Ekstraklasa Roundup: Champion Lech Poznań Pulls Away From Rivals
Lech Poznań beat Wisła Kraków 3-1 in Poznań in the 13th round and strengthened its position as leader of the Ekstraklasa, Poland’s top soccer league. In another marquee matchup on Friday, second-place Górnik Zabrze played to a 0-0 draw at home with third-place Legia Warszawa.
In Poznań, both storied teams had something to prove. “Kolejorz” (Lech’s nickname) was knocked out of the Polish Cup round of 32 on Wednesday, losing in a stunning 1-0 upset away to third-division side Siarka Tarnobrzeg (fourth tier).
“The White Star,” as Wisła is known, is still looking for a breakthrough on the road. The newly promoted Kraków club has been superb at home, where it has won all six matches, but it has not won a single game at opponents’ stadiums.
After Saturday’s match, only Lech fans had reason to celebrate. All the goals came between the 54th and 64th minutes. The hosts took the lead through Antoni Kozubal, Jakub Krzyżanowski equalized with a header moments later, but Patrik Walemark and Yannick Agnero secured three points for the defending champions.
In the 81st minute, Wisła’s Angel Rodado failed to convert a penalty kick, sending it over the bar. It was the second penalty he has wasted this half of the season; he missed the previous one two weeks earlier in Łódź against Widzew.
“I think it was the hardest match of all those wins. Wisła is a really strong team,” said Poznań coach Niels Frederiksen.
His players, who still have a game in hand, collected 31 points with their fifth straight Ekstraklasa win. They lead Górnik by three points and Legia and Pogoń Szczecin by seven. Pogoń has played only 11 matches.
Friday’s clash in Zabrze, also featuring two big clubs, promised to be very interesting but delivered little excitement. Górnik drew for the third time in a row, and the fourth time counting the Polish Cup, where it beat Piast Gliwice in the round of 32 only on penalty kicks. Legia, meanwhile, has taken just two points from its last three matches.
The same day, Cracovia lost 2-1 to Motor Lublin, which picked up its third win in the last four rounds.
On Saturday, besides the match in Poznań, games were played at three other stadiums.
Wisła Płock, though trailing Piast Gliwice 2-0 at halftime, drew 2-2 at home.
Wieczysta suffered its fourth straight defeat. The newly promoted Kraków team, 16th in the table, lost 3-1 to Jagiellonia Białystok as the home side at the “White Star” stadium.
Jesus Imaz scored one of the visitors’ goals from a penalty kick. The Spaniard thus raised his total in the Polish Ekstraklasa to 114 goals and drew level with Józef Nawrot, 15th in the standings of the “100 Club.”
Imaz has played in Poland since 2017. He scored his first 14 Ekstraklasa goals for Wisła Kraków and the next 100 as a Jagiellonia player, having joined the club at the start of 2019.
The Białystok team is slowly climbing out of its slump. It is its third win in a row, counting Wednesday’s 6-0 victory in Gdańsk over first-division (second-tier) Lechia in the Polish Cup. In the table, the team of coach Adrian Siemieniec, who is still serving a six-match Ekstraklasa suspension, sits in ninth place with 18 points and a game in hand.
There was no surprise in the last game on Saturday either, as GKS Katowice beat Widzew Łódź 3-2. The hosts did come into the match after three straight 1-0 losses (two of them in the league), but when is a team to break out of a slump if not against a Łódź side mired in a sporting crisis.
Widzew, despite a large budget and a theoretically very strong squad, has won only one game this season, on Aug. 9 against Jagiellonia, and was knocked out of the Polish Cup in the first round. The loss in Katowice was its 11th match in a row without a win, including the 10th in the Ekstraklasa.
All the goals for Katowice, which led 3-0 until the 70th minute, were scored by 33-year-old midfielder Bartosz Nowak. It is his first hat trick in the Ekstraklasa, though he has already done it in the Polish Cup (in September 2025 against Wisła Płock) and twice in the first league (second tier), while still playing for Stal Mielec.
Widzew could only reduce the margin of defeat. Steve Kapuadi, who took part in the recent World Cup for DR Congo, and Poland national team forward Karol Świderski, who scored his fourth goal of the season, found the net.
GKS, which has not had a single draw in the league, moved up to fifth place with 21 points, while Widzew is 14th (11 points), though several teams behind it in the table have not yet played this round.
There will be no matches on Sunday because of All Saints’ Day. Games scheduled for Monday are KGHM Zagłębie Lubin vs. Korona Kielce, Radomiak vs. Śląsk Wrocław and Raków vs. Pogoń.
The clash in Częstochowa looks especially intriguing. The hosts, now on their fourth coach of the season (Dawid Szwarga), are last in the table, but they still have a quality squad and are buoyed by advancing to the Polish Cup round of 16 after a penalty shootout win over Motor in Lublin.
Meanwhile, a surging Pogoń, led by Spaniard Oscar Garcia, hired before the season and a former Ajax Amsterdam coach, has won its last five league matches. (PAP)
