Lechia Gdansk v Arka Gdynia, Polish Liga 1

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Lechia Gdańsk 2-1 Arka Gdynia
Polish Liga 1, tier 2
Sunday 18 October 2026, 20:30 kick-off
Polsat Plus Arena, Gdańsk
Crowd: 37,501

I have been following Lechia since I first saw them about 15 years ago and usually attend at least one game a season. Last season I even managed three of their matches, two away and one at home. They are to some extent sleeping giants of Polish football with a large vocal following and a magnificent stadium but they are extremely inconsistent on the field and very seldom challenge the top teams in the country. Last season saw them relegated again to the second tier, as were local rivals Arka Gdynia who they face today. This game is always the biggest of the season, no matter in what league they play, this is the Tricity (Trójmiasto) derby - the three cities of Gdańsk, Sopot and Gdynia that blend into each other along the shores of the Gulf of Gdańsk. The whole area has almost one million inhabitants with Gdańsk being the biggest, then Gdynia and the popular seaside resort of Sopot as the smallest. This will be my first derby here and although I want Lechia to win, I also like Arka and I have seen them at their home ground at least 6 times so far. 

Lechia were formed in 1945 when the city became a part of Poland and the German population fled west as the Soviet army advanced towards Berlin at the end of the war. The docks and shipyards had been destroyed and massive reconstruction of the whole city began in the sftermath of the war. The club was formed by workers who had been deported to Gdańsk from Lviv in Ukraine which had become part of the Soviet Union. Whole populations were shunted around Eastern Europe after the war as new borders were drawn. In fact the club existed before the war as Lechia Lwów when that city was part of Poland. Lechia's history has been a roller-coaster ride with many seasons in the second and third tiers and even a brief sojourn in the 6th tier in 2001 after a disastrous merger. However, in the last 15 years they have spent several seasons in the top tier, Extraklasa, coming third in 2019 as well as winning the cup. 

Gdańsk was of course at the centre of the rebellion against the communist government in the 1980s with the famous shipyard strike lead by Solidarity union leader and future president Lech Wałęsa. In a famous European Cup Winners' Cup match against Juventus in 1984, attended by Wałęsa, the capacity 40,000 crowd chanted the union name so loudly that the TV channel muted the second half to stop the rest of the country hearing the chants of defiance against the government.

Lechia started this season with some embarassing defeats but have pulled themselves off the bottom with 4 wins in their last 5 games and are now in 7th place with 16 points from 10 games. They play in green and white.

Arka were founded in 1929, also by shipyard workers in the newly-built city of Gdynia. The city was built as Poland's main Baltic port since neighbouring Gdańsk was under German control as the city of Danzig. I can write more about Arka when I go to my next game there but they have also had a history of ups and downs with many seasons in the second and third tiers. In recent years however, especially since moving to their new stadium, they have spent several seasons in the Extraklasa and were, like Lechia, relegated last season. They have not made a great start to this season and are at present third bottom with 11 points from as many matches. Arka haven't managed to beat Lechia away for 50 years so the odds are very much in Lechia's favour. Arka play in yellow shirts and blue shorts.

To say that the fans of these teams don't like each other is putting it mildly.

The ground

The Polsat Plus Arena, as it is called at the moment, was built for the 2012 European Championships and has a capacity of 41,620. It is a beautiful modern all-seated and covered arena that looks particularly spectacular at night with all the lights on. Most of the time it is a bit too big for Lechia and average crowds of 10-20,000 are usual unless it's a derby or one of the big clubs come to visit. Tonight, however, it was sold out, except for a few thousand seats surrounding the Arka fans' section.

I arrived about an hour and a quarter before kick-off and the atmosphere was already buzzing with the home end well packed. By the start the place was really cooking and both sets of fans made lots of noise. Poland is today famous for tifos and fireworks and there seem to be no big efforts made to stop the pyrotechnics. I've seen all this at previous games but today beat everything, even the Stockholm derby I saw a few weeks ago. They keep the spectacular stuff till later in the game focusing on noise at the start. The tifos were incredible, especially the massive viking long boat that was raised amidst flares and smoke. The Arka fans seemed to all be wearing exactly the same blue and yellow jerseys and had their own tifo with flares in the 2nd half but it naturally paled in comparison. I do wonder if these ultras actually see much of the match they have paid to watch. Most of the time they stand below the tifo displays or are lost in the almost constant smoke from the fireworks and flares. The match was stopped in both halves to let the smoke ease off. In the second half you could hardly see anything for a while. There was so much going on in the stands that it was easy to forget there was a big match being played.

I have been to many matches over here where the police presence is massive and rather intimidating in full riot gear plus nasty dogs and even horses. There were hordes of police vehicles parked all round the stadium today but I didn't actually see many police at all. I suspect they were focused on the ultras' sections. It's very spectacular but it sadly disrupts the game and I get rather tired of all the smoke and the smell of bangers and rockets. In Sweden they try vainly to limit the chaos but here they seem to have given up and accept it all. At the same time the fans in the rest of the ground are enthusiastic and vocal but good natured and I've never felt intimidated at any match here, though I might have got some stick if I had worn something yellow!

The game

While all this was going on there was actually a match in progress. Lechia got their three points but it was close and it could so easily have been a draw. Typically for a derby it was tense and tough with few big chances apart from the goals. 

Lechia pressed for most of the first half with Arka defending robustly, sometimes a bit too robustly for the home fans' liking. Despite all the possession the Arka keeper David Arndt was not called upon to make any big saves, in fact the shots on target stats for the whole match were only 4-3 in Lechia's favour. It wasn't until the 36th minute that Lechia finally got their reward. Kevin Dodaj ran into the penalty area and fired a shot on goal. The keeper parried it but only as far as league top scorer Artur Szach at the far post. He turned and managed to squeeze the ball home between the keeper and the post. The ground erupted!

But the narrow lead did not last far past half time, two minutes to be precise. Arka's Latvian international Vladislavs Gutkovskis received the ball on the left corner of the penalty area and he sent a beautiful curving shot into the far top corner of the net leaving the keeper helpless. In response Lechia pushed forward and four minutes later they regained the lead. The order of the first goal was reversed, this time Artur Szach found Kevin Dodaj in space on the left, he beat a defender and slotted the ball past the onrushing keeper. We had about 15 minutes "smoke break" and the players went off to the dressing rooms whilst the home fans set fire to various banners as well as filling the arena with smoke. I suspect there will be consequences for the club for all this in terms of a fine, let's see.

The latter part of the match saw Arka desperately trying to score an equaliser but the Lechia defence stood firm and even created a few good chances for a 3-1 lead but in the end there jubilation at another win and real contact with the front runners in the promotion race. For Arka this was a heavy defeat and their form is poor at the moment. They need to regroup and find a way out of the relegation zone. I hope they do so and I may well be back to see both teams in the spring.