Old meets new in the Czestochowa fairytale
How an e-commerce millionaire and his coach propped up modest Silesian club Raków to dream about the championship at its centenary year.
Almost a month after the Christmas and New Year interruption, the Polish Ekstraklasa restarts tomorrow as competitive as ever, with the top three teams separated by one point only. Legia Warszawa leads the pack, as it would be expected, once they won six of the last ten editions of the League, but much of the neutral attention turns to modest Raków Czestochowa, a Silesian club that enters its centenary year with yet undisclosed desires of becoming Polish champions. Its’ story is a wonderful fairytale of new meeting old and of overachievement based on a modern and innovative structure led by a local e-commerce millionaire and put in practice by a until then unexperienced coach. Michal Swierczewski, the 43 years old creator of x-Kom, bought Raków in 2015 and, in six years – five of them with coach Marek Papszun in charge –, the club made it through from the third tier League Two to the top of the elite Ekstraklasa.
“In the past I had no such problems, but this season I started to get a little nervous”, said Swierczewski, a local lad with a strong passion for technology, sports and video-gaming. He studied computer science in the Czestochowa University and, on his final year, in 2002, joined his buddies to create x-Kom, a company that would become one of the largest e-stores in Poland. By that time, Raków was playing in the fourth tier of Polish football. They had recently been on the top flight but had dropped to the Silesian regional competitions, once they were unable to keep the standards. Founded in 1921, the club was later dissolved until the end of World War Two by lack of registration within the district Federation, but reentered its path in the sixties. In 1967, being a modest Third Division team, they played the Polish Cup final, in Kielce, against Wisla Krakow, forcing the favorites to extra-time but finally losing (0-2). Raków played the top division for the first time in 1994/95, getting three mid-table positions before being relegated once again, in 1998. That’s when they displayed players such as future international Jacek Krzynówek. Other famous alumni of Raków is Jakub ‘Kuba’ Blaszczykowski, even if after being with the club at youth level, he ended up playing for city rivals Stradom.
The way down for Raków was fast forward. In 2000 they were relegated to the third tier of Polish football. In 2001 came yet another relegation. And then x-Kom’s support showed up. First, in 2011, after the club was turned into a joint-stock company, they became sponsors, finding the team sitting on the bottom half of the table of League Two. Then, in January 2015, Swierczewski bought the majority of club shares and aimed to the top. “I like to compete both in sports as in business. And I like winning everywhere”, he said. The team got a fourth place on his first season as owner. Not enough. Improvement was mandatory, so Raków’s structure started recruiting. They got resumés and conducted interviews to candidates to positions such as club president or coach. And in came Marek Papszun, who had previously coached amateur team Swit Nowy Swor. Papszun arrived in April 2016 and led the team upwards until where they are now, clinching promotion to League One in 2017 and to the Ekstraklasa in 2019, one year ahead of plan. “We are ready, both organisationally as financially, to stay in League One”, said Swierczewski in 2017. “We plan to join the fight for promotion on the third season”, he added, meaning they would try to clinch it in 2019/20. But sometimes things go faster than expected.
Papszun’s success was overwhelming and, him being just 46 years old, it was with no surprise that his name was cited amongst the possibilities to replace Jerzy Brzeczek as Polish national team coach. The job fell to Portuguese Paulo Sousa instead and Swierczewski was more than relieved. “We were a bit afraid of what would’ve happened if the coach were to leave. It would cause us a lot of trouble at this point, as it is difficult to find a good replacement”, said the club owner, who still has to change his objectives for the year the club will celebrate its centenary. For the moment, all they admit is that they are willing to improve the club’s best positioning in the Ekstraklasa, the eighth spot attained in 1996. But they could even have celebrated Christmas in first place, had they succeeded to beat Piast Gliwice away from home in 2020’s last game. Instead, all they got from that evening was a 0-0 draw, allowing them to move within one point of Legia Warszawa, who two days prior had lost at home to Stal Mielec (2-3). Raków, who were only 11th in last season’s Ekstraklasa, now face two crucial games in order to understand how high can they fly: tomorrow’s restart of the League, at “home” to third placed Pogon Szczecin (20h30 CET) and then on February 6th, away to leaders Legia, in Warsaw.
The market laws
It would help Raków to have their own stadium usable, but for the moment they play their home matches at 75kms away Belchatów’s Gieksa Arena, as the club facilities are under renovation and should not be ready until next spring. Coach Papszun, anyway, prefers not to focus on that, looking instead to the unique opportunity he is being given, as this group of players may be destroyed by the end of the League. Swierzczewski already stated that his aim is not profit, but there are things no-one can control. “An investment in a club comes from a combination of passion with the realisation of a dream. Only three Ekstraklasa clubs make money. The remaining are unprofitable and subsidised. I never assumed that I would make money out of Raków. I just want the club to be a sporting showcase of Czestochowa”, he said. So: no pressure to sell. But the market can be very imposing, with players being linked with powerful clubs abroad, as it is happening right now with young (20 years old) central defender Kamil Piatkowski, who is said to be coveted in Italy by Milan, Udinese and Atalanta. Some are already speculating about a five million euros move that would allow the player to continue at Czestochowa until the end of the season.
“We have a strong squad, with a couple of solutions for every position. But it will be difficult to keep everyone in the summer”, Papszun realized. “Our players are getting inquiries all the time”, he added, after letting four of them go in the current transfer window. And if Croat defender Petar Mamic and young Polish forward Mateusz Kaczmarek were yet to play one single minute this season, goalkeeper Jakub Szumski and left sided defender Maciej Wilusz were frequently used in the team. The keeper left to Turkish club Erzurumspor for 100 thousand euros, while Wilusz, a Polish international, was sent on loan to his native club, Slask Wroclaw, whom he had left as a youngster to try his luck in the Netherlands. At 32 years old, he felt it was time to go back home.
You shouldn’t feel sorry for Marek Papszun, anyway, as Raków got what seem to be good replacements. In goal, Slovak Branislav Pindroch, who was already played in the last matches before the Christmas break, now has the competition of his fellow countryman Dominik Holec, who arrives on loan from Sparta Praha. And, even if Wilusz was already losing his position to Petr Schwarz, Raków still ensured the signing of 26 years old Polish international defender Jaroslaw Jach, who was at the club for last season and returns on loan from Crystal Palace. Just three years ago, the London based club paid 2,75 million euros for the player, who was shining at Zaglebie Lubin and had been called to the national team by Adam Nawalka. “I am excited and have the highest of hopes on this return to Raków”, Jach said. “Apart from celebrating the centenary, I hope that we will accomplish an historical place in the Ekstraklasa table”, he wished, knowing he will probably remake the back three from last season with young Piatkowski and team captain Tomas Petrasek, one of the only two players remaining from the team Papszun found on his arrival, in 2016 – the other being veteran midfielder Piotr Malinowski.
Looking for talented youngsters
The point is Raków is always looking for young talent, as they have shown when signing 16 years old Ivo Kaczmarski from Korona Kielce for 350 thousand euros, plus 10 percent on any future transfer. A naturally gifted midfielder, whom much say already possesses the maturity of a veteran, Kaczmarski played the first time for Korona last June, not being able to help the team to avoid relegation in the last few rounds of the Ekstraklasa, but has been a full time member of their midfield in current League One and may be yet another option for Marek Papszun at the heart of his preferred 3x4x3 formation.
With Croat Fran Tudor – signed for free after being released by Hajduk Split, one year ago – at the right flank, and Polish Patryk Kun on the other side, Raków is depending on the scoring capacities of striker Vladislavs Gutovskis, a Latvian international who came in last summer from League One team Termalica Nieciecza and has five League goals to his name. As many as Spanish winger Ivi López, who was signed last summer on a free transfer from Levante UD, after one year on loan to SD Huesca and, later, Ponferradina. Ivi had a sudden impact on the Ekstraklasa but faded as the winter became more demanding in Poland. And one more than Slovenian international forward David Tijanic, who generally plays alongside Ivi or Cebula in support of the striker. A lot of reasons for Czestochowa fans to believe they can go all the way and become the 19th club to win the Polish League, returning the honor to Silesia, after the surprise win by Piast Gliwice in 2019. “I am not quite coping with the stress at this moment”, jokes Michal Szierczewski. And even if the boss claims that whatever he enters he intends to win, no-one could really see this coming.
Great :)