Polonia Bytom

Football club infobox
clubname = Polonia Bytom


fullname = Towarzystwo Sportowe Polonia Bytom
nickname = | founded = 1920
ground = Stadion Edwarda Szymkowiaka
Bytom, Poland
capacity = 15,000
chairman = flagicon|Poland Damian Bartyla
manager = flagicon|Poland Michał Probierz
league =
season = 2006/2007
position =
pattern_la1=_red_stripes|pattern_b1=_red_stripes|pattern_ra1=_red_stripes
leftarm1=211288|body1=211288|rightarm1=211288|shorts1=211288|socks1=211288
pattern_la2=|pattern_b2=_unknown|pattern_ra2=
leftarm2=ffffff|body2=ffffff|rightarm2=ffffff|shorts2=ffffff|socks2=ffffff

TS Polonia Bytom, IPA2|pɔˈlɔɲa ˈbɨtɔm, is a Polish football club founded January 4, 1920 in the city of Bytom, during the hectic months of the Silesian Uprisings. In late 1922 however, as a result of the Upper Silesia plebiscite, Bytom became part of Germany and the club ceased to exist.

In May of 1945, numerous players and officials of one of the most famous Polish clubs, Pogoń Lwów arrived in Bytom and decided to revive Polonia. On May 17, 1945 the team played its first game in over two decades, defeating Warta Poznań 3-2.

Polonia is considered the continuation of Pogon Lwow, its logo is in fact very similar to the logo of Lwów's most famous Polish team as well as their colours, red-blue.

Polonia Bytom's most famous player is goalkeeper Edward Szymkowiak. Its stadium is named after him and has a capacity of 15,000 spectators.

Polonia has won the Polish championship twice, in 1954 and 1962. In 1952, 1958, 1959 and 1961 Bytom was the vice-champion of Poland. In June 2007 Polonia Bytom, after many years, returned to the Polish Orange Ekstraklasa.

Achievements

*Orange Ekstraklasa (First League)
**1st Place (2): 1954, 1962
**2nd Place (4): 1952, 1958, 1959, 1961
*Polish Cup
**Finalist (3): 1964, 1973, 1977

Current squad

"Accurate as of July 20 2008"

Notable players

Polonia in Europe

External links

* [http://www.poloniabytom.com.pl/ Official Website]
* [http://www.polonia.bytom.pl/ Official FanClub]