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| Full name | Klub Piłki Siatkowej Skra Bełchatów Spółka Akcyjna | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Nickname | Pszczoły (The Bees) | ||
| Founded | 1930 (club) 1957 (volleyball team) | ||
| Ground | Hala Energia (Capacity: 2,700) | ||
| Chairman | Michał Bąkiewicz | ||
| Manager | Krzysztof Stelmach | ||
| Captain | Grzegorz Łomacz | ||
| League | PlusLiga | ||
| 2024–25 | 7th place | ||
| Website | Club home page | ||
| Uniforms | |||
| |||
Skra Bełchatów, competing for sponsorship reasons asPGE GiEK Skra Bełchatów and officially calledKPS Skra Bełchatów SA, is a professional men'svolleyball club based inBełchatów in centralPoland, founded in 1957. They compete in the PolishPlusLiga. Skra Bełchatów is the most successful PlusLiga club based on the total number of league titles (9).[1]
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Robotniczy Klub Sportowy (Workers Sports Club)Skra was founded in 1930 inBełchatów. Initially, it was a football club. In 1957, a volleyball section was created although it celebrated its biggest successes during the 21st century. In 1977, the football section was separated from the club and transformed intoGKS Bełchatów.[2] In 1991Bełchatów Power Station became the main sponsor of Skra and the club changed its name toEnergetyczny Klub Sportowy (Energetic Sports Club)Skra. In 1994, the club advanced to the 2nd Polish Volleyball League and in 1997 to the 1st League "B" series. In 1999, they were promoted to "A" series, but after a year they fell back down to "B" series again.
In 2001, the club led byWiesław Czaja was promoted to the highest level of thePolish Volleyball League. In their first season there –2001/2002 – the team achieved a bronze medal of the Polish Championship, defeatingJastrzębski Węgiel after three matches. During the2002/2003 seasonSkra took 6th place in the league, and lost in the second round of theCEV Cup in a match against Russian club Lokomotiv Yekaterinburg.
In 2003, Ireneusz Mazur became a new head coach of the team. During the2003/2004 season the club was close to achieving its next medal.Skra lost toAZS Częstochowa after five matches. The team was also defeated in the final match of the Polish Cup byPłomień Sosnowiec. It was during the2004/2005 season that the winning streak forSkra began. The club won its first title of the Polish Champion after three matches withAZS Olsztyn, and also achieved its first Polish Cup after the final match with the same club (3–1). The team repeated that success in the next season, when they won their second title of the Polish Champion in four final matches withJastrzębski Węgiel, and also the Polish Cup for the second year in a row (winning final match withAZS Częstochowa (3–0)). They lost two matches against the Greek teamIraklis Thessaloniki in the Playoff 6 of the2005–06 CEV Champions League.
In 2006,Daniel Castellani became the new head coach. Significantly, he is the first coach of the club from outside Poland. He spent three seasons inBełchatów. During his workPGE Skra won next three titles of the Polish Champion (2007,2008,2009) and two Polish Cups (2007, 2009). In 2008PGE Skra played as a host in the2007–08 CEV Champions League Final Four held atHala MOSiR in Łódź. On 29 March 2008 the team lost the semifinal against the Russian clubDynamo Tattransgaz Kazan (2–3). On the next day,PGE Skra players won a bronze medal in a match with the Italian teamSisley Treviso (3–2).
In 2009,Jacek Nawrocki became the new head coach. The first success under his guidance was the silver medal at the2009 FIVB Club World Championship. At this tournament, after being promoted from Pool B,PGE Skra won their semifinal againstZenit Kazan (3–1), but on 8 November 2009 the Polish club lost the final againstTrentino Volley (0–3). Two out of seven individual awards were received byPGE Skra players:Bartosz Kurek was named theBest scorer,Marcin Możdżonek, theBest blocker. In 2010, the Polish team was once again chosen as a host of theCEV Champions League Final Four.Skra lost the semifinal againstDynamo Moscow, and won a bronze medal in a match againstACH Volley Bled.Mariusz Wlazły was named theBest scorer of the Final Four tournament. In the2009–10 PlusLiga season, the club won its sixth title of the Polish Championship.
PGE Skra won the silver medal at the2010 FIVB Club World Championship on 21 December. The team once again lost toTrentino Volley (1–3) in the final. During the2010/2011 season, the Polish club won its seventh title of the Polish Championship and fifth Polish Cup. In the2010–11 CEV Champions League, the team made it to the Playoff 6 stage where Skra lost to the Russian clubZenit Kazan (2–3, 3–1) in the golden set (11–15).
The first trophy won by Skra in 2012, was the sixth Polish Cup in the history of the club. On 18 March 2012PGE Skra achieved a silver medal of the2011–12 CEV Champions League. They won a match againstArkas İzmir in the semifinal, but lost in the final to theZenit Kazan from Russia in the Final Four held atAtlas Arena in Łódź, Poland.[3] The final match ended controversially, with the Serbian referee Dejan Jovanović not seeing the block of the Russian player, whereby the match ended despite that the audience and all the players saw the touch on a screen.[4]PGE Skra players received three out of eight individual awards.Michał Winiarski was named theBest receiver, the award for theBest spiker was received byBartosz Kurek, and the title of theMost valuable player was garnered by the team captainMariusz Wlazły.[5] In the2011–12 PlusLiga season, the club lost in the final of the Polish Championship toAsseco Resovia, and achieved silver medals. That defeat ended seven seasons of Skra dominance inPlusLiga. On 18 October,PGE Skra lost the semifinal of the2012 FIVB Club World Championship withSada Cruzeiro (2–3). On the next day, the Polish team won a bronze medal in their match withZenit Kazan (3–2). The oppositeAleksandar Atanasijević was awarded theBest scorer of the tournament. In the2012–13 PlusLiga season, the club took fifth place, and was eliminated from the2012–13 CEV Champions League byArkas İzmir.
In 2013 a former setter of the club,Miguel Ángel Falasca, returned to the club fromBełchatów, this time as the club's new head coach. During the2013–14 PlusLiga seasonPGE Skra competed in theCEV Cup, reaching the semifinal, in which they lost to theRussian club Gubierniya Nizhny Novgorod (2–3, 2–3).[6] On 24 October 2013 one of the players –Stéphane Antiga – signed a contract with the Polish Volleyball Federation and became a new head coach of thePolish national team. For the first time in history of the Polish national team, the current coach was an active player. In the2013–14 PlusLiga seasonPGE Skra won its 8th title of the Polish Champion.[7]
On 8 October 2014PGE Skra as the Polish Champion played againstZAKSA Kędzierzyn-Koźle (winner of the Polish Cup) for thePolish SuperCup.PGE Skra won 3–1 atArena Poznań inPoznań.[8]Facundo Conte was awarded a title of theMost valuable player of the tournament.[9] In the2014–15 PlusLiga season PGE Skra was playing in the2014–15 CEV Champions League. They won all the matches in Pool F with a perfect record, winning 18 and losing only 2 sets along the way.[10] In the Playoff 12 Skra beat theItalian clubCucine Lube Treia (3–0) inMacerata and (3–1) atAtlas Arena,Łódź.[11][12] They advanced to the Playoff 6, where they met with theItalian clubSir Safety Perugia. PGE Skra lost its first match with the Italian team (2–3) and gained 1 point. In a revenge match, on 11 March 2015 atAtlas Arena,Łódź PGE Skra Bełchatów beatSir Safety Perugia (3–1), gained 3 points and advanced to the Final Four, which was held inBerlin.[13] They played with another Polish team in the competition -Asseco Resovia and for the first time in history two Polish teams were playing in the semifinal of theCEV Champions League Final Four.[14] Skra lost the semifinal to Resovia and the match for third place on the next day toBerlin Recycling Volleys and did not achieve any medal. On 6 May 2015 Skra won a bronze medal of thePolish Championship after winning matches withJastrzębski Węgiel.[15]
On 7 February 2016 PGE Skra won thePolish Cup (beatZAKSA Kędzierzyn-Koźle 3–2 in the final).[16] The team received four individual awards:Conte was theBest receiver,Lisinac was theBest blocker,Wlazły was theBest opposite spiker andMost valuable player of the tournament. During the final withZAKSA, the captainMariusz Wlazły has been injured during the tie–break. Skra was eliminated from the2015–16 CEV Champions League in the Playoff 6 byZenit Kazan (first match 3–2, second 0–3). After the failure, the head coachMiguel Ángel Falasca has been dismissed. The decision was announced on 28 March 2016.[17] The management of Skra also announced that the duties of the head coach to the end of the 2015/16 season were taken over by Falasca's assistant Italian Fabio Storti, but on the next day the club signed a contract with a new head coach –Philippe Blain.[18] On 7 February 2016 PGE Skra won the Polish Cup after beatingZAKSA in the final.[19] In April 2016 the team won a bronze medal of the2015–16 PlusLiga.[20]
Before the2016–17 PlusLiga season a few significant changes took place in the line–up. One of the team leaders –Facundo Conte, left the club after 3 years spent in Bełchatów, and in the same time two young Polish players joined the team –Bartosz Bednorz, andArtur Szalpuk.[21][22][23] Skra ended the season in 2nd place, reached the final of thePolish Cup, and made its eleventh appearance in theCEV Champions League (defeat withCucine Lube Civitanova in the Playoff 12) (1–3, 3–2).[24][25]
WithRoberto Piazza at the helm of the team,Michał Winiarski as an assistant coach,Milad Ebadipour (the firstIranian player inPlusLiga) andGrzegorz Łomacz (replacedNicolás Uriarte), Skra won its 9thPolish Championship.[26][27][28][29] The club took 4th place in theFIVB Club World Championship and lost toCucine Lube Civitanova in the Playoff 12 of the2017–18 CEV Champions League (2–3, 0–3).[30][31]Srećko Lisinac left the team after the season.[32]
The next year was marked with the worst result in the last 16 years – 6th place after the2018–19 PlusLiga season, but on the other hand a victory in thePolish SuperCup.[33] In theCEV Champions League, Skra once again lost toCucine Lube Civitanova, this time in the semifinals (0–3, 0–3).[34] After the season,Roberto Piazza was succeeded by a young Polish coachMichał Mieszko Gogol.[35]
In the2019–20 PlusLiga season, ended prematurely due toCOVID-19 pandemic, Bełchatów with 17 victories and 7 defeats, ended the season in 3rd place. The league management decided not to award the clubs with medals.[36] The club's icon,Mariusz Wlazły, announced his departure after 17 years spent playing in Bełchatów.[37] During the transfer period, the club acquired, among others, an American outside hitterTaylor Sander, andBartosz Filipiak fromTrefl Gdańsk.[38]Mateusz Bieniek was sent on loan to Skra fromCucine Lube Civitanova.[39]
As of2025–26 season[40]
| No. | Name | Date of birth | Position | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Zouheir El Graoui | (1994-07-01)1 July 1994 (age 31) | outside hitter | |
| 3 |  Maksym Kędzierski | (2003-03-13)13 March 2003 (age 22) | libero | |
| 4 |  Alan Souza | (1994-03-21)21 March 1994 (age 31) | opposite | |
| 5 | Arkadiusz Żakieta | (1992-10-13)13 October 1992 (age 33) | opposite | |
| 7 | Bartłomiej Lemański | (1996-03-19)19 March 1996 (age 29) | middle blocker | |
| 9 | Łukasz Wiśniewski | (1989-02-03)3 February 1989 (age 36) | middle blocker | |
| 11 |  Antoine Pothron | (2002-03-05)5 March 2002 (age 23) | outside hitter | |
| 12 | Grzegorz Łomacz | (1987-10-01)1 October 1987 (age 38) | setter | |
| 15 | Michał Szalacha | (1994-01-15)15 January 1994 (age 31) | middle blocker | |
| 16 | Mateusz Nowak | (2004-02-29)29 February 2004 (age 21) | middle blocker | |
| 17 | Bartosz Krzysiek | (1990-02-19)19 February 1990 (age 35) | opposite | |
| 20 | Kamil Szymura | (1999-01-24)24 January 1999 (age 26) | libero | |
| 22 | Kajetan Kubicki | (2003-02-09)9 February 2003 (age 22) | setter | |
| 29 | Kamil Szymendera | (2003-04-30)30 April 2003 (age 22) | outside hitter | |
| 99 |  Daniel Chiţigoi | (2005-03-10)10 March 2005 (age 20) | outside hitter | |
| Head coach: | Krzysztof Stelmach | |||
| No. | Name | Position |
|---|---|---|
| 2 | Mariusz Wlazły[41] | opposite |
| 6 | Karol Kłos[42] | middle blocker |
| 10 |  Miguel Ángel Falasca[43] | setter |
|
|
| Years | Name |
|---|---|
| 1957–1991 | RKS Skra Bełchatów |
| 1991–2004 | EKS Skra Bełchatów |
| 2004–2005 | KPS Skra Bełchatów |
| 2005–2007 | BOT Skra Bełchatów |
| 2007–2023 | PGE Skra Bełchatów |
| 2023–present | PGE GiEK Skra Bełchatów |
