Marked for Jakub Łukowski
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad12 Oct 2026
75 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Polonia Bytom lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
Jakub Antczak: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Polonia Bytom have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Jakub Łukowski was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad12 Oct 2026
18 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Jakub Apolinarski, and the manager let it.
Looking ahead12 Oct 2026
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Benedykt Piotrowski’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Polonia Bytom needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad5 Oct 2026
Jordi Calavera damages knee ligaments — 82 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 82 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Jakub Łukowski and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
Jakub Arak gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
Wages swallow 124% of the Polonia Bytom income
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 17. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mikołaj Łabojko was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Polonia Bytom are still strangers to each other
9 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
Tomasz Gajda has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Polonia Bytom will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad28 Sep 2026
90 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Polonia Bytom lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Jakub Łukowski and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad28 Sep 2026
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Polonia Bytom can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tomasz Gajda was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match26 Sep 2026
A 1‑0 win over Puszcza Niepołomice, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.13, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 1‑0, already talking about the next one.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Market28 Sep 2026
Klaudiusz Mazur is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Polonia Bytom has been clear about where Klaudiusz Mazur stands, which is more than many ever get.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad21 Sep 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Jordi Calavera
99 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Polonia Bytom lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Up for the corner, and Oskar Krzyżak delivers — 7.96
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Oskar Krzyżak scored, was marked 7.96, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Squad21 Sep 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Polonia Bytom this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Dimitris Keramitsis is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Words at Polonia Bytom training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tomasz Gajda is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Match19 Sep 2026
A goal on 88 minutes turned three points into one and a good afternoon into an argument about game management that will run until Saturday.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 15. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
There was one mistake and it ended in the net. Defenders are judged on the worst thing they did rather than on the eighty-nine minutes either side of it, which is unfair and is also the job.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad24 Aug 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Jordi Calavera
131 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Polonia Bytom lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match19 Aug 2026
Pogoń Siedlce are out and Polonia Bytom go through, 4‑1 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.51, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Oliwier Kwiatkowski did not need any: 7.90, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Market24 Aug 2026
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Polonia Bytom have done the hard part with Polonia Warszawa, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad24 Aug 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Polonia Bytom this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Bologna have kept their man, and Polonia Bytom go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The terraces24 Aug 2026
He is 21 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad17 Aug 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Jordi Calavera
140 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Polonia Bytom lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Polonia Bytom have done the hard part with Pogon, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Jakub Łukowski was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Jagiellonia have kept their man, and Polonia Bytom go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Marked 8.03 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
A loan enquiry to HNK Rijeka: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Shakhtar have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
The dugout17 Aug 2026
“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 2‑0, already talking about the next one.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Polonia Bytom have done the hard part with Lech, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Jakub Łukowski and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Market10 Aug 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Maciej Frankowski has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Market10 Aug 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Tomasz Szymanski has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Market10 Aug 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Kamil Zielinski has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Market10 Aug 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Arkadiusz Lewandowski is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Squad10 Aug 2026
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
Squad10 Aug 2026
6 new faces, and Polonia Bytom are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Wiktor Benedyktowicz and Polonia Bytom agree another 3 years.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad3 Aug 2026
There were 8 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Jakub Łukowski and Polonia Bytom agree another 3 years.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Jakub Łukowski and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Piast have kept their man, and Polonia Bytom go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Match1 Aug 2026
Wisla Krakow left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Polonia Bytom can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
The dugout3 Aug 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Lukasz Bednarek to a room that had heard them before.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
A loan move for Jan Krzywański is in the works
Polonia Bytom have made the call to Widzew Łódź. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Market3 Aug 2026
He is 20, and the scouting reports agree on the only line that matters: the ceiling. Signings like this are lottery tickets written by professionals.