ŁKS Łódź

ŁKS (Łódzki Klub Sportowy; Polish pronunciation: [ˌɛwkaˈɛs ˈwut͡ɕ]) is a Polish sports club that is owned by Łódź city council. They are best known for their football club, but are represented in many sports such as basketball, volleyball, tennis, athletics and in the past ice hockey. The club is based at Stadion LKS, at Al. Unii Lubelskiej 2 in the West of Łódź. The club was founded in 1908. The football section had since been sold to private investors as the city could no longer afford to support it.[1] After years of financial hardships, the club declared bankruptcy in May 2013.[2] and was re-founded by a partnership between fans and local investors in the fifth tier of the league pyramid.

For the women's basketball section of the club, see ŁKS Łódź (women's basketball).

ŁKS
Full nameŁódzki Klub Sportowy S.A.
Nickname(s)Rycerze wiosny (Knights of Spring)
Founded1908
GroundStadion ŁKS,
Łódź, Poland
Capacity5,700
ChairmanTomasz Salski
ManagerWojciech Stawowy
LeagueI liga
2019-20 Ekstraklasa16st (relegated)

Their nickname "Rycerze Wiosny" ("Knights of Spring") has been given to them due to their usually strong performance in the second round of the league, after Winter break.

Facilities
1936 ŁKS side.

In 2009 the new Atlas Arena[3][4] was completed adjacent to the football stadium. It is an indoor arena and has already hosted international events in basketball, volleyball and boxing.

The City council still intend to construct a brand new stadium on the site of the current football stadium. It was intended to be complete in time for UEFA Euro 2012, but now is expected to be finished in late 2013-early 2014. Although Łódź is not a Euro 2012 host city, it had been believed that a failure by Ukraine to be ready on time[5] would lead to Poland hosting the entire tournament on its own and therefore requiring more host cities. There were four Polish host cities (Warsaw, Gdańsk, Poznań and Wrocław) involved in hosting the tournament. It was envisioned the new stadium will hold approximately 34,000 seats, as required by UEFA.[6] Due to their rivalry, Widzew Łódź have ruled out using this new stadium and instead intend to rebuild their own stadium. Support for the project was undermined by the successful re-call of the Łódź city president in early 2010. The city has also announced a public auction for their stake in the club as they can no longer afford to cover the clubs loses. Owing to financial constraints and lack of demand from LKS fans, the stadium size was scaled down to 16,500 in 2012.[7][8]

As part of renovations, a new 3,000 seat arena was supposed to be built to complement the existing Atlas Arena. All work was expected to cost 218 million PLN.

All plans to provide the club with new facilities, however, have been abandoned as of 2013, due to financial constraints and the bankruptcy of the club in May 2013.[9]

Rivalries

The club has a fierce rivalry with cross-town club Widzew Łódź, with the derby match between the two clubs being intense both on and off the field. See Łódź derby

Achievements
The new ground

Current squad
As of 6 February 2020

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player
1 GK  POL Arkadiusz Malarz
2 DF  POL Jan Sobocinski
3 DF  POL Adrian Klimczak
4 DF  POL Artur Bogusz
5 DF  POL Maciej Dabrowski
6 MF  POL Maciej Wolski
8 DF  POL Kamil Rozmus
9 FW  ESP Samuel Corral
10 FW  ESP Antonio Domínguez
14 MF  POR Guima
15 MF  POL Artur Sojka
16 MF  POL Adam Ratajczyk
No. Pos. Nation Player
17 DF  ESP Carlos Gracia
19 MF  POL Michal Trąbka
20 MF  ESP Pirulo
21 DF  POL Jan Grzesik
22 FW  POL Łukasz Sekulski
26 MF  POL Przemyslaw Sajdak
28 MF  POL Łukasz Piątek
29 DF  POL Maksymilian Rozwandowicz
33 GK  POL Dominik Budzyński
42 MF  SRB Dragoljub Srnić
88 FW  POL Rafał Kujawa
92 DF  SVN Tadej Vidmajer
99 FW  POL Jakub Wróbel

ŁKS in Europe
The old ground
Season Competition Round Club Score
1959–60 European Cup Q Jeunesse Esch 0–5, 2–1
1994–95 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup 1R Porto 0–2, 0–1
1996 UEFA Intertoto Cup GR KAMAZ 0–3
Spartak Varna 1–1
1860 Munich 0–5
Kaučuk Opava 0–3
1998–99 UEFA Champions League 1Q Kapaz 4–1, 3–1
2Q Manchester United 0–2, 0–0
UEFA Cup 1R Monaco 1–3, 0–0

Managers

Notable former players
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See also

References
  1. "Nowy ŁKS idzie na przetarg. I do pierwszej ligi". Lodz.gazeta.pl (in Polish). Retrieved 24 February 2017.
  3. "AtlasArena Łódź – Home". Atlasarena.pl. Retrieved 24 February 2017.
  5. Dampf, Andrew (29 October 2009). "Ukraine still risks losing Euro 2012". Usatoday.Com. Retrieved 24 February 2017.
  7. "Nowy stadion ŁKS Łódź – WIZUALIZACJA – SE.pl". Gwizdek24.se.pl. 23 December 2011. Retrieved 24 February 2017.
  8. "W czerwcu przetarg na budowę stadionu ŁKS-u – Sport – WP.PL". Sport. Retrieved 24 February 2017.
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