KrakowInformer.com

 Wisla Krakow Football Club

Wisla Krakow is certainly the best known Krakow football club – and the everlasting rival of the oldest one – Cracovia – both on the stadiums and – sometimes – on the streets. And although the Krakow derby matches' outcomes are often difficult to explain in terms of simple football statistics, it's safe to say that Wisla, at least in the last couple of years, has been the better of the two.

Krakow's Most Successful Football Club

Wisla Krakow is the most successful Polish football club of the last decade, having one seven champion's trophies in the last ten years, and failing to reach the best two only once in that time. It is also one of the most offensive Polish teams, and Wisla's forwards are often the top scorers of the Polish league. These included, in the last few years, Tomasz Frankowski and Pawel Brozek. All this, however, isn't enough for the Champions' League, and Wisla is constantly failing to reach the group stage.

Wisla's History

Though younger than its local rival Cracovia, the Wisla Football Club is quite old, too, dating back to 1906. Its history begins with a tournament organized in Krakow by Henryk Jordan (the creator of Cracovia). Two of the teams that took part in the so called “Automn Tournament”, the “Reds” and the “Blues” (isn't it like the 2008 Champions' League final?) decided to join forces and create one football club, called “Wisla”.

The two colors of the founding teams were included in the original design of the Wisla Krakow jerseys, red with two blue stars on the chest. Over the years, one of the stars somehow disappeared and the blue color faded away, leaving the Wisla players with just one white star, which is now a symbol of the Krakow football team and can be seen anywhere around the city spray painted by the more eager of Wisla's fans. Also, Wisla Krakow is often referred to as the “Biala Gwiazda” (White Star) or, in a more military fashion, “Armia Bialej Gwiazdy” (“The Army of the White Star”).

See a Wisla Krakow Game

If you want to go to a Polish league football game, Krakow is perhaps the best place to do it. The Wisla Stadium is being renovated, as Krakow still hopes to host some games of the Euro 2012. Even though it has a capacity of over 30000 it is usually quite filled up (which happens rarely in Poland, the exceptions being Krakow and Poznan), and the team usually plays attractive, attacking football. The Wisla stadium is on 22 Reymonta Street, virtually in the city center, near the Blonia (and not too far from the Cracovia stadium). Tickets usually cost between 10 and 35 zloty and can be bought either in ticket offices around the Wisla stadium on the day of the game, or in the club shop “Wislacki Swiat” near the entrance to the B sector of the stadium. For safety reasons, you will need a photo ID to purchase the tickets.

The Wisla Stadium in Krakow

To get to the Wisla stadium, you can either take a bus (no. 103, 139, 144, 159, 173, 194, 208, 228, 501, 511 – get off on the “Kawiory” stop) or a tram (15, 18 – get off on the “Reymana” stop). If you're planning on going to a Wisla game straight from the Krakow Airport, the 208 bus will take you to the “Kawiory” stop.