2010–11 Ekstraklasa

Ekstraklasa

Season	2010–11
Champions	Wisła Kraków 13th title
Relegated	Arka Gdynia Polonia Bytom
Champions League	Wisła Kraków
Europa League	Legia Warsaw Śląsk Wrocław Jagiellonia Białystok
Matches played	240
Goals scored	580 (2.42 per match)
Top goalscorer	Tomasz Frankowski (14 goals)
Biggest home win	Lech 5–0 Cracovia Śląsk 5–0 Arka
Biggest away win	Korona 1–4 Legia
Highest scoring	Widzew 5–2 Śląsk Wisła 5–2 Lechia
Longest winning run	7 games[1] Wisła Kraków
Longest unbeaten run	14 games[2] Śląsk Wrocław
Longest winless run	10 games[3] Korona Kielce
Longest losing run	6 games[4] Cracovia
Highest attendance	34,312[5] Lech 1–0 Legia (16 April 2011)
Lowest attendance	1,300[5] GKS 0–2 Zagłębie (20 May 2011)
Average attendance	8,231[5]
← 2009–10 2011–12 →

The 2010–11 Ekstraklasa was the 77th season of the highest level of football leagues in Poland since its establishment in 1927. It began on 6 August 2010 and concluded on 29 May 2011. A total of 16 teams participated, 14 of which competed in the league during the 2009–10 season, while the remaining two were promoted from the I Liga. Each team played a total of 30 matches, half at home and half away.

Wisła Kraków won the title, which marked their 13th title in total.^[6]

Wisła Kraków qualified as champions for the 2nd qualifying round of the 2011-12 UEFA Champions League, while Śląsk Wrocław, as the runner-up, entered the 2nd qualifying round of the 2011-12 UEFA Europa League, followed by the fourth placed Jagiellonia Białystok team that earned a place in the 1st qualifying round of the Europa League. Legia Warsaw, the winner of the 2010–11 Polish Cup, also earned a place in European competition by qualifying to the 3rd qualifying round of the Europa League.

The defending champions were Lech Poznań, who won their sixth Polish championship last season.

Teams

Promotion and relegation was established by a change, which eliminated relegation play-off games after the 2008–09 season. Thus, the 14th team from the Ekstraklasa and the 3rd team from the Polish First League no longer compete against each other in play-offs. Following the change, promotion and relegation are determined solely by a team's position in the table. As usual, the bottom two teams are directly relegated to the I Liga, while the top two teams are promoted to the Ekstraklasa.

Odra Wodzisław and Piast Gliwice finished in 15th and 16th place, respectively, and were directly relegated to the Polish First League as a result. Odra Wodzisław returned to the second tier after spending 14 years in the top division, their first appearance being in the 1996–97 season. Piast Gliwice spent just two seasons in the Ekstraklasa, after being promoted for the first time for the 2008–09 season, having spent the previous 71 seasons in the lower leagues.

Promotion was won by 2009–10 2nd level champions Widzew Łódź, who returned to the top division after being relegated in the 2007–08 season. 14-time Ekstraklasa champions Górnik Zabrze finished as runners-up in the I Liga and made their comeback to the top tier after being relegated in the 2008–09 season.

Stadiums and locations

Since and prior to the selection of Poland as co-host for Euro 2012, numerous clubs are engaged in reconstruction of their stadiums, or building a completely new stadium. Some teams in the beginning of the season played their home matches in other stadiums. For instance Wisła Kraków played their home matches at the Hutnik Kraków stadium, the Stadion Suche Stawy, which holds 12,000 spectators. However, the move to the nearly completed 33,000-plus home stadium was in effect mid-season. Legia Warsaw and Lech Poznań are playing at stadiums which remain under construction but nearing completion. Dialog Arena, the home venue of Zagłębie Lubin is the newest completely finished stadium in the Ekstraklasa this season, being completed just before the start of the season.

Arka Gdynia, and Cracovia started the season playing in their old stadiums. The two clubs moved to their completely finished new stadiums mid season. Jagiellonia Białystok, Lechia Gdańsk, and Śląsk Wrocław are currently playing in their old stadiums while their new venues are being constructed. The 40,000 plus PGE Arena Gdańsk will be the new home ground for Lechia after its completion in 2011, while Śląsk will move to the new 45,000 plus Stadium in Maślice. The two stadiums will be venues for Euro 2012.

Arka

GKS

Górnik

Jagiellonia

Lech

Lechia

Korona

Legia
Pol. Warsaw

Pol. Bytom

Ruch

Śląsk

Widzew

Cracovia
Wisła

Zagłębie

Location of teams and stadium in Ekstraklasa 2010–11

Team	Location	Venue	Capacity[7]
Arka Gdynia	Gdynia	GOSiR Stadium	15,139
Cracovia	Kraków	Cracovia Stadium	15,016
GKS Bełchatów	Bełchatów	GKS Stadium	5,238
Górnik Zabrze	Zabrze	Ernest Pohl Stadium	10,000
Jagiellonia Białystok	Białystok	Municipal Stadium	6,000 (upgrading to 22,500)
Korona Kielce	Kielce	Arena Kielce	15,550
Lech Poznań	Poznań	Stadion Miejski	43,000
Lechia Gdańsk	Gdańsk	Lechia Stadium	11,811 (upgrading to 40,818)
Legia Warsaw	Warsaw	Polish Army Stadium	31,800
Polonia Bytom	Bytom	Edward Szymkowiak Stadium	6,000
Polonia Warsaw	Warsaw	Polonia Stadium	7,150
Ruch Chorzów	Chorzów	Ruch Stadium	10,000
Śląsk Wrocław	Wrocław	Oporowska Stadium	8,346 (upgrading to 42,720)
Widzew Łódź	Łódź	Stadion Widzewa	10,500
Wisła Kraków	Kraków	Henryk Reyman Stadium	24,000 (upgrading to 33,680)
Zagłębie Lubin	Lubin	Dialog Arena	16,300

Sponsoring and personnel

Club	Manager	2009–10 Season	Kit Sponsor	Main Sponsor
Arka Gdynia	František Straka	14th	Jako	Polnord
Cracovia	Yuriy Shatalov	12th	Jako	Comarch
GKS Bełchatów	Maciej Bartoszek	5th	Adidas	Polska Grupa Energetyczna
Górnik Zabrze	Adam Nawałka	Promoted	Erima	Allianz
Jagiellonia Białystok	Michał Probierz	11th	Joma	Białystok City
Korona Kielce	Włodzimierz Gąsior	6th	Hummel	Formaster
Lech Poznań	José Mari Bakero	Champions	Puma	s.Oliver
Lechia Gdańsk	Tomasz Kafarski	8th	Adidas	LOTOS
Legia Warsaw	Maciej Skorża	4th	Adidas	n
Polonia Bytom	Dariusz Fornalak	7th	Hummel	Ecco Holiday
Polonia Warsaw	Jacek Zieliński	13th	Hummel	J.W. Construction
Ruch Chorzów	Waldemar Fornalik	3rd	Lotto	Tauron Poland Energy
Śląsk Wrocław	Orest Lenczyk	9th	Puma	Piast
Widzew Łódź	Czesław Michniewicz	Promoted	Vigo	Harnaś
Wisła Kraków	Robert Maaskant	2nd	Adidas	Tele-Fonika Kable
Zagłębie Lubin	Jan Urban	10th	Nike	KGHM Polska Miedź

Puma continues as Ekstraklasa's official match ball suppliers through the 2010–11 season. All matches are played with the PUMA PowerCat 1.10 ultra balls, which is a special model created just for the Ekstraklasa.^[8]

The official presentation of the new ball for Ekstraklasa was prepared together with PUMA Poland in the beginning of August 2010 – just before the start of season. The case of prolonging the use of the match ball for the next two seasons was made official on 3 August 2010.^[9] The new model will be used through the 2011–12 season as it is regarded at the highest quality .

Managerial changes

Club	Outgoing Manager	Date of vacancy	Manner of departure	Incoming Manager	Date of appointment
GKS Bełchatów	Rafał Ulatowski	21 May 2010	End of Contract	Maciej Bartoszek	2 June 2010
Cracovia	Orest Lenczyk	24 May 2010	Sacked	Rafał Ulatowski	28 May 2010
Legia Warsaw	Stefan Białas	25 May 2010	Sacked	Maciej Skorża	1 June 2010
Widzew Łódź	Paweł Janas	21 June 2010	Resigned	Andrzej Kretek	25 June 2010
Wisła Kraków	Henryk Kasperczak	6 August 2010	Sacked	Tomasz Kulawik (temporary)	6 August 2010
Wisła Kraków	Tomasz Kulawik	21 August 2010	Temporary Manager	Robert Maaskant	21 August 2010
Polonia Warsaw	José Mari Bakero	13 September 2010	Sacked	Paweł Janas	13 September 2010
Śląsk Wrocław	Ryszard Tarasiewicz	22 September 2010	Sacked	Paweł Barylski (temporary)	22 September 2010
Śląsk Wrocław	Paweł Barylski	27 September 2010	Temporary Manager	Orest Lenczyk	27 September 2010
Cracovia	Rafał Ulatowski	24 October 2010	Resigned	Marcin Sadko (temporary)	27 October 2010
Polonia Bytom	Yuriy Shatalov	28 October 2010	Resigned	Jan Urban	29 October 2010
Cracovia	Marcin Sadko	31 October 2010	Temporary Manager	Yuriy Shatalov	31 October 2010
Lech Poznań	Jacek Zieliński	2 November 2010	Sacked	José Mari Bakero	3 November 2010
Widzew Łódź	Andrzej Kretek	15 November 2010	Sacked	Czesław Michniewicz	15 November 2010
Polonia Bytom	Jan Urban	10 December 2010	Resigned	Robert Góralczyk	13 December 2010
Polonia Warsaw	Paweł Janas	28 December 2010	Sacked	Theo Bos	6 January 2011
Zagłębie Lubin	Marek Bajor	7 March 2011	Sacked	Jan Urban	10 March 2011
Polonia Warsaw	Theo Bos	13 March 2011	Sacked	Piotr Stokowiec	14 March 2011
Arka Gdynia	Dariusz Pasieka	23 March 2011	Sacked	František Straka	23 March 2011
Polonia Warsaw	Piotr Stokowiec	24 March 2011	Temporary Manager	Jacek Zieliński	24 March 2011
Korona Kielce	Marcin Sasal	12 May 2011	Sacked	Włodzimierz Gąsior (temporary)	12 May 2011
Polonia Bytom	Robert Góralczyk	24 May 2011	Sacked	Dariusz Fornalak	24 May 2011

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation	Head-to-head
1	Wisła Kraków (C)	30	17	5	8	44	29	+15	56	2011–12 UEFA Champions League Second qualifying round
2	Śląsk Wrocław	30	13	10	7	46	34	+12	49	2011–12 UEFA Europa League Second qualifying round	ŚLĄ 0−1 LEG LEG 1−2 ŚLĄ
3	Legia Warsaw	30	15	4	11	45	38	+7	49	2011–12 UEFA Europa League Third qualifying round ^1
4	Jagiellonia Białystok	30	14	6	10	38	32	+6	48	2011–12 UEFA Europa League First qualifying round
5	Lech Poznań	30	13	6	11	37	23	+14	45		GÓR 2−0 LPO LPO 2−0 GÓR
6	Górnik Zabrze	30	13	6	11	36	40	−4	45
7	Polonia Warsaw	30	12	8	10	41	26	+15	44
8	Lechia Gdańsk	30	12	7	11	37	36	+1	43		LGD 3−1 WID WID 1−0 LGD
9	Widzew Łódź	30	11	10	9	41	34	+7	43
10	GKS Bełchatów	30	10	10	10	31	33	−2	40
11	Zagłębie Lubin	30	10	9	11	31	41	−10	39
12	Ruch Chorzów	30	10	8	12	29	32	−3	38
13	Korona Kielce	30	10	7	13	34	49	−15	37
14	Cracovia	30	8	5	17	37	47	−10	29
15	Arka Gdynia (R)	30	6	10	14	22	43	−21	28	Relegation to 2011–12 I Liga
16	Polonia Bytom (R)	30	6	9	15	29	45	−16	27

Source: 90minut.pl (Polish)
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) head-to-head points; 3) head-to-head goal difference; 4) head-to-head goals scored; 5) goal difference; 6) number of goals scored
¹Winners of the 2010–11 Polish Cup.
(C) = Champion; (R) = Relegated; (P) = Promoted; (E) = Eliminated; (O) = Play-off winner; (A) = Advances to a further round.
Only applicable when the season is not finished:
(Q) = Qualified to the phase of tournament indicated; (TQ) = Qualified to tournament, but not yet to the particular phase indicated; (RQ) = Qualified to the relegation tournament indicated; (DQ) = Disqualified from tournament.
Head-to-Head: used when head-to-head record is used to rank tied teams.

Results

Home ╲ Away

ARK

CRA

BEŁ

GÓR

JAG

KOR

LPO

LGD

LEG

PBY

PWA

RUC

ŚLĄ

WID

WIS

ZLU

Arka Gdynia

3–0

1–0

2–0

1–0

2–1

0–3

2–2

2–5

2–1

0–0

0–2

2–2

1–1

0–1

1–1

Cracovia

2–0

3–2

2–3

3–0

3–0

1–0

3–0

3–3

0–1

3–1

2–3

2–3

1–2

0–1

2–2

GKS Bełchatów

1–1

1–0

1–1

0–0

1–0

1–0

1–0

2–0

2–0

3–2

3–2

0–1

1–0

1–1

0–2

Górnik Zabrze

2–2

1–0

1–0

0–1

2–1

2–0

0–0

1–1

1–1

0–2

1–0

3–1

4–0

1–0

5–1

Jagiellonia Białystok

1–0

4–2

3–1

2–0

4–0

2–0

1–2

0–0

3–0

1–0

2–1

1–1

1–3

2–1

2–0

Korona Kielce

1–0

1–0

3–1

1–0

1–1

0–0

2–3

1–4

3–3

1–3

0–1

2–1

1–2

2–2

1–1

Lech Poznań

0–0

5–0

0–0

2–0

2–0

4–0

2–0

1–0

1–0

2–2

1–0

2–2

1–0

4–1

0–1

Lechia Gdańsk

1–0

1–0

0–0

5–1

1–2

0–1

2–1

2–1

2–0

0–0

0–0

2–0

3–1

0–3

1–2

Legia Warsaw

3–0

2–1

0–2

2–1

2–0

3–1

2–1

0–3

4–0

1–0

2–3

1–2

1–0

2–0

2–2

Polonia Bytom

2–0

1–2

1–1

1–2

3–2

0–1

1–2

1–1

0–1

0–2

1–0

0–0

2–2

2–2

2–0

Polonia Warsaw

4–0

3–0

0–0

0–0

2–0

1–3

1–0

1–2

3–0

2–2

3–1

0–1

0–1

0–1

2–1

Ruch Chorzów

0–0

1–0

2–1

3–0

0–0

0–1

1–0

0–0

1–0

0–2

0–3

1–2

1–1

2–0

2–2

Śląsk Wrocław

5–0

0–0

4–2

4–0

0–0

0–1

1–2

2–1

0–1

0–0

2–2

2–1

2–2

2–0

3–1

Widzew Łódź

0–0

2–2

1–1

4–0

4–1

3–1

1–1

1–0

0–1

3–1

0–0

0–0

5–2

0–1

2–1

Wisła Kraków

1–0

1–0

3–1

0–2

2–0

2–2

1–0

5–2

4–0

2–1

0–2

3–1

0–0

2–0

1–0

Zagłębie Lubin

1–0

0–0

1–1

1–2

0–2

1–1

1–0

3–1

2–1

2–0

1–0

0–0

0–1

1–0

0–2

Source: 90minut.pl (Polish)
1 ^{^} The home team is listed in the left-hand column.
Colours: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Player statistics

Top goalscorers Source: onet.pl 14 goals Tomasz Frankowski (Jagiellonia Białystok) 12 goals Andrzej Niedzielan (Korona Kielce) Abdou Traoré (Lechia Gdańsk) 11 goals Artjoms Rudņevs (Lech Poznań) 10 goals Darvydas Šernas (Widzew Łódź) Miroslav Radović (Legia Warsaw) 9 goals Artur Sobiech (Polonia Warsaw) Andraž Kirm (Wisła Kraków) 8 goals Przemysław Kaźmierczak (Śląsk Wrocław) Dawid Nowak (GKS Bełchatów) Tadas Labukas (Arka Gdynia) Piotr Grzelczak (Widzew Łódź) Maciej Jankowski (Ruch Chorzów) Cristián Díaz (Śląsk Wrocław)

Top assistants Source: 10 assists Sebastian Mila (Śląsk Wrocław) 9 assists Edi Andradina (Korona Kielce) Dudu Paraíba (Widzew Łódź) 8 assists Artur Sobiech (Polonia Warsaw) Mateusz Klich (Cracovia) 7 assists Miroslav Radović (Legia Warsaw) Andraž Kirm (Wisła Kraków) Patryk Małecki (Wisła Kraków) Tomasz Kupisz (Jagiellonia Białystok) Maciej Małkowski (GKS Bełchatów)

Player of the month

Month	Player	Club	Matches	Goals / Goals Conceded	Assists / Clean Sheets
August	Andrzej Niedzielan[10]	Korona Kielce	4	4	0
September	Andrzej Niedzielan[11]	Korona Kielce	3	3	1
October	Tomasz Frankowski[12]	Jagiellonia Białystok	3	4	0
November	Mateusz Bartczak[13]	Zagłębie Lubin	4	2	0
March	Przemysław Kaźmierczak[14]	Śląsk Wrocław	3	3	0
April	Marián Kelemen[15]	Śląsk Wrocław	5	5	2
May	Piotr Grzelczak[16]	Widzew Łódź	6	5	1

See also

• 2010–11 Polish Cup
• 2010–11 I Liga

References

1. "Wisła streak" (in German). Ekstraklasa. Retrieved 11 March 2011.
2. "Śląsk winning streak" (in German). Ekstraklasa. Retrieved 11 March 2011.
3. "Korona losing streak" (in German). Ekstraklasa. Retrieved 11 March 2011.
4. "Cracovia streak" (in German). Ekstraklasa. Retrieved 11 March 2011.
5. "Ekstraklasa attendance statistics" (in Polish). Ekstraklasa. Retrieved 1 March 2011.
6. "Wisła reclaim Polish crown". UEFA.com. 15 May 2011. Retrieved 16 May 2011.
7. Stadiony.net
8. "New Puma Ball presentation". Ekstraklasa.org
9. "New Ball for next two seasons". Sports.pl
10. "W sierpniu najlepszy Andrzej Niedzielan" (in Polish).
11. "Andrzej Niedzielan najlepszym piłkarzem ligi we wrześniu" (in Polish).
12. "Tomasz Frankowski "Piłkarzem miesiąca października"" (in Polish).
13. "Mateusz Bartczak "Piłkarzem miesiąca listopada"" (in Polish).
14. "Przemysław Kaźmierczak piłkarz miesiąca marca" (in Polish).
15. "Marian Kelemen i Waldemar Fornalik najlepsi w kwietniu" (in Polish).
16. "Widzewiacy najlepsi w maju w Ekstraklasie" (in Polish).

• Official site