Poland: Ekstraklasa 2010/11 Season Preview – part 1

Just Football’s Polish football correspondent Adam K is back after a summer off to assess the new season of the Polish Ekstraklasa, which kicks off this week. Here he predicts how the competition will pan out and analyses the teams to watch.

The 77th edition of the Polish Ekstraklasa is set to kick off this Friday. After a poor start by Polish clubs in European competitions, fans from Poland and around the world are expecting a more exciting season week in and week out.

Who will win the league?

Legia Warszawa – First of all, I’m not a Legia Warszawa fan. Legia was the busiest Ekstraklasa club this off-season, searching for new players to improve the team after a disappointing fourth place last season. But this season is a new season with a new head coach, Maciej Skorża, a man that knows how to win, and new players. As July 1st hit the calendar and the transfer window opened, Legia brought in five new foreign players.

One of those players is Bruno Mezenga from Flamengo. A few years ago, the 21-year-old Mezenga was considered the next Adriano after making his Flamengo debut at just 16. One problem Legia still face is the goalkeeper situation. This summer, the best keeper in the Ekstraklasa over the last few years, Jan Mucha left for Everton.

Legia brought in 21-year-old Croatian keeper Marijan Antolovic who has struggled  during pre-season. Legia also brought in Alejandro Cabral, Ivica Vrdoljak and Portuguese midfielder Manu to help out what was a struggling midfield. In my opinion, Legia is going to have a strong season after all their acquisitions this off-season.

Who are the rest of the top 5?

Lech Poznan – Not a busy summer for the Polish champions but improved the team with Joel Tshibamba, Jacek Kielb and former Polish star Artur Wichniarek. Best player in Ekstraklasa for the past two seasons Robert Lewandowski left for German side Borussia Dortmund. Last season, Lech was the best team but they also had elements of luck in winning the Ekstraklasa title. I don’t see Lech repeating it this season.

Wisla Krakow – Wisla has some big holes in their defense after Marcelo, Arkadiusz Glowacki and Pablo Alvarez left the team. Erick Cikos is quite good at right back but the central part of the defense looks unsatisfactory. Cleber is old, Gordan Bunoza gets red carded in his first match and can Mateusz Kowalski perform consistently over a whole season? The only player that I’m looking forward to seeing on the field is Andres Rios. And Maciej Zurawski isn’t the same old Magic Zurawski he was six years ago.

Jagiellonia Bialystok – If Jagiellonia hadn’t been deducted ten points at the start of the 2009–10 season due to their part in a corruption scandal, they would have finished 6th instead of 11th. In their recent Europa League qualifier first leg against Aris, I was really impressed by Jaga’s game despite the 2-1 defeat. They also wrapped up their first trophy of the season after defeating Lech Poznan in the Polish Super Cup last Sunday. Just a reminder, everyone watch out for 20-year old midfielder Tomasz Kupisz. Kupisz came to Jaga from English side Wigan this off-season and I promise he’s going to make some noise. If striker Kamil Grosicki doesn’t leave Jaga during the transfer window, which I hope he doesn’t, watch out for the Bialystok outfit in this season’s Ekstraklasa.

GKS Belchatow – After a strong fifth place finish last season, GKS also had an impressing summer. They signed former Polish international striker Marcin Zewlakow. Dawid Nowak and Mateusz Cetnarski will begin the season injured but watch out for Belchatow when those two Polish internationals return to the starting lineup.

Who will get relegated?

Arka Gdynia – Last season, Arka escaped relegation by the skin of their teeth, a single point separating them from relegated Odra Wodzislaw and Piast Gliwice. After losing star player Joel Tshibamba to Lech Poznan, I don’t see Arka competing to stay in the Ekstraklasa.

Polonia Bytom – After a 7th place finish last season, I see an impending slump for Polonia Bytom and them struggling to stay for another season in the EK. No movement during the summer wont help them stay in the now tougher Ekstraklasa.

Part two of the Ekstraklasa preview will be released in the upcoming days!

(pic via mattromanow on Flickr)

Europe, Lech Poznan, Legia Warszawa, Poland, Polish Ekstraklasa