Śląsk Wrocław landed at the bottom. The Polish runners-up are counting on the “Miracle on the Oder”

The five-year period seems to be a good time trial to properly determine what has been and is happening in the ranks of Śląsk Wrocław. In the 2020/21 season, the team finishes in fourth place, which is rewarded with playing in European cups. Instead of a continuation of the good streak, there is a typical “kiss of death” effect, as over the years it has been common to describe the fate of Polish cup winners who not only were unable to conquer Europe, but also were sliding downhill in the country.

From Magiera to Magiera. This is how Śląsk Wrocław landed at the bottom

After a place just behind the podium, Śląsk finishes in 15th place in the next season (2021/22). Exactly three points above the red zone, meaning relegation from the Ekstraklasa. Coach Jacek Magiera says goodbye to his job during the competition, and the history of the Wrocław team finally comes full circle to… return to Magiera. Having a former coach, among others, Legia Warszawa (appearances in the Champions League in the 2016/17 season) still with a valid contract, although without having to perform coaching duties, in the WKS ranks, out of desperation, they return to the version with JM on the bench.

Let us add – Magiera was fired on March 8, 2022 – and after thirteen months, exactly on April 21, 2023 – he took over again in Wrocław. The desperate move ends with WKS staying at the top league level. The Wrocław team scores points in key matches, and Wisła Płock has a disgraceful finish and the Płock team is relegated from the league. In Wrocław you can uncork champagne once again. Brave maintenance, with a point (in words: one) left over the above-mentioned Vistula, again in 15th place – the last safe place in the top league.

Nothing happens twice? And yet, in Wrocław this scenario does not apply. The question is, however, whether the saying that three is a charm is true?

Śląsk, from a team wandering around the bottom of the table, jumped to the leader’s seat after another few months. After a great second half of 2023, WKS spent the winter as the best team in the Ekstraklasa. Ultimately, it was the Polish runner-up title (2023/24) and the belief that under the leadership of Magiera, sports director David Balda and president Patryk Załęczny – big football will settle down in Wrocław for good. The Tarczyński Arena, which is sold out for league matches and can accommodate over 40,000 fans, includes the top scorer Erik Exposito and Nahuel Leiva, who is the “winner” in the offensive line. What can you hide, a smile from ear to ear.

And now it’s January 2025. Of the figures mentioned earlier, only President Załęczny is left, and some fans are demanding his resignation. Magiera again went from the top to the league abyss with Śląsk, currently resting on the coach’s unemployment. Director Balda recorded far more mistakes than successful transfers. In addition, Exposito, Leiva and the key player – this is the impression given in the locker room – Patrick Olsen, left.

After a great half-year in AD 2023, Śląsk recorded a disastrous year in 2024. The numbers don’t lie, it was in Wrocław that the worst football was played over the last 12 months. Only seven wins from 33 league games? This is just one of Silesia’s growing problems.

WKS gets hit on the head regularly. President Jacek Sutryk tops the list

It is no secret that the huge financing of Silesia by the city of Wrocław, which owns the club, is controversial. Local government money allocated to professional sports, there is always room for criticism here. Is it right?

On the one hand, it seems that in the case of football and such a large city as Wrocław, it was possible to find an investor who would decide to buy the club. In fact, there is even a quite solid one on the horizon, namely Westminster Polska. His achievements were even presented on… the city’s official website. Ultimately, it turned out that the club’s valuation – as the country’s runner-up – was far too optimistic. The repeated failure to comply with the original assumption, even in more difficult sporting times, discouraged not only the above-mentioned investor, but also others.

A prohibitive amount that calls into question the actual willingness to sell WKS.

The other side of this story is the cushion, the presence of which can be downplayed – in the context of spending large amounts of public money on professional sports – but it actually exists. Śląsk, without such an owner, could as well be outside the Ekstraklasa. Why? Money from the city is something permanent, relatively reliable. Even if there are shifts or delays, which were reported by one of the Wrocław journalists, Piotr Potępa, a few weeks ago.

In the case of a private investor, there is no shortage of sad, top-class stories. As part of an effective counterattack, looking at Raków Częstochowa, for example, you can certainly build something with money other than that included in the city budget. Although the city council in Jasna Góra needs to understand as soon as possible that if it continues to be so slow to build a stadium suitable for the team, the team may as well play somewhere else than on the ground in Częstochowa.

However, returning to Wrocław, the one who very often points out irregularities in the functioning of WKS is Marcin Torz. A long-time journalist who, although he is a declared supporter of Śląsk, does not intend to idly look towards the club’s decline. He regularly hits his head with, among others, Mayor of Wrocław Jacek Sutryk.

– The club is staffed by a group of Sutryk’s friends. These include: brother of one of the municipal directors. Out of pity, I will not give his name. Who earns PLN 10,000 a month and his contract stipulates that he does not have to come to work. Let me emphasize this emphatically: There is a group of dilettantes in Silesia, including graduates of Collegium Humanum, who were put there because of their acquaintance and are earning enormous amounts of money. These people brought Silesia to the bottom – says Torz on YouTube, the creator of poznamy.com.

The atmosphere around the club, to put it mildly, is getting thicker. Which translates not only into criticism in the media or the broadly understood Internet space. This was also visible in the turnout in the stands of the Wrocław arena, built for Euro 2012. Only the most loyal fans remained at the facility, where the UEFA Conference League final will be played in just a few months. Just over 11,000 people showed up at the last match of 2024, Śląsk – Puszcza Niepołomice.

The Miracle on the Oder is supposed to happen in spring. Will Ante Simundza be a miracle worker?

At the opening of 2025, Silesia is in 18th place in the table. The Wrocław team is eight points behind Puszcza Niepołomice, the last place above the red zone. What’s worse, WKS lost the home match against this rival (0:1). Similarly to the clash with… the penultimate Lechia Gdańsk (0:1), in the match played in Tricity.

There have been several significant changes at the club. The two most important are the new sports director and coach. This first function was entrusted to Rafał Grodzicki. The work of a former footballer, among others, Śląsk Wrocław (2012-14) will be assessed based on the winter transfer window and – most importantly – the impact on league points.

It seems that the new coach’s situation is even worse than Grodzicki’s. Ante Simundza must actually turn out to be a miracle worker, turning a terrible team into knights of spring. Or by performing the Miracle on the Oder, to paraphrase a bit the legendary military operation in Masovia. Translated into the more Wrocław realities.

But Simundza can do it. The Slovenian is one of the best specialists in this part of the Old Continent. The new Śląsk coach has at least four championship titles in his rich CV, both in his homeland (three times, twice with NS Maribor and once with NS Mura) and in Bulgaria, managing Ludogorets Razgrad.

Adding to this the extensive experience of playing in European cups, with success, it is clear that Wrocław has chosen a very good specialist. Simundza is the strongest name in the club, looking at the Śląsk team. Which is an argument both “for” and “against” an effective fight for survival.

What is Simundza’s football philosophy?

– It involves adapting to the team and striving for its development – both in terms of individual skills of the players and the functioning of the team. In the long run you can achieve results this way, but I know that in the next six months we will need to focus very hard. My philosophy for this period will be to give the team courage to play better and better (…) I am a coach who really doesn’t like to lose. I want to win every match, regardless of the circumstances, admitted coach Simundza shortly after signing the contract in Wrocław.

Looking at the beginning of the Slovenian’s work in Silesia, WKS fans should be moderately optimistic. Looking back on the last year for the club, the worst seems to be behind us.

– We’ve had a failed round. It’s good that we had a break, because it was obvious that everyone needed it. We reset our heads and now after returning we feel full of energy. We have to fight until the end, and the goal is obvious – to maintain it – admitted Śląsk midfielder, Petr Schwarz, one of the best players in the ranks of WKS in the 2024/25 season.

In Wrocław they know well that it could all be over in a month. Piast Gliwice at home, a trip to Radomiak, a clash at the Tarczyński Arena with Widzew Łódź or a trip to Korona Kielce. Each of these meetings is already on the schedule in February. The inhabitants of Wrocław must give themselves a chance from the very beginning.

Otherwise, the scenario of those who rub their hands at the defeat of WKS will come true. And as is often the case in Polish reality, there will be a large such group. Just like those keeping their fingers crossed for their beloved club. However, it would be good if the hands of those with a positive attitude could open for a moment. This would mean one thing – applause after effective actions.