Sport in Poland
As with many other European nations, football (soccer) is the most popular sport. The Polish National Football Team have had some success on the international stage. The team won the 1972 Olympic Football Tournament. They also finished third at the 1974 and 1982 FIFA World Cup.
boxing match at Ergo Arena, Gdańsk-Sopot, PolandSpeedway or Motorcycle speedway is another prominent sport in Poland. Involving well-skilled drivers, they ride a motorbike with only one gear and no brakes inside an oval track with dirt and loosely packed shale for four counter-clockwise laps. The sport became famous because of the success of their athletes like Tomasz Gollob who won eight times in the Polish Individual Championship, 10 times in the Polish Pairs Championship, and eight times in Polish Grand Prix.
Since the country is very popular with their speed racing it wouldn't be bad to hold an event with such relevance to the sport, only with more safety. Tour of Poland is a road bicycle racing first held in the year 1928. The race consists of seven to eight stages and usually 1,200 km in length. The first remarkable edition of the race was from September 7 to 11 of 1928. It was a 1,500 km race joined by 71 cyclists. In the Olympic Games, Poland has taken home 291 medals since they first participated in 1924 (as of 2014).
Palant, Kapela and Kulanie Kulotka are some of the traditional sports in Poland that haven’t been totally forgotten and replaced over time. Othe locally played sport are Pierścieniówka and Ringo. Palant is quite similar to baseball. The players hit the ball with a bat, runs to the finish line and back to the nest while the other team distracts the running player by hitting them with a ball.
Below are more details of sports, sporting events and sports people related to Poland.
Popular sports of Poland (see more)
- Football (Soccer), Motorsports, volleyball, ski jumping, track & field, basketball, boxing, fencing, rugby union, field hockey, handball, ice hockey, swimming and weightlifting
Traditional or Regional Sports
- Palant — a Polish sport lot of similarities to modern baseball played using a wooden stick and a rubber ball.
- Kapela - a throwing game originally played using a stack of stones
- Kulanie Kulotka - players roll a wooden disk with a stick in the shape of a board
- Pierścieniówka - similar to volleyball, but the ball is thrown through 3 holes in the net
- Ringo - players throw a small rubber ring back and forth over a net
Polish Sporting Success
- The Polish National Football Team won the 1972 Olympic Football Tournament. They also finished third at the 1974 and 1982 FIFA World Cup.
Famous Athletes from Poland
- Tomasz Gollob (motorcycle speedway)
- Robert Kubica (formula 1)
- Justyna Kowalczyk (cross-country skiing)
- Kamil Stoch (ski jumping)
- Jerzy Dudek (football)
- Grzegorz Lato (football)
Poland Sports trivia
- Polish born Stanisława Walasiewicz was the Olympic women's 100m champion in 1932. She set 18 world records over her athletics career, though to this day there are questions about her gender.
Poland at major events
- Poland at the Summer Olympics
- Poland at the Winter Olympics
- Poland at the FIFA World Cup
- Poland at the UEFA Euros
Past sporting events hosted in Poland
- 2014 FIVB World Championship (volleyball)
- 2017 World Games in Wroclaw
- 2012 Poland hosted the UEFA Euro in 2012 along with Ukraine.
- 2019 World Cycling Track Championships in Pruszków, Poland
- 2019 FIFA U-20 World Cup
- 2022 International Volleyball Federation Men's World Championship (co-hosted with Slovenia)
- 2023 European Games in Kraków, Poland
Upcoming sporting events in Poland
- 2026 20th IAAF World Indoor Athletics Championship, Toruń
Annual sporting events held in Poland
Sporting Facilities in Poland
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