Śląsk Wrocław II

Between 2007 and 2013 its job was handed to a competition for under-21s, Młoda Ekstraklasa, and when that tournament was scrapped the Wrocław reserves had to start again from the amateur divisions.

What followed was a debut in the II liga, East group, in the 2020/21 season — the ceiling for a team of this kind, since reserve sides in Poland are barred from the I liga.

Home is Stadion Oporowska, on Oporowska street, a training base rather than a showpiece — the first team plays across the city at Tarczyński Arena. Fixtures against Lower Silesian neighbours, among them Górnik Polkowice and Zagłębie II Lubin, get called Małe Derby, the small derbies of Lower Silesia, which is as close as the reserves come to a rivalry of their own.

The squad is not an academy production line so much as a waiting room. First-team players drop down here to find their legs again; Fabian Piasecki and Mariusz Pawelec both turned out in blue and white at this level between assignments with the senior side.