Cracovia

Beginning

The early years of football in the city of Kraków are associated with professor Henryk Jordan. He was a Polish physician who had spent some time in Britain and after coming back to his native city introduced football to its youth. Jordan was a huge supporter of all sports and gymnastics. On 12 March 1889, he founded The Park of Games and Plays in Kraków, which was commonly called Jordan's Park. Places like this later spread all across Austrian Galicia, and apart from gymnastics, the youth there became acquainted with football.

However, it was not Kraków where the first football game with Polish participation took place. This happened in Lwów on 14 July 1894, with a six-minute match between the teams of Lwów and Kraków. The home team proved better, winning 1–0 through a goal by Włodzimierz Chomicki.

Within the next few years, football slowly emerged as a rising sport. It was especially popular among high school students and in the fall of 1903, a group of them created the team of Sława Lwów (the name was later changed to Czarni Lwów), the first Polish football club. In 1904, a group of Lwów's students, together with professor Eugeniusz Piasecki, came to Kraków to play an exhibition match. The match ended in Lwów's 0–4 defeat, and its far-reaching implications among Kraków's youth were enormous.

13 June 1906 is regarded as a crucial date in the history of football in Kraków. On that day, two matches of high school teams took place. These matches had been announced in Kraków's newspapers. Czarni Lwów beat the team of White-reds (Biało-czerwoni) and the IV Gymnasium beat Akademicy. The matches were warmly welcomed by Kraków's fans, who were surprised to see for the first time real football gear, brought by players from Lwów. 13 June is also regarded as the day of Cracovia's creation.

In the fall of 1906, another tournament took place, in which as many as 16 teams participated. Immediately prior to the matches, Jerzy Lustgarten from the team of Akademicy came up with the new name – Cracovia, which is a Latin name for Kraków. This was accepted and henceforth the new team's full name was Akademicki Klub Footballowy, Cracovia.

On 21 October 1906, the teams of Cracovia and "Biało-czerwoni" played each other, drawing 1–1. The next year, facing difficulties, those two teams decided to join forces, thus creating a stronger club, which took over the name Cracovia and white-red jerseys. The combined team went to Lwów on 1 July 1907, where they lost a game against Czarni, 1–4.

In 1908, an Englishman named William Calder came to Kraków. He was a teacher of English and a huge fan of football. It was in his apartment that the first club IDs and pinup badges were handed out. In May of that year, Cracovia for the first time ever faced a team from abroad. This was an ethnic German side, Troppauer Sportverein, from the Czech city of Opava.

In 1910, Cracovia's statutes were officially recognised by the Austrian government in Lwów and in the same year the club joined the Austrian Football Association, where it gained the proud title of the 1st class team. Kraków's side was very active internationally, often playing Czech, German and Austrian teams. However, it did not forget its roots, and it was due to Cracovia's initiative that the Polish Football Association (PZPN) was formed.

On 31 March 1912, after two years' efforts, Cracovia finally received its own pitch. The same year brought the debut of Józef Kałuża, one of Cracovia's most popular players, who at first had to use the nickname "Kowalski". The next year, Cracovia won the Championship of Austrian Galicia. However, in 1914, the matches were cancelled because of the outbreak of World War I.

Interwar period

In spite of the war, Cracovia's football team did not cease its activities, playing several games with such renowned teams as Admira Wacker Wien, Vasas and Wiener Sport-Club. In those years, new players emerged, such as defender Ludwik Gintel, midfielder Stanislaw Cikowski and forward Leon Sperling. All these footballers would become members of the Poland national team in the next few years, after Poland regained independence. Also, Cracovia's great play in games against some elite teams of Hungarian football (such as FTC Budapest and MTK Budapest) helped convince the Hungarians to invite Poland for an international friendly in 1921 (it should be mentioned that in this first historical match of Poland, there were seven Cracovia players in the starting lineup).

In 1920, the budding PZPN was unable to carry out the championships of the whole country. The situation was insecure, Polish borders were not determined and Poland was waging several wars with its neighbours. Under the circumstances, the Kraków department of the PZPN organized its own matches; the tournament was won by Cracovia, ahead of Wisła Kraków. The next year, in the 1921 matches, Cracovia became the first, historic champion of Poland.

During the following years, the team often traveled across Europe, playing in Scandinavia, France and Spain. The most memorable is the trip to Spain, which occurred in the fall of 1923. Cracovia showed itself as a good side, drawing 1–1 with Barcelona, winning 3–2 against Sevilla and losing to the renowned teams of Real Madrid and Valencia

In 1928, Cracovia joined the Polish Football League, which had been created a year earlier. Two years later, Kraków's side for the second time in its history became the Champion of Poland. This was repeated in 1932. At the end of the season, Cracovia placed ahead of such famous teams as Pogoń Lwów, Warta Poznań, Wisła Kraków and ŁKS Łódź. In 1934, the team was the vicechampion. However, next year, Cracovia was demoted from Ekstraklasa.

Cracovia's absence from the League lasted only one season. After beating Śmigły Wilno, AKS Chorzów and Brygada Częstochowa, the team returned. And the return was so successful that in their first season back (1937) Cracovia won the League, becoming the Champion for the fourth time.

World War II

During World War II, the German occupiers of Poland banned the Poles from officially playing any sports games. However, Cracovia, just like other teams from Kraków, participated in secret championships of the city, which were organised every year from 1940 to 1944. "Pasy" won only once – in 1943.