Polish Football Association

The Polish Football Association (Polish: Polski Związek Piłki Nożnej; PZPN) is the governing body of association football in Poland. It organizes the Polish football leagues (without the Ekstraklasa), the Polish Cup and the Polish national football team. It is based in the Polish capital of Warsaw.

Polish Football Association
UEFA
Founded20 December 1919 (1919-12-20)[1]
HeadquartersWarsaw
FIFA affiliation20 April 1923 (1923-04-20)
UEFA affiliation2 March 1955 (1955-03-02)
PresidentCezary Kulesza
Websitepzpn.pl

History

The fully independent federation was established 20 December 1919 engulfing the autonomous Polish Football Union (PFU) that was part of the disintegrated Austrian Football Union. The PFU was established on 25 June 1911[2] in Lwów, Austria-Hungary. Between 1911 and 1919 the national team of Poland played three games at the Czarni Lwów's stadium. The team was composed mainly of players from the city of Lwów.

When the Wehrmacht invaded Poland in September 1939, all Polish institutions and associations were dissolved, including the PZPN. The German occupying forces forbade Poles to organise football matches.[3]

In September 2008, the leadership of the PZPN was suspended by the Polish Olympic Committee for "[violating] its statutes in a continuous and flagrant fashion."[4] A year earlier, the Polish sports ministry also made an attempt to address corruption within the PZPN, but was threatened with suspension by FIFA, which forbids any form of government intervention.[5] On 30 October 2008, Grzegorz Lato became the president of the PZPN. On 26 October 2012, Zbigniew Boniek was elected president after winning 61 votes from 118 delegates.[6]

The football association turned 100 years with the 2019 FIFA U-20 World Cup during its centennial year. In 2019, Józef Klotz, who had played for the Poland national football team and was killed in the Warsaw Ghetto during the Holocaust, was honored by the Association.[7][8]

On 28 August 2021, Cezary Kulesza was elected president.[9]

Presidents

[10]

N.PresidentYearsNotes
1.Edward Cetnarowski20 December 1919 – 15 January 1928
2.Władysław Bończa-Uzdowski15 January 1928 – 20 February 1937
3.Kazimierz Glabisz20 February 1937 – 1 September 1939
4.Tadeusz Kuchar29 June 1945 – 16 February 1946
5.Władysław Bończa-Uzdowski16 February 1946 – 1949
6.Andrzej Przeworski1949 – 1951
7.Jerzy Bordziłowski1951 – 1953
8.Jan Rotkiewicz1953 – 1954
9.Roman Gajzler1954 – 1954
10.Władysław Rajkowski1954 – 1956
11.Stefan Glinka1956 – 1961
12.Wit Hanke1961 – 1966
13.Wiesław Ociepka1966 – 1972
14.Stanisław Nowosielski1972 – 1973
15.Jan Maj1973 – 1976
16.Edward Sznajder1976 – 1978
17.Marian Ryba1978 – 1981
18.Włodzimierz Reczek1981 – 1985
19.Edward Brzostowski1985 – 1986
20.Zbigniew Jabłoński1986 – 1989
21.Jerzy Domański1989 – 25 March 1991
22.Kazimierz Górski25 March 1991 – 3 July 1995
23.Marian Dziurowicz3 July 1995 – 28 June 1999
-Wiesław Pakoca25 May 1998 – 7 August 1998curator
24.Michał Listkiewicz28 June 1999 – 30 October 2008
-Andrzej Rusko19 January 2007 – 1 February 2007curator
-Marcin Wojcieszak1 February 2007 – 5 March 2007curator
-Robert Zawłocki29 September 2008 – 10 October 2008curator
25.Grzegorz Lato30 October 2008 – 26 October 2012
26.Zbigniew Boniek26 October 2012 – 18 August 2021
27.Cezary Kulesza18 August 2021 – present

References
  1. "History". Polish Football Association. Archived from the original on 20 January 2015. Retrieved 2 January 2015.
  2. Korzachenko, Yuri (12 January 2010). Колиска українського футболу [Cradle of Ukrainian football] (in Ukrainian). Football Federation of Ukraine.
  3. Thomas Urban, “Football ‘Only for Germans’, in the Underground and in Auschwitz: Championships in Occupied Poland“, in European Football During the Second World War. Ed. M. Herzog/F. Brändle. Oxford 2018, p. 367.
  4. "Administrator taking over scandal-hit Polish federation". Agence France-Presse. 29 September 2008. Archived from the original on 20 May 2011.
  5. Slowikowska, Karolina (30 September 2008). "Polish FA suspended over corruption issues". Reuters.
  6. "Boniek becomes new head of Polish FA". Sports Illustrated. Associated Press. 26 October 2012.
  7. "Poland honors national soccer player murdered in Holocaust" Israel HaYom, 11 June 2019.
  8. "Before Polish-Israeli soccer match, murdered Jewish player honored". The Jerusalem Post. 10 June 2019.
  9. "Cezary Kulesza nowym prezesem Polskiego Związku Piłki Nożnej". www.laczynaspilka.pl.
  10. "Presidents of PZPN". PZPN. Retrieved 15 July 2015.
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