Rakow Czestochowa

Polish underdogs complete remarkable rise by winning the league title

- Dariusz Kurowski

Czestochowa, a city of over 200,000 people, is mostly known as the home of the famous Black Madonna painting. It is this reputation that gives the local football team its nickname, “Religious Medallions.” The club was founded in the 1920s, with its roots in the city’s industrial district where a big steelworks was located.

For most of the 20th century, the team had a modest record, moving between the fourth, third and second tiers, with a shock run to the Polish Cup final in 1967 providing the standout moment. In 1994, Rakow reached the Ekstraklasa – Poland’s top flight. They stayed up for four seasons, but relegation was quickly followed by further back-to-back relegations that meant that, by 2001, the club was back down in the fourth tier.

Watching in the crowd as Rakow were sent down from the top division was a young supporter named Michal Swierczewski who, seeing fans crying around him, promised himself that one day the club would return.

Thirteen years later, after making his money in computing, the young businessman became Rakow owner.

Within the first two years, five different managers had come and gone, with a couple lasting only a matter of weeks. But after narrowly missing out on the play-offs for promotion to the second tier, Swierczewski finally found his man. In April 2016, he appointed Marek Papszun, a former primary school teacher who had coached in the lower leagues. It was a move that brought an end to the short-termism of Swierczewski’s early appointments, and Papszun has been in place ever since.