Polish international Football Shirt from the season 2002. Football, is the most popular sport in Poland. Over 400,000 Poles play football regularly, with millions more playing occasionally. The first professional clubs were founded in the early 1900s, and the Polish national football team played its first international match in 1921. The first Polish football clubs were Lechia Lwów (1903), Czarni Lwów (1903), Pogon Lwów (1904), Cracovia Kraków (1906) and Wisla Kraków (1906). The Polish national federation called the Polish Football Union (Polski Zwiazek Pilki Noznej, PZPN) was founded on December 20, 1919, in Warsaw when 31 delegates elected Edward Cetnarowski as the first president. PZPN joined FIFA in 1923 and UEFA in 1955. Poland's had legendary teams such as the one of the mid-seventies that beat England at Wembley to qualify for the World Cup in 1974, going on to finish third that year. Poland would accomplish the same result in 1982 where they also finished in third place beating France 3-2.
Poland's football history also includes periods of drought - they were unable to qualify for any major tournaments between the 1986 and 2002 World Cups. Their appearance in the 2006 was their seventh. Poland also won the gold medal in the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, and the silver medal in 1976 in Montreal and in the 1992 in Barcelona. They first qualified for the European Football Championships in 2008, although they will compete as joint hosts in 2012 European Football Championship.
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