ŁKS Łódź (''Łódzki Klub Sportowy Łódź''; ) is a Polish sports club based in

Łódź Łódź, also rendered in English as Lodz, is a city in central Poland and a former industrial centre. It is the capital of Łódź Voivodeship, and is located approximately south-west of Warsaw. The city's coat of arms is an example of cant ...

. They are best known for their football club but are represented in many sports such as basketball, volleyball, tennis, athletics and in the past

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two o ...

. The club is based at Stadion Miejski im. Władysława Króla, at the 2

Union of Lublin The Union of Lublin ( pl, Unia lubelska; lt, Liublino unija) was signed on 1 July 1569 in Lublin, Poland, and created a single state, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, one of the largest countries in Europe at the time. It replaced the per ...

Avenue in the West of Łódź. The club was founded in 1908. This article focuses on the football club. Their nickname "''Rycerze Wiosny''" ("Knights of Spring") was given to them due to their usually strong performance in the second round of the league, after Winter break.

History

In March 2010, the city government sold the football team to a private investor, as the city could no longer afford to support the football team, particularly after several seasons in the top level

Ekstraklasa Poland Ekstraklasa (), meaning "Extra Class" in Polish, named PKO Ekstraklasa since the 2019–20 season due to its sponsorship by PKO Bank Polski, is the top Polish professional league for men's association football teams. Contested by 18 ...

, where expenses often exceeded the ticket revenue from the club's small seating-capacity stadium. In May 2013, at the conclusion of the second-tier

2012–13 I liga The 2012–13 I liga was the 65th season of the second tier domestic division in the Polish football league system since its establishment in 1949 and the 5th season of the Polish I liga under its current title. The league was operated by the P ...

season, the private investor declared bankruptcy. The club survived when a partnership between fans and other local investors raised the necessary funds to enter the much more affordable amateur fifth-level IV liga in time for the 2013–14 IV liga season, competing against other local area teams in the Łódź group.

Facilities

In 2009 the new Atlas Arena was completed adjacent to the football stadium. It is an indoor arena and has already hosted international events in basketball, volleyball and boxing. The City council, owner of the various ŁKS Łódź sports clubs, still intend to construct a brand new stadium on the site of the current football stadium. It was intended to be complete in time for

UEFA Euro 2012 The 2012 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2012 or simply Euro 2012, was the 14th European Championship for men's national football teams organised by UEFA. The final tournament, held between 8 June and 1 ...

, but now is expected to be finished in late 2013-early 2014. Although Łódź is not a Euro 2012 host city, it had been believed that a failure by Ukraine to be ready on time would lead to Poland hosting the entire tournament on its own and therefore requiring more host cities. There were four Polish host cities (

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is official ...

Gdańsk Gdańsk ( , also ; ; csb, Gduńsk;Stefan Ramułt, ''Słownik języka pomorskiego, czyli kaszubskiego'', Kraków 1893, Gdańsk 2003, ISBN 83-87408-64-6. , Johann Georg Theodor Grässe, ''Orbis latinus oder Verzeichniss der lateinischen Benen ...

Poznań Poznań () is a city on the River Warta in west-central Poland, within the Greater Poland region. The city is an important cultural and business centre, and one of Poland's most populous regions with many regional customs such as Saint Joh ...

and

Wrocław Wrocław (; , . german: Breslau, , also known by other names) is a city in southwestern Poland and the largest city in the historical region of Silesia. It lies on the banks of the Oder in the Silesian Lowlands of Central Europe, roughly ...

) involved in hosting the tournament. It was envisioned the new stadium would have approximately 34,000 seats, as required by

UEFA Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; french: Union des associations européennes de football; german: Union der europäischen Fußballverbände) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs foo ...

. While the concept of a new stadium for ŁKS Łódź was being discussed in 2009, cross-town rival Widzew Łódź announced that they would not contribute to any such stadium, as they had imminent plans to renovate their own stadium (the Widzew Łódź plans were stalled for years, eventually opening the 18,000 seat Stadion Miejski Widzewa in 2017). Support for the project was undermined by the successful re-call of the Łódź city president in early 2010. The city also announced a public auction for their stake in the club as they could no longer afford to cover the clubs loses. Owing to financial constraints and lack of demand from LKS fans, the conceptual plan for a new ŁKS Łódź stadium was scaled down to 16,500 in 2012. As part of renovations, a new 3,000 seat arena was supposed to be built to complement the existing Atlas Arena. All work was expected to cost 218 million PLN. All plans to provide the club with new facilities, however, were abandoned as of 2013, due to financial constraints and the bankruptcy of the club in May 2013. However, with an upturn in the clubs fortunes, a new stadium is currently being built. One side was used during the 2019-20 Ekstraklasa season with the remainder of the ground set to be completed by 2021.

Rivalries

The club has a fierce rivalry with cross-town club Widzew Łódź, with the derby match between the two clubs being intense both on and off the field. See Łódź derby

Achievements

: ** 1st Place (2): 1958, 1997–98 ** 2nd Place (1): 1954 ** 3rd Place (3): 1922,

1957 1957 (Roman numerals, MCMLVII) was a Common year starting on Wednesday, common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1957th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 957th year of the 2nd millennium, t ...

1992–93 Year 199 ( CXCIX) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was sometimes known as year 952 ''Ab urbe condita''. The denomination 199 for this year has been used since th ...

* Polish Cup: ** Winner (1): 1956–57 ** Finalist (1): 1993–94 * Polish SuperCup: ** Finalist (2): 1994, 1998 *Youth Teams: ** Polish U-19 Champion: 1962, 1983, 1999 ** Polish U-19 Runner-up: 1953, 1955, 1973, 2002 ** Polish U-19 Bronze Medal: 1971, 1981 ** Polish U-17 Champion: 1994, 1999

Current squad

Out on loan

ŁKS in Europe

Managers

Lajos Czeizler Lajos Czeizler (5 October 1893 – 6 May 1969) was a Hungarian footballer and coach. With 11 major titles altogether, he remains one of the most successful football coaches of all time. Career Czeizler was born in a Jewish family in Heves, Au ...

(1923–26) *

(1935–36) *

Władysław Król Władysław Król (30 October 1907 – 29 January 1991), was a Polish ice hockey and football player and coach. Sports career He played for ŁKS Łódź in both sports during his career. Internationally he played four games for the Pola ...

(1949) * Jan Wiszniowski (1950) * Edward Drabiński (1950–51) * Artur Woźniak (1951) *

(1952–59) * Kazimierz Radwański (1960) *

Stanisław Baran Stanisław Franciszek Baran (26 April 1920 – 12 May 1993) was an interwar Polish football player, who started his career in Resovia Rzeszów, then, sometime in 1938 (at the age of around 18) moved to Warszawianka Warszawa. Regarded as one of ...

(1961) *

Tadeusz Foryś Tadeusz Foryś (31 October 1910 – 6 March 1987) was a Polish footballer and manager. Career Foryś spent his playing career with Warszawianka. After his playing career, he went into coaching and management. In total he was assistant manag ...

(1965) * Longin Janeczek (1966–67) * Wacław Pegza (1968) *

Józef Walczak Józef Walczak (born 3 January 1931 – 14 April 2016) was a football player and manager who mainly played for ŁKS Łódź during his playing career, also making two international appearances for Poland between 1954–1956, and went on to mana ...

(1971–72) * Paweł Kowalski (1972–) * Kazimierz Górski (1973) * Grzegorz Polakow (1975) * Longin Janeczek (1976) * Leszek Jezierski (1976–78) * Zygmunt Małolepszy (1978) *

(1980) *

Wojciech Łazarek Wojciech Łazarek (born 4 October 1937) is a Polish footballer who played as forward in the late 1950s and early 1960s and, starting in 1964, until his retirement in 2006, embarked on a 42-year career as a renowned trainer and manager entrusted, b ...

(1991) * Ryszard Polak (1991–95) * Zbigniew Lepczyk (1995) * Marek Dziuba (1996–99) *

Adam Topolski Adam Stephen Topolski (born 25 December 1951) is a retired Polish football defender who played professionally Poland and the United States. Since his retirement in 1988, he has amassed a considerable resume as a coach in Poland. Player In 1964 ...

(2000) *

Włodzimierz Gąsior Włodzimierz Gąsior (born 17 August 1948) is a Polish professional football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the for ...

(2002) *

Bogusław Pietrzak Bogusław Pietrzak (born 21 May 1958) is a Polish football manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of mana ...

(2002–03) * Włodzimierz Tylak (2003) * Wojciech Borecki (2003–04) *

Marek Chojnacki Marek Chojnacki (born 6 December 1959) is a Polish former footballer who played as a defender. He went on to become a manager. Club career Chojnacki played for ŁKS Łódź in the Polish Ekstraklasa, appearing in more than 450 league matches. ...

(2004) *

Wiesław Wojno Wiesław Wojno (born 28 August 1955) is a retired Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken *Polish brothers (Mark P ...

(2005–06) * Jerzy Kasalik (2006) *

(2006–07) * Wojciech Borecki (2007) * Mirosław Jabłoński (2007–08) *

(2008) * Grzegorz Wesołowski (2008–10) * Andrzej Pyrdoł (2010–11) * Dariusz Bratkowski (2011) *

Michał Probierz Michał Probierz (born 24 September 1972) is a Polish football manager and former player who manages Poland U21. As a player, he played as a midfielder, spending most of his career with Górnik Zabrze. As a manager, he won both the Polish Cup ...

(2011) *

Tomasz Wieszczycki Tomasz Witold Wieszczycki (born 21 December 1971 in Łódź) is former Polish football player. Career National team Wieszczycki appeared in 11 matches for the Poland national football team The Poland national football team ( pl, Reprezenta ...

(2011) * Ryszard Tarasiewicz (2011–12) * Andrzej Pyrdoł (2012) *

(2012) * Maciej Szpak (2013) * Piotr Zajączkowski (2013) * Wojciech Robaszek (2013–2014) *

Andrzej Kretek Andrzej Kretek (born 27 May 1963) is a Polish professional football manager and former player who played as a goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or ...

(2014) *

(2014–2015) * Robert Szwarc (2015–2016) * Wojciech Robaszek (2016) *

Marcin Pyrdoł Marcin (Polish pronunciation: ) is a male given name or surname. Notable people with the name Marcin include: Given name * Marcin Dorociński (born 1973), Polish actor * Marcin Gortat (born 1984), Polish basketball player * Marcin Held (born 1 ...

(2016–2017) * Wojciech Robaszek (2017–2018) * Kazimierz Moskal (2018–2020) * Wojciech Stawowy (2020–2021) * Ireneusz Mamrot (2021) *

Kibu Vicuña José Antonio Vicuña Ochandorena (born 20 November 1971), commonly known as Kibu Vicuña, is a Spanish professional football manager. He is the current manager of the club Diamond Harbour. Coaching career Early career After playing for the Uni ...

(2021-)

Notable former players

ŁKS Łódź II

As of the 2021–22 football season in Poland, the club's

reserve team In sports, a reserve team is a team composed of players under contract to a club but who do not normally play in matches for the first team. Reserve teams often include back-up players from the first team, young players who need playing time to i ...

, ŁKS Łódź II, competes in the III liga, having won promotion from the 2020–21 IV liga.