Club's history

The history of the White Star (Biała Gwiazda) dates back to 1906. The exact date is unknown, but the memoirs of Roman Wilczyński indicate that it was the spring of that year when Prof. Tadeusz Łopuszański made this offer to his students. However, the first mentions in the press appeared in the autumn of 1906 on the occasion of the "Autumn Tournament" organised by Dr Tadeusz Konczyński. Wisła participated in the tournament and was led by team Captain Józef Szkolnikowski. The Reds team, which, according to Wilhelm Cepurski's memoirs, was founded as early as 1905, also played in the same tournament captained by Wladyslaw Jenker. The Reds later merged with Wisła, bringing in the red jerseys – still the Club's iconic symbol today. Initially, the jerseys were decorated with two blue stars, which were later replaced with a single white star. 

The outbreak of WWI resulted in the suspension of the activities of Wisła for five years. The Club offered its grounds to the Polish Legions formed by Józef Piłsudski. What is more, the Club members eagerly joined the Legions.  In the initial eight years after the Club was founded, it played 123 games. It won 66 games, drew 15 and lost 43, with 81 players on the pitch. 

After Poland regained independence, football competitions consisted of competing in designated districts and determining a national champion among the winners. In 1926, Wisła Kraków won the only edition of the National Cup in interwar Poland. In December of the same year, twelve clubs passed a resolution to establish the Polish Football League, and Wisła Kraków triumphed in this first historic season. The same happened in the following competitions, and in both cases, the top scorer was the legendary Henryk Reyman. 

During WWII, the players of the White Star successfully competed in the Kraków Championships during the German occupation. On 28 January 1945, the trumpet call from the St. Mary's Church tower announced the start of a derby match between Wisła and Cracovia in the liberated city. It was a symbol of a new era not only for Poland but also for the football rivalry in the capital of the Lesser Poland region. In 1949 and 1950, Wisła Kraków again won the title of the best team in the country. The following year it did not happen because the title of Polish champion was then awarded to the winner of the National Cup rather than the League. Therefore, the title went to Ruch Chorzów, defeating the Kraków team in the Polish Cup final. 

Another success for the Wisła's first team came in 1967 when they won the Polish Cup competition. This way the White Star made a debiut in the Cup Winners' Cup. It had to wait for another trophy until 1978, when under the coach Orest Lenczyk it took the Polish championship. This victory was a ticket to the European Cup competition, in which Wisła made it to the quarter-finals, beating clubs such as Club Brugge and Zbrojovka Brno. The Swedish Malmoe FF proved to be too strong an opponent. The 1980s were unsuccessful for the Wisła players, who were relegated to a lower division in 1985 and remained there for four seasons. However, the Club's comeback to the national first division did not result in a return to the top elite teams in the country, and in 1994, White Star again faced bitter relegation to a lower league. Two years later, the Club was promoted again, and in 1997, its shares were taken over by Bogusław Cupiał. This marked a new chapter in the Club's history. 

Between 1999 and 2011, the White Star won eight National Championship titles, two national and one Polish Super Cup. Wisła also succeeded in European competitions, where it knocked out teams like Real Saragossa, Schalke 04 Gelsenkirchen and AC Parma. Wisła's paramount goal at the time was to qualify for the elite Champions League, but its dream was thwarted by such clubs as Real Madrid, Inter Milan and FC Barcelona. Wisła managed to beat the latter 1:0 in the memorable match played at Reymonta Street. After the years known as the "Tele-Fonika era", in the summer of 2016, the White Star ended up back in the hands of Towarzystwo Sportowe Wisła. 

Since introducing the ESA-37 system to the Polish Ekstraklasa in 2013, Wisła has almost always finished in the top eight, never below sixth place. The only exception to this is the 2015/16 season, in which the White Star did finish in the second half of the table but proved to be the best of all the teams competing in the relegation group. In the 2017/18 campaign, our team fought until the last round for promotion to European cups, but a defeat against Górnik Zabrze deprived us of the chance to play in the Europa League qualifiers. 

In December 2018, Wisła found itself on the brink of bankruptcy. Once again, however, it became evident that this was not an ordinary club but something much bigger, a real family united under the sign of the white star. With the help of its living legend Jakub Błaszczykowski, the support of others such as Jarosław Królewski and Tomasz Jażdzyński, the efforts of the staff led by president Rafał Wisłocki and, above all, the attitude of loyal and dedicated fans, our Kraków Club survived this difficult moment and proceeded to compete in the spring round of the 2018/19 season with its returning captain, Błaszczykowski, in the lead.