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| Full name | Fundacja Akademia GKS Bełchatów[1] | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Nicknames | Gieksa Brunatni (The Browns) Torfiarze (The Turfers) | ||
| Founded | 26 November 1977; 47 years ago (1977-11-26) | ||
| Ground | GIEKSA Arena | ||
| Capacity | 5,264 | ||
| Chairman | Jakub Rzeszowski | ||
| Manager | Radosław Pęciak | ||
| League | III liga, group I | ||
| 2024–25 | III liga, group I, 8th of 18 | ||
| Website | https://gksbelchatow.com.pl | ||
 Current season | |||
GKS Bełchatów[ɡʲɛkaˈɛsbɛwˈxatuf] is a Polish professionalfootball club based inBełchatów. The club currently competes in group I of theIII liga.[2]
GKS Bełchatów entered Poland'sKlasa A in 1977 under the name ofWęgiel Brunatny Bełchatów,[3] and gained promotion to theIII liga in the 1981–82 season.[3] It took the club another seven years to rise to theII liga (1986/1987 season), before winning a place in the top-tierI liga in 1992.[3] After another spell inII liga, the club again won promotion to theI liga at the end of the 2004–05 season. The club finished the 2005–06 season in 10th place, with 37 points.[4] The following season they challenged for the league title. After spending much of the latter part of the 2006–07 season in first place, they were ultimately overtaken byZagłębie Lubin and had to settle for second place.[5]
On 11 March 2022, the club, then playing in theII liga, withdrew from the league and did not start playing in the spring round. As a consequence, they were moved to the last place in the2021–22 season standings and their remaining matches being declared 0–3 forfeits for their opponents.[6] They declaredliquidation on 20 April 2022.[7] On 31 May 2022, theŁódź Football Association admitted its academy (Akademia GKS Bełchatów) as its continuator to the Łódź group of thefifth division for the 2022–23 season.[8]
The fans are calledTorfiorze (the "Turfers" in translation).[9] They have friendly relations with fans ofWisła Sandomierz.[10] Their biggest rivals are neighboursRKS Radomsko, and as Bełchatów is located in theŁódź Province, they also have rivalries with the two traditional well-establishedŁódź teams,ŁKS andWidzew.[10]
| Season | Competition | Round | Opponent | Home | Away | Aggregate | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007–08 | UEFA Cup | 1Q |  | Ameri Tbilisi | 2–0 | 0–2 | 2–2 (4–2pen) |
| 2Q |  | Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk | 2–4 | 1–1 | 3–5 |
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined underFIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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Players who have been capped at any time and/or have over 80 appearances for the club
Grzegorz BaranBartłomiej BartosiakJacek BerensztajnRafał BoguskiEdward CecotMateusz CetnarskiGrzegorz FonfaraŁukasz GargułaJanusz GolArtur GolańskiMikołaj GrzelakTomasz JarzębowskiMarcin KomorowskiKamil KosowskiRafał KosznikJacek KrzynówekMariusz KukiełkaPiotr KuklisŁukasz MadejPaweł MagdońMichał MakMaciej MałkowskiRadosław MatusiakFilip ModelskiDawid NowakArkadiusz PiechDariusz PietrasiakJacek PopekPatryk RachwałGrzegorz RasiakMarek RzepkaDariusz RzeźniczekŁukasz SapelaMaciej StolarczykMateusz SzymorekBartosz ŚlusarskiJakub TosikMariusz UjekMaciej WiluszŁukasz WrońskiTomasz WróbelMarcin ŻewłakowWłodzimierz Tylak (7 March 1992 – 20 June 1993)Wladysław Lach (1 July 1993 – 31 Aug 1995)Krzysztof Pawlak (1 Sept 1995 – 30 June 1996)Janusz Białek (27 July 1996 – 21 Sept 1996)Marek Pochopień (28 Sept 1996 – 31 Dec 1996)Bogusław Kaczmarek (5 March 1997 – 14 May 1997)Jerzy Wyrobek (17 May 1997 – 30 June 1998)Krzysztof Pawlak (1 July 1998 – 9 May 1999)Marek Pochopień (10 May 1999 – 30 June 1999)Orest Lenczyk (1999)Krzysztof Wolak (1999–2000)Ryszard Polak (2000)Jan Złomańczuk,Piotr Szarpak &Adam Mażysz (9 May 2000 – 22 April 2001)Józef Dankowski (2001)Krzysztof Tochel (Oct 2001 – 2 May 2002)Jacek Zieliński (11 June 2002 – 10 Sept 2002)Mariusz Kuras (11 Sept 2002 – 6 Oct 2005)Orest Lenczyk (10 Oct 2005 – 21 March 2008)Jan Złomańczuk(interim) (21 March 2008 – 21 May 2008)Paweł Janas (21 May 2008 – 3 Jan 2009)Rafał Ulatowski (2009 – 24 May 2010)Maciej Bartoszek (2 June 2010 – 17 June 2011)Paweł Janas (17 June 2011 – 31 Aug 2011)Kamil Kiereś (1 Sept 2011 – 25 Sept 2012)Jan Złomańczuk (25 Sept 2012 – 14 Nov 2012)Michał Probierz (14 Nov 2012 – 21 Dec 2012)Kamil Kiereś (9 Jan 2013 – 23 March 2015)Marek Zub (2015)Kamil Kiereś (21 May 2015 – 22 June 2015)Rafał Ulatowski (2015–2016) Krystian Kierach(interim) (2016) Andrzej Konwiński (2016)Mariusz Pawlak (2017–2018) Artur Derbin (2018–2020) Marcin Węglewski (2020–2021)Patryk Rachwał (25 June 2021 – 15 Nov 2021) Kamil Socha (2021–2022)Bogdan Jóźwiak (22 June 2022 – 27 April 2024)Patryk Rachwał(interim) (29 April 2024 – 13 June 2024) Artur Derbin (13 June 2024 – 5 Jan 2025)Patryk Rachwał (7 Jan 2025 – 9 June 2025)[11] Radosław Pęciak (17 June 2025 –present)[12]
