once again to the second division in 1993.[1] After the reorganization of the league pyramid in 1998, they found themselves in the third division.[1] In the 2004/2005 season they were promoted to the top national division.[1]

In 2005–2009, Nielba was one of the leading teams in the 1st league.[2] In the 2008/2009 season, the team won the league; they achieved 22 victories in 22 matches;[2] they were four points ahead of the second in the table Śląsk Wrocław, and were promoted as a result.[2]

Nielba made her debut in the top league on September 5, 2009, losing in the home game against Azoty-Puławy (30:31).[1] The first victory was achieved in the next round, defeating NMC Powen Zabrze (30:25) in the away game.[1] In the main round of the 2009/2010 season, the handball players from Wągrowiec took 7th place (eight wins, three draws, 11 defeats), joining the play-offs.[1] In them they lost to Wisła Płock (18:32; 30:35) and Traveland-Społem Olsztyn (30:32; 31:32), and then to defeat Piotrków Trybunalski (28:27; 29:21) and achieved 7th place in the final standings.[1] In the 2010/2011 and 2011/2012 seasons, Nielba finished the seasons in 10th place, which meant playing in the relegation play-offs.[1] In May 2011, the club from Wągrowiec defeated Gwardia Opole (29:24; 30:16), keeping their place in the Super League.[1] In May 2012, they lost the play-offs to Czuwaj Przemyśl (27:33; 40:33), dropping back to the first league.[1]

In the 2012/2013[3] and 2013/2014 seasons, Nielba took 2nd place in the 1st league, entitling to play in the play-offs for promotion to the Super league.[4] In 2013, the team from Wągrowiec was defeated by Chrobry Głogów (26:22; 16:31),[3] while in 2014 they won with Piotrkowianin Piotrków Trybunalski (31:29; 25:20),[4] thus returning to the highest league. In the 2014/2015 season, they took 12th place: three wins; one in the regular round, two in matches for places 9-12; 25 defeats; which had them relegated once more.[5]