“Dzień dobry”, and “witam” to the start of a new Football Manager 2024 series here on Fuller FM!
After a lengthy break, I am refreshed and raring to go for a new challenge that will hopefully last me for the rest of FM24’s life cycle. This challenge has taken me to Poland – the home of Robert Lewandowski, Marie Curie, The Witcher, and Nigel Farage’s plumber (probably).
“The Cracovian Chronicles” will follow the story of two sisters from Kraków as they set out to lead their local football club to glory. But before we meet them and their club, let’s have a closer look at their home city…
KRAKÓW: POLAND’S SECOND CITY
Kraków – also spelled Cracow or Cracovia – is the second-largest city in Poland. Home to around 800,000 people, it is situated in the south of the country, on the Wisła (Vistula) river.
Legend goes that the Polish prince Krakus slayed a man-eating dragon and built a city above its cave on Wawel Hill. This city grew into one of Central Europe’s busiest trading centres, and was the capital city of Poland for five centuries, until the King moved his court to Warszawa (Warsaw) in 1596.
In modern times, Kraków has often been cited as a beautiful and historically significant city. The medieval Old Town – which includes the Wawel Royal Castle (now an art museum) – is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Another significant landmark – especially to Poland’s predominantly Catholic population – is the nearly 1,000-year-old Wawel Cathedral, where many Polish monarchs were crowned until the country became a republic. The most famous Archbishop of Kraków was Karol Wojtyła, who held the post for 14 years until 1978, when he was given an even bigger job in the Vatican.
Kraków is also a major academic and artistic hub. The Jagiellonian University was established in 1364 by King Casimir the Great – making it one of Europe’s oldest universities – and houses the vast Jagiellonian Library.
Football is a huge passion for many people in Kraków, with its teams having won the Ekstraklasa – the top division of Polish men’s football – on a record 20 occasions. Two clubs in particular have dominated Kraków’s footballing landscape.
Wisła Kraków is historically one of Poland’s largest teams. They have won the Puchar Polski (the Polish Cup) four times – and the Ekstraklasa 14 times, including a run of eight championships between 1999 and 2011. Only the capital giants Legia Warszawa have won more league titles (15).
In recent times, though, the Biała Gwiazda (White Star) have been blighted by hooliganism and financial problems. They were relegated from the Ekstraklasa in 2022 and could not secure an instant return in 2023 – coming 4th in the I Liga and losing in the Playoff Semi Finals.
Cracovia were crowned as Poland’s first ever league champions in 1921 (the inaugural 1920 championship was abandoned due to war). They went on to win another four titles – their last coming in 1948. Even with the divine support of Pope John Paul II, the Pasy (Stripes) could not break out of Wisła’s shadow in subsequent decades.
Yet, in recent years, the tide has turned. Cracovia won the Puchar for the first time in 2020 and have been consistent members of the Ekstraklasa for a decade, finishing 7th in the 2022/2023 season.
Wisła and Cracovia were both founded in 1906, and contested their first Kraków derby two years later. Even with their stadiums less than a kilometre apart, there is an intense hatred between both sets of fans, and clashes often turn violent. It’s little wonder that this rivalry is known as the ‘Holy War’.
Those are not the only teams in the city. Garbarnia Kraków were league champions in 1931, while Wawel Kraków (2nd in 1953) and Hutnik Kraków (3rd in 1996) were also briefly in the Ekstraklasa’s upper echelons. All three clubs now play in the lower leagues.
But we are not here to talk about any of those teams. There is another club in Kraków who – after over 80 years in relative obscurity – are soaring through the lower leagues.
THE STORY OF WIECZYSTA KRAKÓW
Wieczysta Kraków was founded in 1942, during one of the darkest periods in Poland’s history. The country had been under German occupation for three years, and the Nazi regime in Kraków had banned locals from playing football. Eventually, the people of Wieczysta – a neighbourhood in the nearby village of Rakowice – decided to start a new club.
When peace returned to Poland, the Żółto-czarni (Yellow and Black) played in the regional leagues, often moving between the 4th and 5th tiers of the Polish pyramid. By 1969, however, they had been relegated to the 6th tier.
Though they worked their way back up to the 4th division (now the III Liga) in the 1990s, a steady decline left them down in in the 7th tier (Klasa A) by 2007. They were eventually promoted as champions of their group a decade later, and their rise to prominence was about to begin.
Wojciech Kwiecień is a millionaire businessman born and raised in Wieczysta who owns over 200 pharmacies across Poland. Kwiecień attempted to buy his boyhood club Wisła Kraków, but when that fell through, he invested in his local team instead. He completed his takeover of Wieczysta Kraków in June 2020, during the height of the COVID pandemic.
Kwiecień is essentially Poland’s answer to the erstwhile Ipswich owner Marcus Evans – a shrewd but secretive man who does not like having his photo taken. However, he has made no secret of his ambitions for Wieczysta. As soon as he had bought the club, he had wiped out their debts and began spending hundreds of thousands of złoty on building or renovating facilities.
Several big names – including former Wolves midfielder Sławomir Peszko – came in to deliver instant results on the pitch. In the 2020/2021 season, Wieczysta won all 28 of their league matches by an aggregate score of 216 goals to 8, sweeping into the 5th-tier IV Liga. They were promoted again with another title in 2021/2022, during which they also had a best-ever run to Round 2 (the last 32) of the Puchar.
Despite a high turnover of players and coaches, Wieczysta enjoyed a strong first season back in the III Liga – finishing 3rd in their group with the most goals scored. Unfortunately, only the champions go up, so they would have to wait at least another 12 months to secure a first-ever promotion to the national divisions.
For those unfamiliar with the Polish pyramid, the three national divisions are the Ekstraklasa, the I Liga, and the II Liga (all with 18 teams each). Below those, the III Liga is split into four regional groups (also with 18 teams apiece). Wieczysta play in Grupa IV, which covers the south-eastern provinces of Poland.
The Żółto-czarni are the overwhelming favourites to win Grupa IV and claim the sole promotion place. They are one of only five fully professional teams in a largely semi-pro league, and the only team with a ‘Secure’ financial status. They also have NINE players in the league’s dream XI.
Wieczysta play in the 1,384-capacity Chałupnika stadium, which was built in 1982 and renovated shortly after Kwiecień’s takeover. The ground is named after the pilot Kazimierz Chałupnik, who fought against the Nazi invasion in 1939 and was later imprisoned at Auschwitz.
The club’s training and youth facilities are not particularly great, even compared to lesser teams in their league. Yet the owner’s financial power gives them more potential to grow, especially if they can continue their rise up the pyramid.
Ahead of the 2023/2024 season, Kwiecień has made several more major signings, such as the ex-Poland internationals Jacek Góralski, Michał Pazdan and Rafał Pietrzak, and the Austrian midfielder Christoph Knasmüllner. He has also brought in a new-look coaching team with great ambitions of their own.
THE DEYNA SISTERS
In a city with such a fierce footballing rivalry as Kraków, there once was a love story that only Shakespeare and Swift could have written about. Engineer Krzysztof Deyna was a lifelong Wisła fan, and pharmacist Ilona Cieszyńska came from a staunch Cracovia family, yet they put sporting allegiances aside after falling for each other at university.
The couple would settle down in northern Kraków after marrying in 1990 and soon welcomed two daughters to their family. Kamila arrived in September 1992, followed a little over two years later by her younger sibling Joanna.
Football was naturally a huge passion for the Deyna sisters from the very start, though when it came to allegiances, their parents did not force them to choose between their own clubs. Mindful not to put two young girls through the hostile atmosphere of the ‘Holy War’, Krzysztof and Ilona instead took them to watch their local team Wieczysta Kraków every couple of weeks.
Both girls also played football at school, though Joanna was the more talented player. After starting her senior career at a local club, she went on to win four Polish league titles with Medyk Konin between 2014 and 2017. She was also called up to the Poland national team and earned a lucrative move to England, playing for Tottenham Hotspur in the Women’s Super League.
Joanna spent four years in North London and was highly regarded by her team-mates and peers. Sadly, she struggled with a recurring knee injury during her final season and returned to Poland in 2021. As her knee problem worsened, she decided to retire from playing in early 2023, at the age of just 28.
Meanwhile, elder sister Kamila had stayed in Kraków – following her mother’s career path by working in a pharmacy owned by Wojciech Kwiecień. She was also a part-time football coach, starting off at her old school. Wieczysta later hired Kamila to work with their youth teams while she studied for her first coaching badges with the PZPN (the Polish FA), and then her UEFA C Licence.
Kamila had long aspired to become a successful football coach, following in the footsteps of her idol Marit Enstad. At the end of the 2022/2023 season, Kwiecień offered Kamila the dream promotion to her dream job. She jumped at the opportunity and agreed to take it – on one condition.
And so, on 12 June 2023, Kamila Deyna was announced as the new manager of Wieczysta Kraków – assisted by younger sister Joanna, who was taking her first steps into coaching. While Polish football was still male-dominated, the Deynas were setting out to transform their sport – and their local team.
WHY WIECZYSTA?
This is not my first time managing in Poland. Back in late 2009, I started a save on Championship Manager 00/01 with Ruch Radzionków. Despite not being the most glamorous team in the Polish First Division, I led them to 5th place at the halfway stage of the first season. I would have likely continued the save had my childhood Viglen computer not died a few weeks later.
My plan for FM24 was to start a long-term save in the Swedish lower leagues. Then I dug through my old CM saves that had been retrieved from the Viglen’s hard drive and rediscovered my Ruch adventure. That made me realise I had unfinished business in Poland.
I was also partly inspired by Second Yellow Card’s annual Building A Nation series, where he takes over a club in a lesser European league, and then aims to build that club (and the league as a whole) into a major continental force. He has actually done this in Poland before, with Polonia Warszawa on FM19.
My save isn’t strictly a ‘Building A Nation’ challenge… but if I get far enough, I would like to do anything possible to push up the standard of the Polish league.
I have downloaded a Polish lower-league database which goes down to the 4th tier. Ruch Radzionków are now in the IV Liga and aren’t playable from the start, but I was intrigued when I noticedWieczysta in the III Liga. They have the same yellow-and-black colour scheme as Radzionków, and the story of a self-made millionaire building up his local team drew me towards them.
That’s not to say this will necessarily be a one-club save. Kamila’s initial goals are to lead Wieczysta to the II Liga and then the I Liga, but if the Ekstraklasa proves a step too far, she could move on – especially if either the Cracovia or Wisła job becomes available.
I just want to get as much enjoyment out of my new Polish adventure as possible – and hopefully tell a captivating tale while I’m at it. This will be my final blog story of this Football Manager era, and I’d love to go out with a bang.
Lastly, a bit of housekeeping. I am playing FM24 with the Winter Update database on the Original game mode, and have loaded 40 leagues from 20 European nations. There are around 103,000 players in the database, some of which have been generated to flesh out the lower-league teams. I always disable the first transfer window.
As well as that Polish database I mentioned above, I am using sortitoutsi’s Licensing and Real Name fixes, and most of the files from Daveincid’s Increase Realism megapack. I’ve made a few edits of my own to give Wieczysta some local rivalries and add Joanna Deyna to the database.
Finally, all monetary values throughout this story will be displayed in Euros. Poland still uses the złoty as its currency but is obliged to adopt the Euro at some point in the future.
Thank you for reading. Click here to read Chapter 1.
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