Raków Częstochowa

Częstochowa's club folded once before it ever won anything worth keeping. It stopped playing altogether in 1925 and came back two years later as RKS Raków, trading its original green and black for the red and blue it still wears. Registration under the current name, RKS Raków Częstochowa, followed in 1935, and for a stretch in the 1950s, tied to the local steelworks, the team played simply as Stal.

The strangest line in its history belongs to a side with no business reaching a national final. In 1966/67, while playing in the third tier, Raków fought its way to the Puchar Polski final and lost 0-2 to Wisła Kraków. The Ekstraklasa debut did not come until 30 July 1994, and it took three more decades for the name to mean much beyond the city.

That changed around 2022. Raków won the Puchar Polski in 2020/21 and 2021/22, then went one better in 2022/23 and took the Ekstraklasa title for the first time. Runner-up finishes bookended that championship, and the club was back in a cup final in 2025/26.

All of it plays out in front of 5,500 supporters at the Miejski Stadion Piłkarski Raków, briefly rebranded zondacrypto Arena between May 2025 and April 2026. Around the city the club goes by two nicknames at once: Czerwono-Niebiescy, the Red-Blues, and Medaliki — little medals.