From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match13 Feb 2027
A 0‑4 beating by Slask was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Match13 Feb 2027
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 ratings15 Feb 2027
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.
Squad15 Feb 2027
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 dugout15 Feb 2027
“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.
Boardroom15 Feb 2027
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 dugout15 Feb 2027
“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.
Squad15 Feb 2027
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 dugout15 Feb 2027
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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match6 Feb 2027
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.
Match6 Feb 2027
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 ratings8 Feb 2027
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 dugout8 Feb 2027
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 dugout8 Feb 2027
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.
Squad8 Feb 2027
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 ratings8 Feb 2027
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.
Match6 Feb 2027
A 3‑3 draw with Puszcza Niepołomice leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
Squad8 Feb 2027
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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match30 Jan 2027
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.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
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.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
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.
Squad1 Feb 2027
“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 targets1 Feb 2027
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.
The dugout1 Feb 2027
“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.
Squad1 Feb 2027
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 ratings1 Feb 2027
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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market25 Jan 2027
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.
Match23 Jan 2027
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.
Market25 Jan 2027
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.
Match23 Jan 2027
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 dugout25 Jan 2027
“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.
Market25 Jan 2027
The paperwork is done: Gašper Tratnik joins from Motor Lublin in a deal worth $710.0K. Now comes the harder part.
Player ratings25 Jan 2027
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.
Squad25 Jan 2027
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.
Squad25 Jan 2027
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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market18 Jan 2027
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.
Market18 Jan 2027
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.
Market18 Jan 2027
“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.
Match16 Jan 2027
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.
Squad18 Jan 2027
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 targets18 Jan 2027
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.
Squad18 Jan 2027
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 dugout18 Jan 2027
“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 ratings18 Jan 2027
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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings11 Jan 2027
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.
Market11 Jan 2027
“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.
Market11 Jan 2027
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 dugout11 Jan 2027
“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.
Match9 Jan 2027
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 targets11 Jan 2027
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.
Squad11 Jan 2027
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.
Squad11 Jan 2027
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 targets11 Jan 2027
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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market4 Jan 2027
“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 dugout4 Jan 2027
“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.
Match2 Jan 2027
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.
Market4 Jan 2027
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 ratings4 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 22. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad4 Jan 2027
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.
Squad4 Jan 2027
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.
Market4 Jan 2027
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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match26 Dec 2026
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 ratings28 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 19. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad28 Dec 2026
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.
Boardroom28 Dec 2026
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.
Squad28 Dec 2026
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.
Match26 Dec 2026
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.
Match26 Dec 2026
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 dugout28 Dec 2026
“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 dugout28 Dec 2026
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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad21 Dec 2026
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 ratings21 Dec 2026
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 ratings21 Dec 2026
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 dugout21 Dec 2026
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.
Market21 Dec 2026
“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.
Match19 Dec 2026
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 dugout21 Dec 2026
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.
Squad21 Dec 2026
50 goals for the club, every one of them filed away in the memory of a supporter somewhere.
Squad21 Dec 2026
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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 29. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The terraces14 Dec 2026
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 dugout14 Dec 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.
Match14 Dec 2026
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 dugout14 Dec 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.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
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.
Match12 Dec 2026
Nil-nil, and few chances worth the name. GKS Tychy came to defend and left with exactly what they came for.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
“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.
Market14 Dec 2026
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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match5 Dec 2026
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 ratings7 Dec 2026
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 ratings7 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 24. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad7 Dec 2026
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.
Match5 Dec 2026
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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
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 dugout7 Dec 2026
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 dugout7 Dec 2026
“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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The dugout30 Nov 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Polonia Bytom may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad30 Nov 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.
Match28 Nov 2026
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.
Squad30 Nov 2026
“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.
Match28 Nov 2026
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 ratings30 Nov 2026
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.
Boardroom30 Nov 2026
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 dugout30 Nov 2026
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 ratings30 Nov 2026
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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match21 Nov 2026
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.
Squad23 Nov 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.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
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 ratings23 Nov 2026
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 ratings23 Nov 2026
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.
Match21 Nov 2026
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 dugout23 Nov 2026
“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 dugout23 Nov 2026
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 dugout23 Nov 2026
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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The dugout16 Nov 2026
“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.
Squad16 Nov 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.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
“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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
“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 dugout16 Nov 2026
“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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match7 Nov 2026
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 dugout9 Nov 2026
“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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
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 ratings9 Nov 2026
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.
Match7 Nov 2026
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 dugout9 Nov 2026
“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 dugout9 Nov 2026
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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match31 Oct 2026
0‑3 against Miedź Legnica, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Match31 Oct 2026
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 dugout2 Nov 2026
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 ratings2 Nov 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.
Boardroom2 Nov 2026
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.
Boardroom2 Nov 2026
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 dugout2 Nov 2026
“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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
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 dugout2 Nov 2026
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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match24 Oct 2026
0‑2 to Stal Mielec, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad26 Oct 2026
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 dugout26 Oct 2026
“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 dugout26 Oct 2026
“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 ratings26 Oct 2026
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 dugout26 Oct 2026
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 ahead26 Oct 2026
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 dugout26 Oct 2026
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.
Squad26 Oct 2026
“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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The dugout19 Oct 2026
“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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
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 ratings19 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 20. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad19 Oct 2026
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.
Match17 Oct 2026
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.
Match17 Oct 2026
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 dugout19 Oct 2026
“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 dugout19 Oct 2026
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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
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.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
“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 dugout12 Oct 2026
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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
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 dugout12 Oct 2026
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 dugout12 Oct 2026
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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 43. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
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.
Match3 Oct 2026
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
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 dugout5 Oct 2026
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 ratings5 Oct 2026
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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
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.
Match26 Sep 2026
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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
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 ratings28 Sep 2026
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 ratings28 Sep 2026
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 ratings28 Sep 2026
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 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match19 Sep 2026
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 ratings21 Sep 2026
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 dugout21 Sep 2026
“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.
Match19 Sep 2026
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad21 Sep 2026
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 dugout21 Sep 2026
“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 dugout21 Sep 2026
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 ahead21 Sep 2026
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.
Market21 Sep 2026
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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match12 Sep 2026
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 ratings14 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 19. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
“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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
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.
Match12 Sep 2026
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.
Match12 Sep 2026
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 dugout14 Sep 2026
“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.
Squad14 Sep 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.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market7 Sep 2026
“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.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
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 targets7 Sep 2026
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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
“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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
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.
Market7 Sep 2026
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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
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 dugout7 Sep 2026
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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market31 Aug 2026
“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.
Boardroom31 Aug 2026
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 ratings31 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
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.
Market31 Aug 2026
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 targets31 Aug 2026
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.
Match29 Aug 2026
1‑2 to Odra Opole, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad31 Aug 2026
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 dugout31 Aug 2026
“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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match19 Aug 2026
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 ratings24 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 30. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
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.
Market24 Aug 2026
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.
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
$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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
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 targets24 Aug 2026
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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
“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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Boardroom17 Aug 2026
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 targets17 Aug 2026
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.
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
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.
Match15 Aug 2026
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 ratings17 Aug 2026
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 targets17 Aug 2026
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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
“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 dugout17 Aug 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
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.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
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.
Market10 Aug 2026
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.
Market10 Aug 2026
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.
Market10 Aug 2026
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.
Market10 Aug 2026
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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“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 ratings10 Aug 2026
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 ratings10 Aug 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
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.
Match1 Aug 2026
Wisla Krakow left with the points after a 1‑3 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 1‑3 defeat, delivered by Arkadiusz Blaszczykowski to a room that had heard them before.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
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 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.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
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.
Squad3 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.