Polish Champion on the precipice! The club had to withdraw from the competition

It is no secret that things have not been going well in Polkowice in Lower Silesia for a long time. On the one hand, we are talking about KGHM BC, the club that is the current Polish champion in women’s basketball. On the other hand, although the gold medals were around their necks quite some time ago, there are plenty of problems in the club’s everyday life.

The largest one concerns the financial and organizational side.

“It’s unbelievable that this is still happening in professional sports. The current Polish Champion, the KGHM BC Polkowice team undefeated in the ORLEN Basket Women’s League, participant of the elite EuroLeague Women, is a colossus, but with wooden, very wobbly legs. Coaches without contracts, even though the Management Board itself proposed 2-year contracts, without payment for their work, players with numerous delays, other Club employees probably too… Last year, this team was not sure whether it would finish the season – for the final match for gold medal to AZS AJP Gorzów Wielkopolski, she went with her own money, not the club’s money!! This amazing TEAM won another Polish Championship for Polkowice in great style. Knowing all this, I just wanted to cry…” wrote Ewa Silna on social media, a former basketball player, currently, among others, commenting on women’s basketball matches.

This rightful appeal appeared at the end of November 2024. Unfortunately, the disintegration of the team from Polkowice is in full swing. She recently said goodbye to the band, including: Weronika Gajda. A four-time Polish champion with the club from Polkowice, she is the captain of the national team. Due to the deplorable situation of Polkowice, KGHM BC had to decide to part with the club. The basketball player decided to move nearby, because she will still play in Lower Silesia, to Ślęza Wrocław.

As you can read on the league’s official website, the following also parted ways with Polkowice: Emma Cannon, Maria Jespersen, Julia Niełacna, Weronika Piechowiak and Anete Steinberga.

KGHM BC Polkowice is calling for help. Fundraising for the survival of the Polish champion

The club from Polkowice is doing everything it can to finish the 2024/25 season. The decision has just been made to withdraw from the Euroleague competition.

But that’s not all. Additionally, a special collection has been established where you can donate money for the survival of the club from Polkowice. It also explains why the Polish MP gold medalists had problems with their functioning.

“The Polkowice Municipal Sports Club, running the KGHM BC Polkowice team, found itself in an extremely difficult financial situation. Even though the municipal budget included funds for the development of basketball, the authorities decided not to announce the competition. As a result, the Club, which in the past regularly took part in the competition and won, was left without the funds necessary to operate. For many weeks we tried to look for various forms of help in a number of institutions, but without success,” we read in the collection of the club from Polkowice.

Let us add that the team’s coach is the coach of the Polish national team, Karol Kowalewski. From a club that was the showcase of Polish basketball not only in the country, but also abroad – successfully playing on the international arena – currently, the lack of support from the above-mentioned collection – may mean “turning off the lights” in Polkowice.

“All funds will be allocated to maintaining the team and organizing both home and away matches. If we do not receive help, we will not be able to continue the competition, which may mean the end of a Club with a beautiful and long history. Therefore, we are asking for help from everyone who has the good of Polish women’s basketball or basketball in general at heart,” the authors of the collection for the basketball club from Lower Silesia present the situation.

The amount set for the collection is PLN 100,000. Let us add that the club from Polkowice, although it has not played its last match, is still the leader of the Orlen Basket Women’s League table. Coach Kowalewski’s team suffered its first defeat only in its first game no. 10, losing away in the derby to Ślęza 74:81.

However, it must be openly admitted that in such a dramatic situation, it is difficult to think about demanding sports results, when the situation around us did not even for a moment stand next to the goals achieved on the basketball court.