The final round of matches in the Polish 1st football league was highly thrilling, although it didn’t produce any sensational outcomes. Ruch Chorzów players did what was expected of them and defeated GKS Tychy 1-0. With this victory, the Chorzów team joined ŁKS Łódź, who secured their promotion to the top division last Friday.
The crucial goal that sealed their promotion was scored by Daniel Szczepan, the top scorer for the “Blues,” with a powerful header in the 63rd minute. Szczepan has found the back of the net 14 times this season. After the match, Ruch’s coach, Jarosław Skrobacz, couldn’t hide his tears and struggled to respond to the journalists’ questions.
The 14-time champions of Poland suffered relegation from the top flight in 2017 and experienced two more subsequent demotions. In the 2020/21 season, they finished third in their third-tier group, then secured promotion to the 2nd league the following year, and finally reached the second division before this season. Their current promotion marks their third consecutive one.
On June 6th, the first leg of the promotion playoffs to the top division is scheduled to take place. Third-placed Bruk-Bet Termalica Nieciecza (61 points) will host sixth-placed Stal Rzeszów (51 points), while fourth-placed Wisła Kraków (60 points) will play at home against fifth-placed Puszcza Niepołomice (58 points).
The winners of these semifinals will face each other in the final on June 11th, at the stadium of the team that finished higher in the regular season table.
In the 34th round, Wisła secured a 3-0 away victory against Górnik Łęczna, Bruk-Bet Termalica triumphed 2-1 against Arka Gdynia at home, Puszcza suffered a 0-1 defeat against Chrobry Głogów, and thanks to Kamil Pajnowski’s goal in injury time, Stal won 2-1 against the already relegated Skra Częstochowa.
One of the biggest surprises of the season is Arka, who finished in eighth place (48 points). They were considered strong on paper and were initially regarded as one of the favorites for promotion to the top division.
Skra Częstochowa, Chojniczanka Chojnice, and Sandecja Nowy Sącz are relegated to the 2nd league.