GKS Tychy is a Polish professional football club, based in Tychy, that competes in the Polish I liga. The club was founded in 1971. It played in the Ekstraklasa between 1974–1977 and 1995–1997. Their biggest success was a second-place finish in the 1975–76 Ekstraklasa season.
The history of GKS Tychy dates back to 20 April 1971, when the government of the county of Tychy, together with Communist party activists (PZPR), decided to form a powerful sports organization. As a result of the merger of Polonia Tychy, Górnik Wesoła and Górnik Murcki, a strong, multi-department sports club was formed, with football and ice hockey as its major departments. Before the creation of GKS Tychy, ice hockey players of Górnik Murcki had twice won the Polish Cup (1967 and 1971).
The decision to merge the teams from Murcki and Wesoła was not welcomed by members of local communities, who wanted to keep their organizations. The Tychy County government did not care about these concerns, as the plan was to form a strong club, with top class athletes. GKS Tychy was financially supported by local coal mines, from Tychy, Lędziny, Wesoła and Bieruń. A new, 20,000 stadium was built, together with a swimming pool and ice-skating rink. By 1973, GKS Tychy had over 600 athletes in seven departments, including football, ice hockey, wrestling, and track and field.
Two years after its creation, the football team of GKS Tychy won promotion to the second level of Polish football tier, and in early summer of 1974, the team was promoted to Ekstraklasa. With its topscorer Roman Ogaza, Tychy in August 1974 debuted in Ekstraklasa, in a 1–1 game vs. Lech Poznań. In 1975–76 Ekstraklasa, GKS Tychy finished second, after Polish champion Stal Mielec, and in the UEFA Cup, it played against West German side Köln. In the first leg, in Cologne (15 September 1976), Tychy lost 0–2. In the second leg, which took place on 29 September 1976 at Silesian Stadium in Chorzow, Polish team tied 1-1, after a goal by Roman Ogaza. Ogaza himself was a member of Polish football team, which won silver in the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, becoming the first athlete in the history of Tychy to win an olympic medal.
In the 1976–77 Ekstraklasa, GKS Tychy, to the surprise of experts, was relegated from Polish top division, despite the fact that its top players remained at Tychy. After several seasons in Polish Second Division, GKS was once again relegated (1983) to the third level of Polish football tier, remaining there until 1993. After a merger with Sokół Pniewy, the new team, called Sokół Tychy-Pniewy, played in 1995–96 Ekstraklasa and 1996–97 Ekstraklasa. Due to financial difficulties, the team was dissolved in 1997. Soon afterwards, new organization, called Tyski Klub Sportowy Tychy was founded. Later on, the team eventually returned to the historic name GKS Tychy and won promotion to the I liga (second tier) in 2012. In the 2020–21 season GKS qualified to promotion play-offs to the Ekstraklasa, but lost to the final winner Górnik Łęczna.
In April 2021, The Seelig Group and Chien Lee acquired 75% of GKS Tychy and became the controlling shareholders.[1]
Artur Skowronek
