Despite the last few great years for the history of the club from Małopolska, from next season it will be doomed to rebuild its greatest achievements, such as the semi-final of the Polish Cup or regular play in the Ekstraklasa. What do we know about this challenge today?
Team
When I personally asked the Żubr coach at one of the conferences how their personnel situation could shape the fight for survival, the coach's face grimaced and then added that it had an impact, but that they would do whatever they could to stay in the top league. What has changed since then? We know who will stay for next season and who has left. The list of absentees is as follows:
Artur Craciun, Dawid Szymonowicz, Ioan-Calin Revenco, Dawid Abramowicz, Michał Siplak, Georgiy Zhukov, Artur Siemaszko, Rok Kidrič. In addition, Jani Atanasov and Michalis Kosidis also returned to their teams.
For now, the team has only been officially joined by a young player from Warta Poznań – Kacper Przybyłko.
It is possible that players such as Mroziński, Sołowiej, Cholewiak or Radecki, whose situation is not clear, will leave the team.
So what should you expect?
Certainly lean years. The team does not look promising, so the future is painted in dark colors - the specter of the 2nd league. Considering the worst-case scenario, there will be only 12 players left in the team who have played at least a minute this season. The forest is in the woods when it comes to its future, and there is no point in counting on the biggest stars of the lower leagues.
The club, which used the full potential of football in a beautiful way, uniting many people and creating a local community, may unfortunately share the sad fate of, for example, Zawisza Bydgoszcz or Podbeskidzie Bielsko-Biała. It's a pity, because having personally attended many matches of the team from Małopolska, I experienced these relationships within the fans - almost neighborly. In the stands, apart from the cheering, one could hear comments such as: "There by the line is the daughter of my friend, the one who lives there on Daszyńskiego Street." Something is ending, but coach Tułacz and company have definitely created a great history together for many years.
To you, the fans – both of the Polish Ekstraklasa and, above all, the supporters of Puszcza Niepołomice – I would like to wish a quick return to the Ekstraklasa and for more such teams to be established in many corners of our country.
Filip Banaszkiewicz
Photo: Wojciech Matusik