Polonia Bytom U18

Polish I Liga U18
17 Mar 2027
Wednesday
Process
33 Edition

The Polonia Bytom Herald

15 Mar 2027
From our football correspondent Crisis

Market

Lucjan Zieliński hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Polonia Bytom can pretend not to have heard.

Squad

A falling-out at Polonia Bytom

Jakub Łukowski and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Erik Krafth arrives at the club he grew up with

Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Erik Krafth has, at Polonia Bytom, and the first month will show what that does to a man.

Squad

Jakub Arak falls out with a teammate over standards

The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.

Match

A bad afternoon for Polonia Bytom against ŁKS Łódź

0‑1 to ŁKS Łódź, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.

The dugout

Arkadiusz Blaszczykowski: “No excuses”

“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑1, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.

Market

A long bet from Polonia Bytom on Erik Krafth

He is 15, and nobody at Polonia Bytom signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.

The dugout

Gašper Tratnik knocks on the manager's door

“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Polonia Bytom, and both men came out saying it was fine.

The dugout

Jakub Lis 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.

In brief

Back issues
32 Edition

The Polonia Bytom Herald

8 Mar 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Jakub Łukowski in a row with a teammate

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.

Match

The run at home goes on for Polonia Bytom

9 matches unbeaten here. Every visiting manager is asked about it in the week before, which is precisely why it keeps going.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Tomasz Gajda

Successful dribbles: 15. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Kacper Michalski

“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.

The dugout

The manager’s verdict

“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Arkadiusz Blaszczykowski was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Polonia Bytom dressing room was either.

Match

Polonia Bytom draw a blank against Miedź Legnica

The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Miedź Legnica defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.

Boardroom

$603.0K taken back off the Polonia Bytom table

What was available in the summer has quietly gone. Upstairs nobody will call it a change of ambition; downstairs nobody will call it anything else.

The dugout

Mikołaj Łabojko knocks on the manager's door

“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Polonia Bytom, and both men came out saying it was fine.

Squad

A season on the outside for Jordi Calavera

He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Polonia Bytom has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.

In brief

31 Edition

The Polonia Bytom Herald

1 Mar 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Boardroom

The scrutiny sharpens at Polonia Bytom

Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Polonia Bytom is running low.

Market

Jakub Jordán Jokel asks to leave Polonia Bytom

“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.

The dugout

Pablo Aparicio keeps the receipts

“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Polonia Bytom may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.

Squad

Tempers go at Polonia Bytom

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.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Gašper Tratnik

“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.

Squad

Jean Franco Sarmiento falls out with a teammate over standards

The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.

Match

Polonia Bytom caught on 94 minutes

The board was up, the win was priced in, and then Stal Mielec scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.

Boardroom

Wages eat 96% of everything Polonia Bytom earn

There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.

Squad

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.

In brief

30 Edition

The Polonia Bytom Herald

22 Feb 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Market

Gašper Tratnik hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Polonia Bytom can pretend not to have heard.

Squad

A one-man rearguard from Gašper Tratnik

There were 6 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.

Squad

Words exchanged at Polonia Bytom

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.

Match

Polonia Bytom see off Polonia Warszawa

Three points for Polonia Bytom, 2‑1 the final word against Polonia Warszawa in a contest settled by the finer margins.

Match

Polonia Bytom make home a hard place to visit

8 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.

Player ratings

Ninety minutes of Tomasz Gajda at his very best

Marked 8.40. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Polonia Bytom.

Player ratings

Ninety minutes of Jakub Arak at his very best

Marked 8.25. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Polonia Bytom.

Squad

A row about effort at Polonia Bytom

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jean Franco Sarmiento was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

The dugout

The view from the dugout

“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Arkadiusz Blaszczykowski, on a 2‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.

In brief

29 Edition

The Polonia Bytom Herald

15 Feb 2027
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

Chastening afternoon for Polonia Bytom

A 0‑4 beating by Slask was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.

Match

Slask end the Polonia Bytom run at 13

Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 13 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.

Player ratings

Jakub Łukowski runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 21. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Squad

A falling-out at Polonia Bytom

Matej Matić and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Lucjan Zieliński

“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.

Boardroom

Inquest at Polonia Bytom

The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.

The dugout

Arkadiusz Blaszczykowski faces the questions

“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Arkadiusz Blaszczykowski after 0‑4, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.

Squad

Kacper Duda: “I am not a substitute”

“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Polonia Bytom will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.

The dugout

Jordi Calavera knocks on the manager's door

“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Polonia Bytom, and both men came out saying it was fine.

In brief

28 Edition

The Polonia Bytom Herald

8 Feb 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Match

Polonia Bytom let it slip despite Kamil Wojtyra

Kamil Wojtyra had done his part in building a 2-goal cushion. What happened after that was collective, and Puszcza Niepołomice were allowed back into a match that had been finished with.

Match

13 unbeaten for Polonia Bytom

Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 13 matches without defeat is a foundation Polonia Bytom did not have in the autumn.

Player ratings

A brace, and Kamil Wojtyra takes the afternoon — 9.02

There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Kamil Wojtyra provided it, and the 9.02 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.

The dugout

Jakub Szymański: 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.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Jan Krzywański

“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.

Squad

Jean Franco Sarmiento falls out with a teammate over standards

The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.

Player ratings

A masterclass from Jakub Łukowski

Marked 8.12 — 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.

Match

Polonia Bytom share the spoils with Puszcza Niepołomice

A 3‑3 draw with Puszcza Niepołomice leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.

Squad

A place in the month's best eleven for Jakub Arak

Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Jakub Arak has come out of that comparison in the side, and Polonia Bytom have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.

In brief

27 Edition

The Polonia Bytom Herald

1 Feb 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Match

Still nobody has beaten Polonia Bytom

The unbeaten run reaches 12. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.

Boardroom

The scrutiny sharpens at Polonia Bytom

Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Polonia Bytom is running low.

Boardroom

Deadline passes with 6 signed and 4 gone

That is the business done at Polonia Bytom until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.

Squad

Home is on Jean Franco Sarmiento's mind

“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Polonia Bytom are dealing with a man who wants a different country.

Transfer targets

Stal Rzeszów tell Polonia Bytom: Oliwier Sławiński is not for sale

The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.

Match

Jean Franco Sarmiento the difference as Polonia Bytom beat Pogoń Grodzisk Mazowiecki

Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Jean Franco Sarmiento. 2‑0 against Pogoń Grodzisk Mazowiecki, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.

The dugout

No hiding place for Gašper Tratnik

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Gašper Tratnik, and the manager let it.

Squad

A row about effort at Polonia Bytom

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jean Franco Sarmiento was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Player ratings

A masterclass from Tomasz Gajda

Marked 8.12 — 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.

In brief

26 Edition

The Polonia Bytom Herald

25 Jan 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Market

Jakub Arak hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Polonia Bytom can pretend not to have heard.

Match

Kamil Wojtyra breaks Ruch hearts

Some goals win a match and some take one off somebody else. Kamil Wojtyra scored in the 89th minute, Ruch had already begun thinking about the journey home, and Polonia Bytom took the lot.

Market

Polonia Bytom say no — this time

The offer from Slovan Ljubljana for Jakub Arak was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.

Match

Whatever happens, Polonia Bytom do not lose

11 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.

The dugout

Dominik Konieczny: 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.

Market

Polonia Bytom sign Gašper Tratnik for $710.0K

The paperwork is done: Gašper Tratnik joins from Motor Lublin in a deal worth $710.0K. Now comes the harder part.

Player ratings

Lucjan Zieliński runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 23. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Squad

Words exchanged at Polonia Bytom

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.

Squad

Number 100 for Kamil Wojtyra

100 goals for this club, and somewhere in the stand there is a person who can still tell you where they were for most of them.

In brief

25 Edition

The Polonia Bytom Herald

18 Jan 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Market

Bruk-Bet Termalica come back empty-handed

The bid was some way short and Polonia Bytom did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.

Market

Terms done: Grzegorz Szymusik is going

Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Korona waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Polonia Bytom is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.

Market

Lucjan Zieliński hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Polonia Bytom can pretend not to have heard.

Match

10 unbeaten for Polonia Bytom

Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 10 matches without defeat is a foundation Polonia Bytom did not have in the autumn.

Squad

A falling-out at Polonia Bytom

Jakub Łukowski and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Transfer targets

Polonia Bytom rebuffed over Dmytro Sydorenko

Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Miedź Legnica have kept their man, and Polonia Bytom go back to a list with one name crossed off it.

Squad

A row about effort at Polonia Bytom

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jean Franco Sarmiento was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

The dugout

No hiding place for Jakub Apolinarski

“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.

Player ratings

Jakub Arak takes the honours

Marked 7.96 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Polonia Bytom had the best player on the pitch.

In brief

24 Edition

The Polonia Bytom Herald

11 Jan 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Player ratings

Jean Franco Sarmiento scores twice — 8.59

Two goals and a mark of 8.59 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.

Market

Jean Franco Sarmiento asks to leave Polonia Bytom

“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.

Market

GKS Katowice come back empty-handed

The bid was some way short and Polonia Bytom did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.

The dugout

Nikodem Powroźnik: 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.

Match

9 unbeaten for Polonia Bytom

Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 9 matches without defeat is a foundation Polonia Bytom did not have in the autumn.

Transfer targets

The paperwork begins on Zié Ouattara

A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Polonia Bytom have done the hard part with Radomiak Radom, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.

Squad

Jakub Łukowski in a row with a teammate

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.

Squad

The step up is real for Pablo Aparicio

At 17 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.

Transfer targets

Motor Lublin tell Polonia Bytom: Gašper Tratnik is not for sale

The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.

In brief

23 Edition

The Polonia Bytom Herald

4 Jan 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Market

Mikołaj Łabojko hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Polonia Bytom can pretend not to have heard.

The dugout

Pablo Aparicio says Polonia Bytom went back on their word

“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.

Match

Whatever happens, Polonia Bytom do not lose

8 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.

Market

GKS Katowice watching Jean Franco Sarmiento

The interest is real enough to have reached print. Polonia Bytom have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.

Player ratings

Jakub Łukowski beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 22. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

Squad

Tempers go at Polonia Bytom

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.

Squad

A move Bartosz Talar would have made for nothing

There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Bartosz Talar is living that version at Polonia Bytom, and it tends to show in the first month.

Match

Polonia Bytom see off Znicz Pruszków

Three points for Polonia Bytom, 2‑0 the final word against Znicz Pruszków in a contest settled by the finer margins.

Market

Jakub Arak told to find a new club

“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Jakub Arak has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Polonia Bytom.

In brief

22 Edition

The Polonia Bytom Herald

28 Dec 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Match

7 unbeaten for Polonia Bytom

Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 7 matches without defeat is a foundation Polonia Bytom did not have in the autumn.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Lucjan Zieliński

Successful dribbles: 19. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Squad

Jean Franco Sarmiento falls out with a teammate over standards

The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.

Boardroom

Wages swallow 120% 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.

Squad

Words exchanged at Polonia Bytom

Matej Matić 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.

Match

Two points walk out of the ground

Level with 87 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon Polonia Bytom had all but put away. Chrobry Głogów will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.

Match

Honours even between Polonia Bytom and Chrobry Głogów

1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.

The dugout

Arkadiusz Blaszczykowski on the point

“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Arkadiusz Blaszczykowski after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.

The dugout

Jakub Arak asks for a word with the manager

“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.

In brief

21 Edition

The Polonia Bytom Herald

21 Dec 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Jan Krzywański keeps Polonia Bytom in it on his own

Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 9 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.

Player ratings

Jean Franco Sarmiento scores twice — 8.53

Two goals and a mark of 8.53 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.

Player ratings

A brace, and Jakub Łukowski takes the afternoon — 8.49

There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Jakub Łukowski provided it, and the 8.49 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.

The dugout

Kacper Michalski: 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.

Market

Dominik Konieczny puts it in writing

“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Polonia Bytom, and it is not being withdrawn.

Match

6 unbeaten for Polonia Bytom

Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 6 matches without defeat is a foundation Polonia Bytom did not have in the autumn.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Jan Krzywański

“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.

Squad

Jean Franco Sarmiento reaches 50 goals

50 goals for the club, every one of them filed away in the memory of a supporter somewhere.

Squad

Words at Polonia Bytom training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jean Franco Sarmiento 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.

In brief

20 Edition

The Polonia Bytom Herald

14 Dec 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Jakub Łukowski

Successful dribbles: 29. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

The terraces

One of their own: Jan Krzywański

He is 23 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.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Jakub Apolinarski

“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.

Match

The half-term report on Polonia Bytom

Position 12, 19 points, and every result so far reduced to one line. The second half of the season starts with the same squad and a different set of expectations.

The dugout

Half-satisfied: Arkadiusz Blaszczykowski on the draw

“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.

The dugout

Somebody else is better right now than Grzegorz Szymusik

The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.

Match

Polonia Bytom and GKS Tychy cancel each other out

Nil-nil, and few chances worth the name. GKS Tychy came to defend and left with exactly what they came for.

The dugout

Konrad Andrzejczak asks for a word with the manager

“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.

Market

The Jakub Arak talk will not go away

Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Polonia Bytom know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.

In brief

19 Edition

The Polonia Bytom Herald

7 Dec 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Match

Mikołaj Łabojko wins it after the whistle should have gone

98 minutes played. Mikołaj Łabojko found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Pogoń Siedlce went from a point to nothing inside one movement.

Player ratings

Mikołaj Łabojko pops up at the right end — 7.69

7.69, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.

Player ratings

Lucjan Zieliński beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 24. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

Squad

Tomasz Gajda in a row with a teammate

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.

Match

Mikołaj Łabojko the difference as Polonia Bytom beat Pogoń Siedlce

Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Mikołaj Łabojko. 2‑1 against Pogoń Siedlce, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.

Squad

Words at Polonia Bytom training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jean Franco Sarmiento 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.

Squad

Jakub Łukowski named in the team of the month

A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Jakub Łukowski is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.

The dugout

The view from the dugout

“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Arkadiusz Blaszczykowski, on a 2‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.

The dugout

No hiding place for Oliwier Kwiatkowski

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Oliwier Kwiatkowski, and the manager let it.

In brief

18 Edition

The Polonia Bytom Herald

30 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

The dugout

Oliwier Kwiatkowski keeps the receipts

“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Polonia Bytom may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.

Squad

Words exchanged at Polonia Bytom

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.

Match

The drought breaks for Polonia Bytom

6 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Wieczysta Kraków were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.

Squad

Home is on Jean Franco Sarmiento's mind

“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Polonia Bytom are dealing with a man who wants a different country.

Match

Jakub Łukowski sends Polonia Bytom past Wieczysta Kraków

It finished 1‑0, and it was Jakub Łukowski’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Polonia Bytom.

Player ratings

A masterclass from Jakub Łukowski

Marked 8.22 — 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.

Boardroom

Wages swallow 112% 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.

The dugout

The manager’s verdict

“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Arkadiusz Blaszczykowski kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.

Player ratings

Nothing got past Matej Matić

Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 15 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.

In brief

17 Edition

The Polonia Bytom Herald

23 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Match

The wait goes on for Polonia Bytom

6 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.

Squad

A falling-out at Polonia Bytom

Jakub Łukowski and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Jan Krzywański

“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.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Jakub Arak

Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Player ratings

Tomasz Gajda stands above it all

Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.96 on the card, and the Polonia Bytom support went home talking about one name.

Match

Polonia Bytom and Gornik Leczna take a point apiece

It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.

The dugout

Half-satisfied: Arkadiusz Blaszczykowski on the draw

“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 1‑1, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.

The dugout

Jordi Calavera knocks on the manager’s door

“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Jordi Calavera trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.

The dugout

Jakub Szymański left out for tactical reasons at Polonia Bytom

The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.

In brief

16 Edition

The Polonia Bytom Herald

16 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

The dugout

Grzegorz Szymusik says Polonia Bytom went back on their word

“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.

Squad

Jakub Łukowski in a row with a teammate

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.

The dugout

No hiding place for Jakub Arak

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Jakub Arak, and the manager let it.

Squad

A row about effort at Polonia Bytom

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jean Franco Sarmiento was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Squad

Oliwier Kwiatkowski: “I am not a substitute”

“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Polonia Bytom will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.

The dugout

Nikodem Powroźnik asks for a word with the manager

“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.

In brief

15 Edition

The Polonia Bytom Herald

9 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Match

No end in sight to Polonia Bytom's wait for a win

5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Polonia Bytom has to find a result from somewhere.

The dugout

No hiding place for Oskar Krzyżak

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Oskar Krzyżak, and the manager let it.

Squad

Words at Polonia Bytom training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jean Franco Sarmiento 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.

Squad

Tempers go at Polonia Bytom

Matej Matić 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.

Player ratings

Jakub Łukowski was the difference for Polonia Bytom

Marked 7.78. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.

Match

Polonia Bytom and ŁKS Łódź take a point apiece

It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.

The dugout

Arkadiusz Blaszczykowski: “We have to be better”

“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 1‑1 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.

The dugout

Jakub Arak knocks on the manager’s door

“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Jakub Arak trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.

Squad

Jakub Łukowski finally opens his account

He wheeled away like a man who had been carrying it for months, because he had. Polonia Bytom have their signing off the mark and one press-conference question retired.

In brief

14 Edition

The Polonia Bytom Herald

2 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

Nowhere to hide for Polonia Bytom

0‑3 against Miedź Legnica, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.

Match

No end in sight to Polonia Bytom's wait for a win

4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Polonia Bytom has to find a result from somewhere.

The dugout

Tomasz Gajda 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.

Player ratings

Jakub Łukowski beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 17. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

Boardroom

112% of the income goes out in wages at Polonia Bytom

Every club in football 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 somebody has tried it.

Boardroom

Nobody left the Polonia Bytom dressing room in a hurry

The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.

The dugout

Arkadiusz Blaszczykowski answers for it

“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.

Squad

5 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.

The dugout

Oskar Krzyżak asks for a word with the manager

“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.

In brief

13 Edition

The Polonia Bytom Herald

26 Oct 2026
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

A bad afternoon for Polonia Bytom against Stal Mielec

0‑2 to Stal Mielec, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.

Squad

Jean Franco Sarmiento falls out with a teammate over standards

The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.

The dugout

Arkadiusz Blaszczykowski answers for it

“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.

The dugout

No hiding place for Jakub Szymański

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Jakub Szymański, and the manager let it.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Jakub Arak

Successful dribbles: 14. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

The dugout

Tomasz Gajda knocks on the manager’s door

“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Tomasz Gajda trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.

Looking ahead

A reunion for Jakub Łukowski

He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Miedź Legnica in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.

The dugout

Jakub Szymański left out for tactical reasons at Polonia Bytom

The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.

Squad

The room hears from Jordi Calavera

“Nobody outside is coming to save us.” It was short, it was not comfortable, and by all accounts the Polonia Bytom squad were quieter afterwards than they had been all season.

In brief

12 Edition

The Polonia Bytom Herald

19 Oct 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

The dugout

Dominik Konieczny says Polonia Bytom went back on their word

“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.

Squad

The step up is real for Eric Topór

At 21 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.

Squad

Tempers go at Polonia Bytom

Tomasz Gajda 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.

Player ratings

Jakub Łukowski beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 20. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

Squad

Words at Polonia Bytom training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jean Franco Sarmiento 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.

Match

Polonia Bytom rescue it on 91 minutes

Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 91. Polonia Warszawa had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.

Match

Polonia Bytom and Polonia Warszawa take a point apiece

It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.

The dugout

Half-satisfied: Arkadiusz Blaszczykowski on the draw

“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 1‑1, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Eric Topór

“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.

In brief

11 Edition

The Polonia Bytom Herald

12 Oct 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Tempers go at Polonia Bytom

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.

The dugout

Mikołaj Łabojko 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.

The dugout

A promise honoured at Polonia Bytom

Something was said to Jan Krzywański and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.

Squad

Jakub Lis: “I am not a substitute”

“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Polonia Bytom will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.

The dugout

A door opens for Oleksandr Azatskyi

He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.

The dugout

Eric Topór asks for a word with the manager

“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.

In brief

10 Edition

The Polonia Bytom Herald

5 Oct 2026
From our football correspondent Crisis

Player ratings

Jakub Łukowski beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 43. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

Squad

Words exchanged at Polonia Bytom

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.

Match

Slask take the points off Polonia Bytom

Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.

Boardroom

Wages eat 126% of everything Polonia Bytom earn

There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.

Squad

Jean Franco Sarmiento falls out with a teammate over standards

The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.

Squad

Polonia Bytom are still strangers to each other

8 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 dugout

The manager’s verdict

“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Arkadiusz Blaszczykowski left the room before anybody could ask which.

Player ratings

Mikołaj Łabojko will replay that one

1 error, one goal, and a night in front of the same three seconds. He will see it tonight, tomorrow and probably in February, and everybody who has played knows exactly which frame he keeps stopping on.

Squad

Jordi Calavera named in the team of the month

A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Jordi Calavera is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.

In brief

9 Edition

The Polonia Bytom Herald

28 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

A falling-out at Polonia Bytom

Jakub Łukowski and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Jean Franco Sarmiento wants to go home

“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.

Match

Polonia Bytom end the wait against Puszcza Niepołomice

It had gone 5 games. The players did not celebrate like men who had won a match; they celebrated like men who had been let out of something.

Match

Polonia Bytom find a way past Puszcza Niepołomice

Puszcza Niepołomice made Polonia Bytom work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.

Squad

A row about effort at Polonia Bytom

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jean Franco Sarmiento was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Player ratings

Nothing got past Matej Matić

Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 18 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.

Player ratings

Jean Franco Sarmiento takes the honours

Marked 7.76 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Polonia Bytom had the best player on the pitch.

Player ratings

Oskar Krzyżak was immovable

16 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.

The dugout

Arkadiusz Blaszczykowski: “That is the standard”

“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.

In brief

8 Edition

The Polonia Bytom Herald

21 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

5 matches without a win for Polonia Bytom

The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around Polonia Bytom are no longer polite ones.

Player ratings

Lucjan Zieliński runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 24. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

The dugout

No hiding place for Jan Krzywański

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Jan Krzywański, and the manager let it.

Match

Pogoń Grodzisk Mazowiecki take the points off Polonia Bytom

Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.

Squad

Matej Matić in a row with a teammate

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.

The dugout

Arkadiusz Blaszczykowski answers for it

“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.

The dugout

Jakub Arak asks for a word with the manager

“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.

Looking ahead

Polonia Bytom take on the side everybody is chasing

Puszcza Niepołomice arrive as leaders. A side at the top is beaten roughly once a month, and the club that does it gets a week it remembers for a year.

Market

Polonia Bytom put Jean Franco Sarmiento up for sale

The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Jean Franco Sarmiento may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.

In brief

7 Edition

The Polonia Bytom Herald

14 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Match

4 matches without a win for Polonia Bytom

The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Polonia Bytom are no longer polite ones.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Jakub Łukowski

Successful dribbles: 19. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

The dugout

No hiding place for Tomasz Gajda

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Tomasz Gajda, and the manager let it.

Squad

Words at Polonia Bytom training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jean Franco Sarmiento 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.

Match

Polonia Bytom refuse to lose to Ruch

A point taken on 90 minutes is worth exactly one point and considerably more than that to a dressing room. This side does not stop, which is a reputation worth more than the result.

Match

Honours even between Polonia Bytom and Ruch

1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.

The dugout

Arkadiusz Blaszczykowski: “We have to be better”

“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 1‑1 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.

Squad

Pablo Aparicio is a square peg at Polonia Bytom

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.

The dugout

The form table has caught Kacper Michalski

Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.

In brief

6 Edition

The Polonia Bytom Herald

7 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Market

Jakub Arak puts it in writing

“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Polonia Bytom, and it is not being withdrawn.

Boardroom

Polonia Bytom close the window on a squad of their own making

17 in and 11 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.

Transfer targets

Legia tell Polonia Bytom: Jan Bienduga is not for sale

The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.

Squad

Words at Polonia Bytom training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jean Franco Sarmiento 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.

Squad

Pablo Aparicio stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” Pablo Aparicio and Polonia Bytom agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

Squad

8 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.

Market

Polonia Bytom buy the years ahead of Pablo Aparicio

He is 17, and the scouting reports agree on the only line that matters: the ceiling. Signings like this are lottery tickets written by professionals.

Squad

A step back for Wojciech Banasik at Polonia Bytom

Somebody has moved past him. It is not a dropping and it is worse than one, because a dropping is about a Saturday and this is about where he stands.

The dugout

Tomasz Gajda knocks on the manager's door

“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Polonia Bytom, and both men came out saying it was fine.

In brief

5 Edition

The Polonia Bytom Herald

31 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Crisis

Market

Mikołaj Łabojko hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Polonia Bytom can pretend not to have heard.

Boardroom

Polonia Bytom go back to the board over Adrian Jurkiewicz

The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $28.4K — a club that wants Adrian Jurkiewicz enough to be asked twice.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Jakub Apolinarski

Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Transfer targets

No deal for Adrian Jurkiewicz at that price

Polonia Bytom offered $28.0K; ŁKS Łódź said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.

Market

Business is business: Klaudiusz Mazur goes

Pogoń Siedlce paid $73.0K and Polonia Bytom took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.

Transfer targets

Polonia Bytom rebuffed over Antoni Mikułko

Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Wieczysta Kraków have kept their man, and Polonia Bytom go back to a list with one name crossed off it.

Match

A bad afternoon for Polonia Bytom against Odra Opole

1‑2 to Odra Opole, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.

Squad

Words exchanged at Polonia Bytom

Tomasz Gajda 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 dugout

Arkadiusz Blaszczykowski answers for it

“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.

In brief

4 Edition

The Polonia Bytom Herald

24 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Match

Polonia Bytom out of the cup

Pogoń Siedlce ended it 0‑1. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Jakub Apolinarski

Successful dribbles: 30. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Market

Jean Franco Sarmiento asks to leave Polonia Bytom

“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.

Market

Korona come back empty-handed

The bid was some way short and Polonia Bytom did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.

Squad

Jakub Łukowski in a row with a teammate

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 targets

Polonia Bytom make their move for Adrian Jurkiewicz

$22.0K on the table at ŁKS Łódź. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.

Squad

Jakub Lis arrives at the club he grew up with

Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Jakub Lis has, at Polonia Bytom, and the first month will show what that does to a man.

Transfer targets

Polonia Bytom rebuffed over Kacper Krzepisz

Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Arka Gdynia have kept their man, and Polonia Bytom go back to a list with one name crossed off it.

Squad

Jakub Lis signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Jakub Lis and Polonia Bytom agree another 4 years.

In brief

3 Edition

The Polonia Bytom Herald

17 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Boardroom

Polonia Bytom go back to the board over Souleymane Cissé

The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $45.5K — a club that wants Souleymane Cissé enough to be asked twice.

Transfer targets

Kasjan Lipkowski is a medical away from Polonia Bytom

The deal with Arka Gdynia is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.

Squad

Tempers go at Polonia Bytom

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 targets

No deal for Souleymane Cissé at that price

Polonia Bytom offered $42.0K; Polonia Warszawa said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.

Match

Polonia Bytom get the job done against Znicz Pruszków

A 1‑0 win over Znicz Pruszków, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.

Player ratings

Ninety minutes of Jakub Arak at his very best

Marked 8.04. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Polonia Bytom.

Transfer targets

A loan move for Kacper Krzepisz is in the works

Polonia Bytom have made the call to Arka Gdynia. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.

Squad

Konrad Niegowski signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Konrad Niegowski and Polonia Bytom agree another 3 years.

The dugout

Arkadiusz Blaszczykowski: “That is the standard”

“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.

In brief

2 Edition

The Polonia Bytom Herald

10 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

A falling-out at Polonia Bytom

Jakub Łukowski and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Transfer targets

An offer of $39.0K for Souleymane Cissé

Polonia Bytom have gone to Polonia Warszawa with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.

Market

Polonia Bytom promote Marcin Piszczek from within

The academy exists for exactly this morning. Marcin Piszczek 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.

Market

One of our own: Filip Piszczek joins the Polonia Bytom first team

Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Filip Piszczek is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.

Market

Jan Kaminski steps up from the Polonia Bytom academy

There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Jan Kaminski has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.

Market

Filip Zielinski steps up from the Polonia Bytom academy

There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Filip Zielinski has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.

Squad

Nikodem Powroźnik signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Nikodem Powroźnik and Polonia Bytom agree another 3 years.

Player ratings

A defender's afternoon for Oskar Krzyżak

Defensive actions: 18. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.

Player ratings

Jakub Łukowski beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 17. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

In brief

1 Edition

The Polonia Bytom Herald

3 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

Jakub Łukowski signs on for more

“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.

Squad

Words exchanged at Polonia Bytom

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.

Match

Polonia Bytom come up short against Wisla Krakow

Wisla Krakow left with the points after a 1‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.

Squad

Jean Franco Sarmiento wants to go home

“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 dugout

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 1‑3 defeat, delivered by Arkadiusz Blaszczykowski to a room that had heard them before.

Player ratings

Konrad Andrzejczak beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 15. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

Transfer targets

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.

Transfer targets

Polonia Bytom try to borrow Eric Topór

Bruk-Bet Termalica 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.

Squad

Nikodem Powroźnik is a square peg at Polonia Bytom

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.

In brief