In the

Second Polish Republic The Second Polish Republic, at the time officially known as the Republic of Poland, was a country in Central and Eastern Europe that existed between 7 October 1918 and 6 October 1939. The state was established in the final stage of World War I ...

, there was not a national,

Second Division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

, as we know it today, although the creation of the second division was proposed on several occasions. On Sunday, 26 September 1937 in

Częstochowa Częstochowa ( , ) is a city in southern Poland on the Warta with 214,342 inhabitants, making it the thirteenth-largest city in Poland. It is situated in the Silesian Voivodeship. However, Częstochowa is historically part of Lesser Poland, not Si ...

, a conference of regional teams from across the nation took place, to discuss the creation of the league. Officials of several clubs arrived, such as

Brygada Częstochowa Brygada Częstochowa was a football team from Częstochowa, Poland. The team was supported by Częstochowa's garrison of the Polish Army and in the 1930s, it played in regional soccer A-Class tournament of the Kielce Kielce (; ) is a city in sou ...

, Gryf Toruń,

Śmigły Wilno Śmigły Wilno was a Polish association football team. Founded in 1933 in Wilno, Second Polish Republic (now Vilnius, Lithuania). Śmigły's full name was ''Wojskowy Klub Sportowy "Śmigły" Wilno'' (Military Sports Club "Śmigły" Wilno). The ...

Rewera Stanisławów WCKS Rewera Stanisławów was a Polish football team, located in Stanisławów (now Ivano-Frankivsk), in the historic territory of Galicia. History The club's hues were red and blue, same as the hues of one of the most popular Polish teams, Pog ...

Dąb Katowice Dąb Katowice was a Polish sports club from the Upper Silesian capital of Katowice. Founded in 1911 as Sport Verein Eiche (in what was then the mining village of Dąb, Katowice, Domb located in the Province of Upper Silesia, German Empire), the c ...

, Unia Sosnowiec, Strzelec Janowa Dolina, and

WKS Grodno Wojskowy Klub Sportowy Grodno (WKS Grodno) was a Polish football team, located in Grodno, Poland (now Belarus), on the historic territory of Kresy Wschodnie (Polish Eastern Borderlands). The club was founded in 1934, when the team of “Cresovi ...

. Also, invited were officials of HCP Poznań, Podgorze Kraków,

Naprzód Lipiny ŚKS Naprzód Lipiny is a sports club from Świętochłowice's district of Lipiny (Upper Silesia, Poland), founded in 1920 by Alfons Maniura, who became Naprzód's first chairman. Throughout the years, the club changed its name many times. Fro ...

and

Union Touring Łódź Union Touring Łódź was a Polish football club from the city of Łódź. Union Touring was created in 1932 as the result of a merger of Klub Turystow Łódź and SS Union Łódź. In late 1938 the team was promoted to the Polish football League ...

, but for unknown reasons they did not show up. The officials talked about creation of a National ''B-League'', but nothing came out of this project. Instead, in the years 1921-1939, several Voivodeships held their own games and those leagues were known as ''A-Classes''. In 1927, the elite Polish Football League was created, which by the late 1930s consisted of 10 teams. The teams that did not make it to the Ekstraklasa, played in the ''A-Classes''.

A-Classes

In the year of the

1921 Polish Football Championship 1921 Polish Football Championship was the 2nd edition of the Polish Football Championship (Non-League) and 1st completed season ended with the selection of a winner. The championship was decided in final tournament played among five teams ( winn ...

only five A-Classes managed to conclude the full seasons, namely:

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

Lwów Lviv ( or ; ; ; see #Names and symbols, below for other names) is the largest city in western Ukraine, as well as the List of cities in Ukraine, fifth-largest city in Ukraine, with a population of It serves as the administrative centre of ...

Kraków , officially the Royal Capital City of Kraków, is the List of cities and towns in Poland, second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city has a population of 804,237 ...

Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

and

Łódź Łódź is a city in central Poland and a former industrial centre. It is the capital of Łódź Voivodeship, and is located south-west of Warsaw. Łódź has a population of 655,279, making it the country's List of cities and towns in Polan ...

. The next year they were joined by

Wilno Vilnius ( , ) is the capital of and List of cities in Lithuania#Cities, largest city in Lithuania and the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, most-populous city in the Baltic states. The city's estimated January 2025 population w ...

Lublin Lublin is List of cities and towns in Poland, the ninth-largest city in Poland and the second-largest city of historical Lesser Poland. It is the capital and the centre of Lublin Voivodeship with a population of 336,339 (December 2021). Lublin i ...

(

Volhynia Volhynia or Volynia ( ; see #Names and etymology, below) is a historic region in Central and Eastern Europe, between southeastern Poland, southwestern Belarus, and northwestern Ukraine. The borders of the region are not clearly defined, but in ...

) and

Silesia Silesia (see names #Etymology, below) is a historical region of Central Europe that lies mostly within Poland, with small parts in the Czech Silesia, Czech Republic and Germany. Its area is approximately , and the population is estimated at 8, ...

. Between 1927 and 1939 there were several A-Classes, such as: *

Kielce Kielce (; ) is a city in south-central Poland and the capital of the Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship. In 2021, it had 192,468 inhabitants. The city is in the middle of the Świętokrzyskie Mountains (Holy Cross Mountains), on the banks of the Silnic ...

A-Class, from which in mid-1930s the separate,

Zagłębie Dąbrowskie Zagłębie in Polish means coalfield. It can refer to: * Górnośląskie Zagłębie Węglowe, a mining region * Zagłębie Dąbrowskie, a mining region * Zagłębie Sosnowiec, an association football club * Zagłębie Lubin, an association footbal ...

A-Class emerged, with teams from such cities as

Sosnowiec Sosnowiec is an industrial city county in the Dąbrowa Basin of southern Poland, in the Silesian Voivodeship, which is also part of the Metropolis GZM municipal association.—— Located in the eastern part of the Upper Silesian Industrial Re ...

Będzin Będzin (; also seen spelled ''Bendzin''; ) is a city in the Dąbrowa Basin, in southern Poland. It lies in the Silesian Highlands, on the Czarna Przemsza River (a tributary of the Vistula River, Vistula). Even though part of Silesian Voivodeship ...

Zawiercie Zawiercie () () is a town in southern Poland located in the Silesian Voivodeship with 49,334 inhabitants (2019). It is situated in the Kraków-Częstochowa Upland near the source of the Warta River. The town lies near the historical region of Sil ...

. After this, Kielce A-Class ceased to exist, and some of its teams, such as Star Starachowice, moved to Warsaw A-Class, *

Białystok Białystok is the largest city in northeastern Poland and the capital of the Podlaskie Voivodeship. It is the List of cities and towns in Poland, tenth-largest city in Poland, second in terms of population density, and thirteenth in area. Biał ...

Grodno Grodno, or Hrodna, is a city in western Belarus. It is one of the oldest cities in Belarus. The city is located on the Neman, Neman River, from Minsk, about from the Belarus–Poland border, border with Poland, and from the Belarus–Lithua ...

A-Class * Kraków A-Class, also called ''Kraków League'' * Łódź A-Class * Lwów A-Class, also called ''Lwów League'' *

Polesie Polesia, also called Polissia, Polesie, or Polesye, is a natural (geographic) and historical region in Eastern Europe within the East European Plain, including the Belarus–Ukraine border region and part of eastern Poland. This region shoul ...

A-Class *

Pomerania Pomerania ( ; ; ; ) is a historical region on the southern shore of the Baltic Sea in Central Europe, split between Poland and Germany. The central and eastern part belongs to the West Pomeranian Voivodeship, West Pomeranian, Pomeranian Voivod ...

A-Class * Poznań A-Class * Silesian A-Class, also called ''Silesia League'' (it was regarded as the strongest of all, with several top-quality teams and players) * Stanisławów A-Class * Volhynia A-Class * Warsaw A-Class * Wilno A-Class *

A-Class (since mid-1930s) It must be mentioned that not all Voivodeships had their own A-Classes. Football system in some areas located mainly in the Eastern Provinces (

Kresy Wschodnie Eastern Borderlands (), often simply Borderlands (, ) was a historical region of the eastern part of the Second Polish Republic. The term was coined during the interwar period (1918–1939). Largely agricultural and extensively multi-ethnic with ...

) was not developed enough (or did not have enough teams) to keep their own A-Class Leagues. So, there was no Nowogródek Voivodeship A-Class, or

Tarnopol Voivodeship Tarnopol Voivodeship (; ) was an administrative region of Second Polish Republic, interwar Poland (1918–1939), created on 23 December 1920, with an area of 16,500 km2 and provincial capital in Tarnopol (now ''Ternopil'', Ukraine). The Voi ...

A-Class. Instead, the existing teams from those regions played each other in knock-out stage games, thus establishing a regional Champion. Interesting is the fact that in several cases, teams from one Voivodeship played in the A-Class of another region - e.g. Koszarawa Żywiec from

Voivodeship, played in mid-1930s in the Silesian A-Class, SKS (Star) Starachowice, played in late-1930s in Warsaw A-Class, even though the city of

Starachowice Starachowice is a city in southeastern Poland (historic Lesser Poland), with 49,513 inhabitants (31.12.2017). It is the capital of Starachowice County in the Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship. It is situated upon the River Kamienna, a tributary of ...

was located in

Kielce Voivodeship Kielce Voivodeship () is a former unit of administrative division and the local government in Poland. It was originally formed during Poland's return to independence in the aftermath of World War One, and recreated within the new Polish borders af ...

, or Pogon Stryj, which played in Lwów A-Class, but the town of Stryj was located in the

Stanisławów Voivodeship Stanisławów Voivodeship () was an administrative district of the interwar Poland (1920–1939). It was established in December 1920 with an administrative center in Stanisławów. The voivodeship had an area of 16,900 km2 and comprised twe ...

B and C Classes

Also, there were third and fourth tier Leagues in Poland - ''B-Classes'' (usually covering the areas of 4-5 counties) and ''C-Classes''. Champions of these divisions were automatically promoted to upper levels.

The promotion to the Ekstraklasa

To get promoted to the elite, 10-team Ekstraklasa, it was not enough to win the A-Class games. The promotion was a long and arduous process, which can be best described by recollecting the games of

Śląsk Świętochłowice Śląsk Świętochłowice (full name: Miejski Klub Sportowy Śląsk Świętochłowice) is a Polish sports club based in Świętochłowice, Upper Silesia, known for its motorcycle speedway and Association football, football teams. Name Its name c ...

, which was the winner of the 1938-1939 Silesian A-Class. In the early summer 1939, Śląsk started its way to the Ekstraklasa. In the first stage, it competed against champions of the neighboring A-Classes -

Fablok Chrzanów Fablok Chrzanów is a Polish sports club, founded in 1926 in Chrzanów. Its name reflects the name of club's sponsor - Fablok, the biggest and most important company in town. Fablok's most famous association football player is Paweł Cyganek ...

(Kraków A-Class) and Unia Sosnowiec (Zagłębie Dąbrowskie A-Class). Śląsk, with such renowned players as Hubert Gad and

Ewald Cebula Edward Cebula (also known as Ewald; 22 March 1917 – 1 February 2004) was a Polish football player and manager. He played in five matches for the Poland national team as well as one match representing Poland at the Olympic Games. He started in ...

, at home beat both Fablok and Unia 4-0. Away, it tied 1-1 with Fablok and won 3-2 with Unia, becoming the Champion of southwest Poland A-Classes. In August 1939, the second, national stage started. In it, Śląsk played champions of northwest Poland A-Classes (Legia

), northeast Poland A-Classes (

) and southeast Poland A-Classes (

Junak Drohobycz Junak Drohobycz was a Polish Association football, football team, located in Drohobycz in the historic territory of the Kresy Wschodnie, Polish Eastern Borderlands, what is now Drohobych, Ukraine. The club was disbanded by the Soviet Union, Sov ...

). Out of the four teams, three were going to be promoted. Śląsk managed to play only two games - 0-0 in Drohobycz and 2-1 at home with Śmigły Wilno. Then, on September 1, 1939, Germany attacked Poland and all matches were suspended.

List of A-Class Teams in Poland, Spring 1939

Białystok - Grodno A-Class Teams

In the fall of 1938 in this League played the following teams: * WKS

* Makabi Białystok * Strzelec Białystok * Cresovia Grodno * Makabi Grodno * Ognisko Białystok * Makabi

Łomża Łomża () is a city in north-eastern Poland, approximately to the north-east of Warsaw and west of Białystok. It is situated alongside the Narew river as part of the Podlaskie Voivodeship. It is the capital of Łomża County and has been the se ...

Kraków A-Class Teams

In the spring of 1939 in this League played the following teams: * KS Chełmek * Cracovia II Kraków *

* Garbarnia II Kraków * Grzegorzecki Kraków * Korona Kraków * Krowodrza Kraków * Makabi Kraków * KS Tarnów-Moscice * Olsza Kraków * Podgorze Kraków * Tarnovia Tarnów * Wisla II Kraków * Zwierzyniecki Kraków

Łódź A-Class Teams

In the spring of 1939 in this League played the following teams: * Burza

Pabianice Pabianice is a city in central Poland with 63,023 inhabitants (2021). Situated in the Łódź Voivodeship, it is the capital of Pabianice County. It lies about southwest of Łódź and belongs to the metropolitan area of that city. It is the thi ...

ŁKS Łódź ŁKS Łódź (''Łódzki Klub Sportowy Łódź''; ) is a Polish sports club based in Łódź. They are best known for their football club but are represented in many sports such as basketball, volleyball, boxing, and in the past ice hockey, ...

* ŁTSG

* PTC Pabianice * SKS Łódź * Sokol Pabianice * Sokol

Zgierz Zgierz is a city in central Poland, located just to the north of Łódź, and part of the metropolitan area centered on that city. As of 2021, it had a population of 54,974. Located within the historic Łęczyca Land, it is the capital of Zgie ...

* Strzelecki KS Łódź * Union-Touring II Łódź * WIMA Łódź * WKS Łódź * Zjednoczeni Łódź

Lublin A-Class Teams

Lwów A-Class Teams

In the spring of 1939 there were following teams in the Lwów A-Class: *

Czarni Lwów Czarni Lwów was one of the first Polish professional sports clubs with a well-developed football section as well as ice hockey, among several other sports. The football club was started in the late 19th century in Lwów as a school football se ...

Hasmonea Lwów Hasmonea Lwów was a Poland, Polish-Jewish sports club based in the city of Lwów (now Lviv, Ukraine). Created in 1908 in Austria-Hungary, it was the first sports club exclusively for Jewish members. It was named after the Hasmonean royal dynasty. ...

* Korona Sambor *

Lechia Lwów Lechia Lwów (full name: ''Lwowski Klub Sportowy "Lechia" Lwów'') was the first former Poland, Polish professional association football club, founded in summer 1903 in Lwów by students of the 3rd and 4th gymnasiums as well as former members of t ...

* Pogon II Lwów * Pogoń Stryj *

Polonia Przemyśl Polonia Przemyśl is a Polish sports club, located in the south-eastern city of Przemyśl. Founded in 1909, it is one of the oldest sports associations in Poland. History The club, whose hues are white-red-blue, supports two departments - foot ...

* Resovia Rzeszów *

Sian Przemyśl Sian Przemyśl (full name: ''Ukrainian Sports Club Sian Przemyśl'') was an ethnic Ukrainian sports club, located in the city of Przemyśl, which in the interbellum period belonged to the Second Polish Republic. The club was founded in 1929. The ...

* RKS Lwów *

Ukraina Lwów Ukraina Lviv (full name: ''Sports Society Ukraina Lviv'') was a Galician and then Polish association football team of the ''ST Ukraina'' (Sports Society), located in the city of Lviv. At that time the ''ST Ukraina'' was a sports society of ethn ...

* WKS Jarosław

Pomerania A-Class Teams

In the spring of 1939 in this League played the following teams: *

Bałtyk Gdynia Bałtyk Gdynia is a Polish football club from Gdynia. The club is named after the Baltic Sea. They currently compete in the IV liga Pomerania, the fifth tier of Polish league competition. History The club was established in 1930 by football e ...

* Ciszewski

Bydgoszcz Bydgoszcz is a city in northern Poland and the largest city in the historical region of Kuyavia. Straddling the confluence of the Vistula River and its bank (geography), left-bank tributary, the Brda (river), Brda, the strategic location of Byd ...

* AKS

Grudziądz Grudziądz (, ) is a city in northern Poland, with 92,552 inhabitants (2021). Located on the Vistula River, it lies within the Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship and is the fourth-largest city in its province. Grudziądz is one of the oldest citie ...

* Gryf

Toruń Toruń is a city on the Vistula River in north-central Poland and a World Heritage Sites of Poland, UNESCO World Heritage Site. Its population was 196,935 as of December 2021. Previously, it was the capital of the Toruń Voivodeship (1975–199 ...

* Kotwica Gdynia * Pomorzanin Toruń *

Polonia Bydgoszcz Polonia Bydgoszcz is a Polish sports club based in Bydgoszcz most known for its Motorcycle speedway, speedway team ŻKS Polonia Bydgoszcz which currently races in the Polish Speedway First League, 1. Liga. The club has won the Team Speedway Pol ...

* Unia Tczew

Poznań A-Class Teams

In the spring of 1939 there were following teams in the Poznań A-Class: * HCP

* KPW Poznań * Legia Poznań * Pentatlon Poznań * Polonia Leszno * Polonia Poznań * Stella

Gniezno Gniezno (; ; ) is a city in central-western Poland, about east of Poznań. Its population in 2021 was 66,769, making it the sixth-largest city in the Greater Poland Voivodeship. The city is the administrative seat of Gniezno County (''powiat'') ...

* Warta II Poznań

Silesian A-Class Teams

In the spring of 1939, Silesian A-Class consisted of 12 teams. These were: * BBTS Bielsko * Concordia Knurów * KS

Chorzów Chorzów ( ; ; ) is a city in the Silesia region of southern Poland, near Katowice. Chorzów is one of the central cities of the Metropolis GZM – a metropolis with a population of 2 million. It is located in the Silesian Highlands, on the Rawa ...

Stary * Czarni Chropaczow *

* Ligocianka Ligota *

* KKS Pogon

Katowice Katowice (, ) is the capital city of the Silesian Voivodeship in southern Poland and the central city of the Katowice urban area. As of 2021, Katowice has an official population of 286,960, and a resident population estimate of around 315,000. K ...

* Policyjny KS Katowice * Polonia Karwina (this team was added in March 1939, after the annexation of

Trans-Olza Trans-Olza (, ; , ''Záolší''; ), also known as Trans-Olza Silesia (), is a territory in the Czech Republic which was disputed between Poland and Czechoslovakia during the Interwar Period. Its name comes from the Olza River. The history of ...

into Poland) *

* Wawel Wirek

Stanisławów Liga okręgowa (1933-1939)

;All time table In ''italic'' are names of the clubs that did not participate in the last season.All-time table from 90minut.pl
''Notes:'' *Pogon Stryj played here only for a single season and returned to the Lviv Liga okręgowa. *Game Rypne - Pokucie Kolomyja 1:18 was canceled, due to suspected fraud. *KS stands for Sport Club (Klub Sportowy) *ST stands for Sport Association (Sportowe Towarzystwo) *WCKS stands for Military-Civilian Sport Club (Wojskowe-Civilny Klub Sportowy) *SKS stands for Sport Club Stanislawow (or Stryi) *pp stands for Infantry Regiment

Volhynia A-Class Teams

In the spring of 1939 in this League played the following teams: * Hasmonea

Łuck Lutsk (, ; see below for other names) is a city on the Styr River in northwestern Ukraine. It is the administrative center of Volyn Oblast and the administrative center of Lutsk Raion within the oblast. Lutsk has a population of A city wit ...

* Hasmonea Rowne * Policyjny Klub Sportowy

* Pogon Rowne * Strzelec Janowa Dolina * Strzelec

Kowel Kovel (, ; ; ) is a city in Volyn Oblast, northwestern Ukraine. It serves as the administrative center of Kovel Raion within the oblast. Population: Kovel gives its name to one of the oldest runic inscriptions which were lost during World War II ...

* Strzelec Rowne * Wojskowy Klub Sportowy

Dubno Dubno (, ) is a List of cities in Ukraine, city and List of hromadas of Ukraine, municipality located on the Ikva River in Rivne Oblast (oblast, province) of western Ukraine. It serves as the capital city, administrative center of Dubno Raion ...

* WKS Luck

Warsaw A-Class Teams

In the spring of 1939 the following teams played in Warsaw A-Class: * CWS

Warszawa Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at 1.86 million residents within a greate ...

* Fort Bema Warszawa * Granat Skarzysko * Okecie Warszawa * Orkan

Sochaczew Sochaczew () is a town in central Poland, with 33,456 inhabitants (as of 2023). In the Masovian Voivodeship (since 1999), formerly in Skierniewice Voivodeship (1975–1998). It is the capital of Sochaczew County and is located approximately west ...

* PWATT Warszawa * PZL Warszawa * SK

* Skra Warszawa *

Znicz Pruszków Miejski Klub Sportowy Znicz Pruszków () is a football (soccer), football club based in Pruszków, Poland. They currently compete in the I liga, the second level of the Polish football league system. Players Current squad ...

Zagłębie Dąbrowskie-Częstochowa A-Class Teams

In the spring of 1939 in this League played the following teams: *

* Brynica Czeladź * CKS

Czeladź Czeladź () is a town in Zagłębie Dąbrowskie (part of historic Lesser Poland), in southern Poland, near Katowice and Sosnowiec. Located in the Silesian Highlands, on the Brynica river (tributary of the Vistula), it is the oldest urban center ...

* Sarmacja

* RKS Skra

* Unia Sosnowiec * Warta Częstochowa * Warta

* Zaglebianka Będzin * Zaglebie

Dąbrowa Górnicza Dąbrowa Górnicza () is a city in Zagłębie Dąbrowskie, southern Poland, near Katowice and Sosnowiec. It is located in eastern part of the Silesian Voivodeship, on the Czarna Przemsza and Biała Przemsza rivers (tributaries of the Vistula Rive ...

Schematic division of Class A in regional districts and selected sub-districts

(*) - Kielce DFA został rozwiązany w 1937, w jego miejsce powołany Zagłębie DFA. Kielce jako podokręg przeniosły się do Krakow DFA
(**) - do października 1927 as Toruń DFA
(***) - from 1932 Class A of Śląsk District was called Śląsk League
(7) - w nawiasach rozgrywki nieoficjalne
po. - sub-district (Podokręgi)
7 - ilość drużyn występujących w A klasie
7/7 - ilość grup
{7} - tzw. grupa robotnicza (skupiająca kluby fabrykanckie i robotnicze)
7 - pogrubienie oznacza Ligę Okręgową

References

2 Football leagues in Poland 1927 in Polish football 1928 in Polish football 1929 in Polish football 1930 in Polish football 1931 in Polish football 1932 in Polish football 1933 in Polish football 1934 in Polish football 1935 in Polish football 1936 in Polish football 1937 in Polish football 1938 in Polish football 1939 in Polish football