March 1916 is considered to be the beginning of the capital club. It was then, in the woods near Maniewicz in Volhynia, that soldiers of the Polish Legions formed a team called ‘Drużyna Legionowa’. Six years after this event, the name was changed to a new one; specifically, it was Legia Warsaw from then on.
In 1927, the Varsovians managed to get to the highest competition level in the country, finishing their debut season in 5th position. In 1936, the team was relegated from the competition. This was Legia’s first and only relegation from the highest competition level in our country at the time. In 1948, the Legionnaires returned to this level of the competition, and just 7 years later in 1955, they managed to finish in first place at the end for the first time. They repeated the same result a year later. At the same time
1955 and 56 managed to win the Polish Cup, these were Legia Warsaw’s first great successes. The capital’s players managed to win as many as 15 Polish Championships throughout their history, a record in our country. In addition, they won the Polish Cup as many as 19 times, which is also the best result. They have also won the Super Cup of Poland 4 times, and
1 League Cup victory in 2002. However, Legia’s history is not only about huge successes in the domestic backyard, it is also about great matches in European cups. Twice in their history, the Legionists played in the prestigious Champions League competition, it was in the 1995/96 and 2016/17 seasons. The competition from the 95/96 season can be well remembered by Legia fans in particular, they managed to reach the quarter-finals of this competition then, however, Greek Panathinaikos proved better there.
To this should also be added successes in other European competitions, such as reaching 1/2 and 1/4 of the European Champions Cup in 1969/70 and 1970/71,
1/2 of the Cup Winners’ Cup 1990/91 and 1/4 of the Cup Winners’ Cup 1964/65 and the Cup Winners’ Cup 1981/82. Legionnaires also won the Intertoto Cup group in 1967. Michal Kucharczyk (67) played the most matches for Legia in Europe. In total, Legia played 272 matches on the international stage. All these successes would of course not have been possible without the outstanding footballers who donned the Legia Warsaw jersey. We should definitely single out such names as Lucjan Brychczy, who played 452 matches for Legia and scored 226 goals (the best goalscorer in the club’s history), as well as Jacek Zieliński (currently the club’s sporting director) 404 matches, Miroslav Radović (the most effective footballer in Europe – 18 hits) 391 matches. Of course, there is also a former outstanding representative of our country who is considered by many to be the best Polish footballer ever, namely Kazimierz Deyna, who played 388 matches for Legia and scored 141 goals.
Apart from many great players worth remembering, the team was also led by many great coaches, such as Kazimierz Górski, Edmund Zientara, Andrzej Strejlau, Jerzy Engel, Maciej Skorża, Henning Berg, Jacek Magiera or Czesław Michniewicz. Currently, the team is led by Koste Runjaić. After the previous season in which Legia had a very good adventure in Europe, however, they did not perform well in the league
and finished the season in tenth position. Coach Runjaić and Sporting Director Jacek Zieliński are trying to build the team from scratch to get back to the top of the league table. At the moment, Legia are 2nd in the PKO BP Ekstraklasa table and have a chance to win the Polish Cup, as they currently have a semi-final against KKS Kalisz to play. Leading the team at the moment is Josue, the Portuguese is having a great season, Legia’s captain in 25 games scored 10 goals
and recorded 8 assists. However, he will not play in the match against our Stala due to a card suspension. A tough and fierce match awaits us!
Szymon Markulis
