The Polish Cup in football ( Polish : Puchar Polski w piłce nożnej [ˌpuxar ˈpɔlskʲi] ) is an annual knockout football competition for Polish football clubs , held continuously since 1950, and is the second most important national title in Polish football after the Ekstraklasa title. Due to mass participation of teams, the tournament is often called The Cup of the Thousand Teams ( Polish : Puchar Tysiąca Drużyn [ˌpuxar tɨˌɕɔnt͡sa ˈdruʐɨn] ).
8-470: Participation is open to any club registered with the Polish FA , regardless of whether it competes in any league in the national pyramid or not. Reserve and veteran teams are also eligible, with reserve teams reaching the final on two occasions (and winning it once). The Cup is popular among lower-level teams, as it gives them a chance to play better known sides. In some cases, the underdogs have even reached
16-570: Is decided by a single game which is held at the lower league side's stadium. The final used to be a single match, but 2002–2006 it was contested over two legs. Since 2007, the Cup has returned to the single-game final. The first edition of the Polish Cup took place in 1926, but it was quickly abandoned. In the late 1930s, the President of Poland's Football Cup was organized, which featured teams of
24-653: Is the governing body of association football in Poland . It organizes the Polish football leagues (without the Ekstraklasa ), the Polish Cup and the Poland national football team . It is based in the Polish capital of Warsaw . The fully independent federation was established on 20 December 1919 subsuming the autonomous Polish Football Union (PFU) that was part of the disintegrated Austrian Football Union. The PFU
32-637: The Polish Football Association 's regional districts. The reigning champions are Wisła Kraków , who defeated Pogoń Szczecin 1–2 after extra time in the final of the 2023–24 edition , becoming the fifth team to win the competition while playing in the second division. Raków Częstochowa hold the record for most consecutive tournament game wins (16) between 2020 and 2023, winning the cup in 2021 and 2022. Previous cup winners are: PZPN The Polish Football Association ( Polish : Polski Związek Piłki Nożnej; PZPN )
40-714: The PZPN. On 26 October 2012, Zbigniew Boniek was elected president after winning 61 votes from 118 delegates. 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. On 28 August 2021, Cezary Kulesza
48-492: The final, with the most famous example being Czarni Żagań , who were playing in the third division, when they reached the 1964–65 final, eventually won by Górnik Zabrze . Lower league clubs have to enter regional qualification rounds and the winners of these join the teams from the first and second division in the competition proper. The regional qualifications are played in the preceding season, so that one edition of Polish Cup for lower ranked clubs can last two seasons. Each tie
56-480: The leadership of the PZPN was suspended by the Polish Olympic Committee for "[violating] its statutes in a continuous and flagrant fashion." 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. On 30 October 2008, Grzegorz Lato became the president of
64-676: Was established on 25 June 1911 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. In September 2008,
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