Football leagues around the world: Ekstraklasa

Football is a truly global sport, played and followed passionately in every corner of the world. While elite competitions like the Premier League, LaLiga, 1. Bundesliga, and Serie A often dominate the headlines, football thrives in countless other countries — many of which are rapidly gaining prominence.

This year’s FIFA Club World Cup offered a glimpse into the growing strength of the lesser-known leagues. And so, we’ve decided to launch a special series in which we put the spotlight on leagues from around the globe.

Here, we take a look at one of the lesser-known leagues in Europe — Ekstraklasa, the top flight of men’s professional club football in Poland, officially known as the PKO Bank Polski Ekstraklasa due to its title sponsorship agreement with Warsaw-based PKO Bank Polski.

History

The Polish top flight started in 1927 as “Polska Liga Pilki Noznej” (Polish Football League). The first season of the league itself was quite controversial, as it was boycotted by one of the best sides at the time — Cracovia. Even the final was contested between Wisla Kraków (another Cracovian outfit) and 1. FC Kattowitz, adding further fuel to the fire. 

The 14 teams that participated in the first season of the league were: Wisla Kraków, 1. FC Kattowitz, Warta Poznan, Pogon Lwów, Legia Warszawa, Klub Turystów Lódz, LKS Lódz, Polonia Warsaw, Czarni Lwów, Torunski KS, Hasmonea Lwów, Ruch Chorzów, KS Warszawianka, and Jutrzenka Kraków.

League football continued to be plagued by ethnic and political issues in Poland for decades. Then came the Second World War and the league was suspended. After the war ended, and Poland had its borders redrawn, many clubs failed to recover, as communism took control of the sport’s management in the country. Many clubs were linked with the army and industries. This period saw clubs like Legia Warszawa (military club) and Górnik Zabrze (industrial club) gain prominence and dominate Polish football.

The 1970s saw an era of growth and development for the Ekstraklasa, which was evident from its teams’ performances in European competitions, whose latter stages often saw Polish participation.

Case in point, Górnik Zabrze reached the final and quarter-finals of the European Cup Winners’ Cup in 1969/70 and 1970/71, respectively. Legia Warszawa reached the semi-finals and quarter-finals of the European Cup (now known as the UEFA Champions League) in 1969/70 and 1970/71, respectively. Ruch Chorzów reached the quarter-finals of the 1973/74 UEFA Cup as well as the 1974/75 European Cup.

Even though none of these sides went on to clinch a European trophy, they made their presence felt. In addition, Poland’s national team gained global popularity with a third-place finish at the 1974 FIFA World Cup. All these achievements led to the league flourishing and churning out top-class talent.  

However, the next decade saw a lot of economic difficulties and political unrest in Poland, leading to the league suffering. It was only in the 1990s that the football landscape changed as Poland transitioned into a market economy, which led to the privatisation of clubs, with sponsorship and broadcasting deals being signed and foreign players arriving in the league. 

The Ekstraklasa has seen many turmoils, changes, and modifications throughout its existence. From the initial 14-team format, to the split-table format from 2014 to 2020, to the current format of 18 teams, the Polish top flight has come a long way. The league is also rather low in the UEFA country coefficient table; only four of its clubs are included for qualification for European competitions during the 2025/26 season. 

Format

The Ekstraklasa runs from July to May and features 18 teams in a double round-robin format, with each side playing two games against each opponent — one home and one away. At the end of the 34 games played by each side, the side with the highest number of points wins the league and qualifies for next season’s curtain-raising Polish Super Cup. 

This season, owing to the country’s UEFA coefficient, both the winners and runners-up in the Polish topflight will earn a spot in next season’s Champions League qualifiers, with teams placed third and fourth qualifying for the UEFA Conference League.

The teams participating in the 2025/26 Ekstraklasa season are: Bruk-Bet Termalica Nieciecza, Radomiak Radom, KS Cracovia, Wisla Plock, Motor Lublin, Raków Czestochowa, Widzew Lódz, Górnik Zabrze, Legia Warszawa, Piast Gliwice, Arka Gdynia, GKS Katowice, Zaglebie Lubin, Lechia Gdansk, Korona Kielce, Lech Poznan, Jagiellonia Bialystok, and Pogon Szczecin. 

Promotion and Relegation

The second tier of Polish football is called the I Liga, from which teams are promoted to the Ekstraklasa and relegated.

The bottom three teams — placed 16th, 17th, and 18th — at the end of an Ekstraklasa season are relegated to the I Liga.

In terms of promotion, the first- and second-placed teams at the end of an I Liga season are promoted to the Ekstraklasa directly, while the third spot is secured by a side winning the play-offs, contested by teams placed third to sixth.

Important Stats

• Legia Warszawa are the most successful team in Ekstraklasa history with 15 titles, followed closely by Górnik Zabrze and Ruch Chorzów with 14 titles each.
• The all-time top goalscorer in the Ekstraklasa is Ernest Pohl with 186 goals for Legia Warsawa (43) and Górnik Zabrze (143).
• The players with most assists in the Ekstraklasa are Maciej Zurawski and Filip Starzynski, with 38 assists each.
• Lukasz Surma is the player with the most appearances in the league with 559 across four sides: Wisla Kraków, Ruch Chorzów, Legia Warszawa, and Lechia Gdansk.