Stal Mielec

Mielec is a town in south-eastern Poland.

Nothing since has come close to that decade.

The ground carries the name of Grzegorz Lato, and it is smaller now than the club that filled it. The rebuild between 2011 and 2013 cut the capacity from 22,000 to under 7,000 — the old bowl replaced by a compact stadium that seats a fraction of the crowds who watched the title sides. Locals still call it Stadion Stali Mielec.

The years between were spent working back up through the divisions. Stal took the third tier in 2013, then the second in 2016, the last of three second-tier titles stretched across six decades: 1955, 1969, 2016. Earlier there were the I liga wins of 1960, 1985 and 1988, when that division sat at the top of the Polish game.

Supporters have never settled on one name for the side. Officially they are the Biało-Niebiescy, after the white and blue; around the town you also hear Chłopcy ze Stali, the boys of steel, and Widelce — forks — which comes from the shape of the badge and not from anything on the pitch.

Ireneusz Mamrot took charge in 2025. The job in front of him is the one Mielec has had for most of the past fifty years: keep the club in the company it kept in 1976, on a budget and in a ground that holds 7,000.