GKS 71 Tychy
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| Full name | Górniczy Klub Sportowy Tychy |
|---|---|
| Founded | 20 April 1971 |
| Ground |
Tychy City Stadium, Ulica Edukacji 7, 43-100 Tychy |
| Capacity | 15,150 |
| Chairman |
 Grzegorz Bednarski |
| Manager | Yuriy Shatalov |
| League | I liga |
| 2015–16 II Liga | 3rd (promoted) |
| Website | Club home page |
Górniczy Klub Sportowy Tychy is a Polish professional football club, based in Tychy, Poland, that plays in the Polish II Liga. The club was founded on 20 April 1971. It played in the Ekstraklasa between 1974–1977. The biggest success of GKS Tychy was the 2nd place in the 1975/76 season of the Ekstraklasa, behind Stal Mielec. As a result, the team played in the UEFA Cup 1976-77, losing to 1. FC Koln.
The history of GKS Tychy dates back to April 20, 1971, when the government of the county of Tychy, together with Communist party activists (PZPR), decided to form a powerful sports organization. As a result of the merger of Polonia Tychy, Gornik Wesola and Gornik Murcki, a strong, multi-department sports club was formed, with football and ice-hockey as its major departments. Before the creation of GKS Tychy, ice-hockey players of Gornik Murcki had twice won the Cup of Poland (1967 and 1971).
The decision to merge the teams from Murcki and Wesola was not welcomed by members of local comminities, who wanted to keep their organizations. The Tychy County government did not care about these concerns, as the plan was to form a strong club, with top class athletes. GKS Tychy was financially supported by local coal mines, from Tychy, Ledziny, Wesola and Bieruń. A new, 20,000 stadium was built, together with a swimming pool and ice-skating rink. By 1973, GKS Tychy had over 600 athletes in seven departments, including football, ice-hockey, wrestling, and track and field.
Two years after its creation, the football team of GKS Tychy won promotion to the second level of Polish football tier, and in early summer of 1974, the team was promoted to Ekstraklasa. With its topscorer Roman Ogaza, Tychy in August 1974 debuted in Ekstraklasa, in a 1-1 game vs. Lech Poznan. In 1975–76 Ekstraklasa, GKS Tychy finished second, after Polish champion Stal Mielec, and in the UEFA Cup, it played against West German side 1. FC Koeln. In the first leg, in Cologne (September 15, 1976), Tychy lost 0-2. In the second leg, which took place on September 29, 1976 at Silesian Stadium in Chorzow, Polish team tied 1-1, after a goal by Roman Ogaza. Ogaza himself was a member of Polish football team, which won silver in the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, becoming the first athlete in the history of Tychy to win an olympic medal.
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