Wisła Kraków SA - last updated on 4 January 2008
(Courtesy of Jakub Malicki)
Club name: Wisła Kraków Spółka Akcyjna
Foundation: 1906
City: Kraków
Colours: Red, white and blue
Website: www.wisla.krakow.pl
Honours:
Polish Championship - 11 (1927, 1928, 1949, 1950, 1977/78, 1998/99, 2000/01, 2002/03, 2003/04, 2004/05, 2007/08)
Pucharu Polski - 4 (1926, 1966/67, 2001/02, 2002/03)
Pucharu Ligi - 1 (2000/01)
Superpuchar Polski - 1 (2001)
A bit of history:
The history of Wisła started during the fall of 1906, when (probably in October) Dr. Tadeusz Konczyński organised the Krakow Błonia, the first football tournament in the city. He also founded four teams (among them one came from the Second Real School) and football uniforms which came to him from England. The school's team (also called Szkolnikowski's team) was given light blue shirts with a black bowl on their chests, which was divided by a blue belt. This is why they were called "The Blues". Their first captain, and also the person to coin the name "Wisła" was Józef Szkolnikowski - goalkeeper. Prof. Tadeusz Łopuszański was the club's first chairman.
In September 1907 "The Reds" (Jenkner's team) merged with Wisła, and soon after "The Pinks" did the same. That is when Towarzystwo Sportowe Wisła officially began. The Blue shirts were changed to red, but the black trousers remained. When the first uniforms arrived from Berlin, two light blue stars were present on the shirts. It was decided that only one would remain, though its colour would be changed to white. This is how "The White Star" became the recognized symbol of the club.
From that time on the club had its ups and downs, winning national championships and gaining European qualification. The club was also relegated on three occasions to the second division.
The name of “The White Star” was changed several times. First, in 1949 when Wisła became a militia team and named ZS Gwardia-Wisła. From 1955 to 1990 the club was playing as GTS Wisła Kraków. In 1990 Wisła came back to the historical name – TS Wisła Kraków.
On the international stage Wisła competed in all three of the European competitions. The biggest success came in the 1978/79 season, reaching the quarter-finals of the European Cup eventually to be knocked out by Malmö FF, 3:5.
Wisla won the first ever Chicago Trophy held in Chicago, Illinois in July of 2007. Wisla beat 2007 UEFA Cup Champions FC Sevilla 1-0 in the second game of the tournament to clinch the crown. Wisla is expected to compete again next year to defend the title. It is important to note that Chicago boasts the largest Polish population in the world outside of Warsaw, Poland and according to the Chicago Trophy contract, the tournament needs have one Polish soccer club to represent the Polish community of Chicago.
The logo of 100 years anniversary was designed by Jakub Malicki and this project won in the logo competition in 2005. The crest refers to the traditional emblem of TS Wisła, a red shield girdled by blue stripe and this symbol was placed at a historical football.
Club crests: (roll on the crest to get more informations)
TS Wisła Kraków
GTS Wisła Kraków
TS Wisła Kraków
TS Wisła Kraków Pilka Nożna SSA
