Warta Sieradz

Maciej Mielcarz spent seven years between the posts at Stadion MOSiR. Łukasz Mitek's stay ran longer still: sixteen years on the pitch from 2004, more than a hundred goals scored along the way.

The club traces itself back to 1945, but the version that plays today was formed on 24 February 1957, when four local sides — Gwardia, Sparta, Start and Włókniarz — merged into one under first president Józef Wojtanka. It took legal personality that August.

Warta has spent most of its life in the lower tiers of Polish football, III Liga and IV Liga. It came closest to something bigger in the cup itself: in 1978/79 it beat Śląsk Wrocław 2-1 to reach the round of eight, and in 2005/06 it knocked out Widzew Łódź 3-2 on the way to the round of sixteen. Promotion has come twice through winning the Łódź Group of IV Liga, in 2016/17 and again in 2021/22, though the first of those spells in III Liga ended in relegation the following year. The academy holds Silver status with the Polish Football Association, and matches against Pogoń Zduńska Wola are still spoken of locally as the regional derby.

None of it has needed a large ground. Stadion MOSiR w Sieradzu, on ulica Sportowa, holds 1,384 spectators — 940 on the north stand, 444 on the south — enough for a club whose colours, green and white, gave it the nickname Biało-zieloni long before any of these results were on the books.