Gedania 1922 Gdańsk v KP Błękitni Stargard, Polish regional division 3

 

Gedania Gdańsk 2-2 Błękitni Stargard
Polish regional division 3, tier 4
Saturday 17 October 2026, 12:00 kick-off
Stadion Klubu Sportowego Gedania Gdańsk
Crowd: About 120

A weekend trip over the Baltic to Gdansk and a couple of games to cover here. I come over here a couple of times each year but have so far not covered any Polish games on this blog, until now. The main attraction this weekend is the big derby between my Polish favourites Lechia Gdansk and rivals from up the road, Arka Gdynia, but as an appetiser I've chosen a division 3 match with Gedania Gdansk. The city is dominated by one big club, Lechia, and then there are several other teams in the fourth tier and below. At present Gedania are the highest placed smaller team in town.

Gedania Gdansk were founded in 1922 when the city was governed by Germany under the name Danzig. Gedania played in regional German leagues but were very much a Polish team. When the war came the club was disbanded by the nazis and the club's president and two vice-presidents were executed. The players and staff were sent to concentration camps. Shockingly 75 club members were killed during the war. After the war the city became part of  Poland and the club came back to life. Since then they have played in the lower leagues and their present position in the fourth tier is about as high as they have come. Going into today's game they are in 11th place in the league with 14 points from 12 games.

Błękitni Stargard come from the north-west of the country, near the city of Szczecin, and were founded just after the war. They reached the second division briefly in the 1980s but otherwise have spent their history in the regional leagues. At prsent they are in fifth position with 18 points from 12 games.

The ground

The ground is part of the club's sport complex with several pitches, halls and facilities that were in good use today with kids' matches being played in front of enthusiastic parents. Gedania's ground is basically a fenced-in pitch with spectators on one side sitting on open scaffolding with bucket seats. There's a large modern clubhouse building beside the stands. Facilities are pretty simple - no catering at all that I could find, no souvenirs and only one portaloo toilet. But to be fair there were many other buildings in the complex no doubt with toilets if needed. To my amazement entrance was free, or I saw no evidence of anyone wanting payment.

The other side of the ground has the team benches but there's no public access. The south end is just a high fence but at the north end there are a few rows of scaffolding stand with blue bucket seats almost hidden away among the bushes. This, I guess is for the away fans, if they should ever turn up. But no-one there today. Curiously I couldn't see a scoreboard and match clock so I had to keep checking my watch for goal times etc. As usual these days there was no teamsheets available but a kind steward fixed a photo of the official team sheet so I could do my report.

Sitting in the stand I was very surprised to hear two guys speaking Finnish and they were suitably surprised when I spoke to them. They were of course fellow groundhoppers here for the weekend to see the derby match tomorrow and this one as an aperitif.

The game

Definitely a game of two halves - action and goals in the first half and rather uneventful attritional football in the second. Gedania were in all black with a red diagonal stripe on the shirts whilst the guests were in white and light blue. We started at noon in hazy autumn sunshine but still warm for mid-October.

The visitors started positively and the big powerful central forward Szymon Krocz had a nice header past the post after only a couple of minutes. But it was Gedania who took the lead with a lovely goal from Konrad Waliszewski who controlled a cross from the right and fired past the keeper. The lead didn't last long for only five minutes later the visitors were level when once again Krocz rose above the defenders and this time headed into the net. The two burly Stargard forwards Krocz and Michalak worked hard up front and were a handful for the home defence.

However, once again Gedania fought back and regained their lead after 24 minutes when they won a free kick on the left edge of the box. The ball was passed quickly to Waliszewski who shot from a narrow angle and the ball somehow squeezed into the goal. It was end-to-end stuff and this lead only lasted another 10 minutes before were were level again through that man Krocz. This time he met a low hard cross from the right by Michalak and volleyed home. The eventful half wasn't over yet though. In the 37th minute Gedania got a penalty after a defender handled the ball, but the penalty shot was well saved by Stargard keeper Czarnota. So at the break it was 2-2 and a very even and hard-fought match.

Penalty save

Sadly the second half failed to live up to the frantic example of the first and there were few serious chances and plenty of midfield battles. The referee showed his yellow card regularly and I'm surprised that no-one managed to see it twice. There were a couple of decent chances later in the half - Gedania's hard-working defender Adrian Bielawski sent a hard shot just over the bar and Stargard's substitute Dominik hit the post - but in the end they had to settle for a point each. An enjoyable match and a nice contrast to the more frenetic atmosphere that awaits me in the big derby tomorrow evening.