You don't have to appologise for butchering Polish Alfie :D What you will find is that (most) Polish people will be highly appreciative of you at least trying and it's always nice when we hear positive things about our country with our "Polish Pride". Poland suffered a great deal last century, so if anything positive - we are tough and do find the strange masochistic pleasure in watching our domestic league :D

Fun fact: before the breakout of WW1 one of the winners of the Łódź city cup was a club called Newcastle Łódź. Apparently their coach was a Geordie & it was him who came up with that name.

Ruch Chorzów, my club (I live a walking distance from the stadium) has experienced a similar story. Perennially underfunded, they managed to win a record 14 championships. Some 10 years ago they still managed to qualify for the european competitions. Then the financial shit hit the fan, and within three years they were struggling in fourth tier of Polish football. They have since risen again, and are currently very much in contention for third back-to-back promotion, which would bring them back to top tier. Oh, and also, they are allied with Widzew, and the games between the two clubs were called something along Friendship Derby.

I just want to say thank you for making this. As a fan of the Ekstraklasa, the league and its clubs never get the any attention for how truly competitive the league is. It was very nice to see such a popular KZfaqr make a video on it

Very good video. What is worth to mention is that Widzew has interesting ticketing system. Due to almost all seats are sold-out for season tickets, club provided possibility to "release" your seat for single match, so at 18K stadium Widzew sells around 20K-22K tickets per home game. That 2K-5K tickets difference are the fans, that know in advance that won't be able to come to stadium during matchday and agree to free their place. Otherwise there would be no possibility to visit stadium only for single game.

Widzew Łódź without a doubt has one of the best fans in the country, really glad you made a video about us! Really cool people are interested in our history

Can you do a documentary about Boavista FC? One of only two clubs in Portugal who broke the hegemony of the Big Three in Portugal and were crowned champions in 2001. Played the likes of Bayern Munich and Liverpool in the UCL and reached the UEFA Cup semifinal in 2003. They were relegated in 2008 and only came back to top flight in 2014, following many years of judicial cases and financial crisis.

As a Pole I really appreciate your effort when it comes to polish pronounciations

RTS Widzew Lodz are one of my favourite respective Polish football clubs and I fully salute their bravery in terms how they would overcome their difficulties after that heroic shocking victory over Liverpool to be where they are now and I fully hope they would replicate their glory years as a real mediocre club in Poland as they would work hard in their transfers and thus,work extra hard to win their titles in near future,good friends!!!LONG LIVES RESPECTIVE RTS WIDZEW LODZ AND POLISH FOOTBALL!!! 🇵🇱

Wonderful video. Many years ago i had a polish girlfriend, and i lived for 4 months in Widzew. I got photos in the old stadium, i said “i’m a tourist” in broken polish and they let me in 😂❤. Given all that i cared and studied the past of Widzew Łódź, and i was surprised to see their rich history in polish football. I noticed when they were relegated in the last decade, so now this video makes me very very happy for WL and it’s people. Zawsze wierni ❤⚽️

This isn't a football channel it's a history channel. Love it

Alfie is the only person that can make me watch a documentary all the way through about a highly obscure team that I never heard of. Way to go my man!!!!

This video makes me proud as a Widzew fan. Thank you for the time to do such extensive research, and for putting this video together!!

Great job Alfie :) I would definitely add something about Marek Citko. He was the biggest star of that mid-90s team. He was the first "football celebrity" in Poland, although not by choice. He is quite a modest man, but in those grim days he was a spark of light, much better technically than others and the whole nation literally adored him for a year or two. People were wearing shirts with his name, hanging his posters on the wall, etc. We called it "Citkomania". He was supposed to join Blackburn in 1997 (a year after Shearer left), but a terrible injury stopped his career.

Damn, these documentaries are super interesting. Can only appreciate the research you put into those... and the pronunciations of course.

YEESSSS ALFIE CAN'T BELIEVE I'VE LIVED TO SEE THE DAY YOU MADE A VIDEO ABOUT MY CLUB

could you do a video on Gazélec Ajaccio who went from playing in Ligue 1 in the 15-16 Season to being Dissolved in the 5th tier because of their association with Corsican Mafia A.K.A The French Connection.

Incredible research 👏🏽

Brit living in Łódź here and I've been to the Wedzew stadium to watch the U21 world cup match between New Zealand vs Columbia

As someone who works on the Ekstraklasa for my job, this video is a delight.

We're witnessing the rebirth of "The Third Grand Widzew". Do boju Widzew!!! We'll see you in European cups in couple of years again.

Great video! Always nice to see you going to my country, or to any country which is less known to the average football fan for that matter. As usual, I really appreciate your effort to get the right pronunciations. Yes, you still got a lot wrong, but come on, it's Polish, nobody expects you to be good at it, and you surpass my expectations anyway. But as a footnote, since you seemed slightly confused about the right way to pronounce the club name, it isn't "vidzyev" but simply "vidzev" (former is more Russian/Ukrainian, not Polish), and the "ó" in "Łódź" is pronounced like "oo". Again though, only a footnote, and the thoroughness of your research shows as usual, doing the extra mile and clearly distinguishing you from most football channels. You're awesome.

I really like the historical part of the videos too. the parts that have not much to do with the club perse but give you a really good feeling on how the region is.. + a little knowledge is always fun

Great research done!

I enjoyed the opportunity to learn something about polish football from the english channel as a Pole myself, great job Alfie😌

Great video as always. Another example of how a fan run club can take them to the top and kinda reminds me a bit (but not quite as extreme) as what my team, heart of Midlothian, have gone through over the past 20 years or so

What will happen to Everton if they they get relegated that would be an interesting discussion

Majestic video

Great video. As a citizen of Łódź and a season ticket holder for Widzew I salute you. I imagine It required a very deep research to make especially from a foreign perspecive. After Poland regained Independence in 1918 due to Marshall Piłsudski and his newly created Polish army we only had about 20 years of peace. In 1939 we were invaded by Germany and Russia and until 1989 we had Communism imposed by Soviets. In reality we had only been developing properly as a country for the last 30 or so years. For the first time since we lost Independence in 1795. Crazy when you take that into perspective.

Such a interesting club.

Thank you for this. I was really moved ❤️🤍❤️. Widzew is in my heart in whole my entire life

Greetings from Poland. Thank you for wonderfull vid.

due to this video i learned that the weird polish "L" with a diagonal line through it is pronounced like a "W". thank you alfie

That was a lot of good and proper information about Widzew Lodz. GJ!!

Kinda reminds me of CSKA Sofia and to some extent Hajduk Split and I guess Union Berlin and Rangers. I'm just naming them randomly though, the heck do I know.

my team 😀😀😀

Football clubs should be owned by fans as a rule - great stuff from Widzew's supporters - I wish you luck :)

The best videos are ones like these from outside the top 5 leagues, imo

Class video as always - any chance of a Real Sociedad video - few interesting points about the club and now we are back to ucl/ even title challengers

Thank you for the great video :)

Supporting an historic club who has yet to reach the top league again 12 years after bankruptcy I'm jealous of supporters to clubs like Widzew Łódź that just bounce back asap. They know nothing about suffering!

Love to see the Club from my hometown on this channel!

22:06 confusingly. Lol yeah, because League 2 being the 4th tier isn't weird at all is it Alfie...

Fantastic job mate💪

Great video Alfie! I've become quite sympathetic to Polish football after spending 3 weeks there last year. I'd be interested to go and watch Widzew Łódź, if they have enough capacity in their stadium of course, and I would need to find something red to wear. I've been watching the Ekstraklasa since, and Widzew played pretty well in their 2-2 draw at Legia last week. Alfie mentioned the Ekstraklasa's low place in the UEFA rankings, and you wonder why. Poland has one of the worst reputations in Europe for hooliganism, but is Poland's hooliganism really much worse than its counterparts? The country's stadiums seem to be very good. I've seen it said that Ekstraklasa is competitive and the top places in the league change every year, so the same teams don't play in Europe every year, which weakens the coefficient. From what I understand, the top Polish clubs aren't that well run by their owners, which maybe partly explains why Raków Częstochowa are top of the Ekstraklasa?

Gornik Zabrze had a big success between 1960s and 1980s, winning 5 for each league and domestic cups. English football might be familiar about this club, especially Manchester. In 1968, Gornik was one of the victims from Matt Busby's winning team, though they salvaged a 1-0 win at home as a consolation. Two years later, Gornik stuns the likes of Olympiacos, Rangers, and Roma to reach the Cup Winners Cup Final, but lost to none other than English club, this time United's city rivals before the dominant force with Abu Dhabi Group and Pep Guardiola (even though they are still deserved to win the Champions League). Gornik also faced numerous European giants like Juventus, Bayern Munich, and Real Madrid.

I love to see Polish Clubs On this channel! Well done bro! 🎉

I should be working on a grad school paper but Alfie comes first.

Can you do a video about the club currently at the top of the Polish League? I though Legia was up top until I realized it was a team that I've never heard about

It’s pronounced “Vidzev Woodge” that’s the closest transliteration in English but really it’s Widzew Łódz

Widzew top

good to see alfie looking at polish clubs, wisła befone now Widzew cant wait for other teams like Lech or some from 1 liga (second tier).

Video idea: 7 formations that are rarely used in modern association football

Consider doing a video on the 7 highest paid footballers in WSL it’d be fascinating to see if women get paid well

a documentary on the afc Wimbledon on the nine promotions in eleven years, how they’re a fan own club and how they have a stadium in plough lane now. The story of they lost the club, how the F A allowed that and won’t allow that anymore. How they were very close to moving to ireland How they went up the English football leagues. It would be a good documentary video if you can do this. #thepeopleschannel

in poland we have so many clubs that did something in european cups then rise again in second tier of polish football now we have clubs like Ruch ŁKS (rising again) or Wisła Kraków (that is falling)

I just watched the away game of Widzew live against Pogon and their away fans were really impressive. They supported 90mins, made flag displays, a tifo, A LOT of flares and in the last 15min they all took their shirts off lol

Please do a video on teams who won a trophy/league title and do not exist now (more recent ones but any work)

You should do a video about Rapid Bucharest!

I'm so proud of your attempts to pronounce the Polish names

"Wudzh"

Can you make a video on Polonia Warsaw

I don’t like widzew but I’m just proud Polish football is becoming recognised :)

Suggestion - 7 footballers who were underused by their international side; think Marcus Rashford for England at 2022 World Cup.

What's happening with Russian football since their suspension by FIFA? Video idea.

Videos that start with an embarrassing Liverpool defeat are good videos

My first European game was them v Man City 76/77(?)

Lets go

Highly recommend Pogoń Szczecin all brazilian team to make new video about it

What On Earth Is Going On At Dundee United?

Its pronounced "Woodge" not "Wodge". The "O" with the dot on top is pronounced with the "ooh" sound.

Why is it that whenever I do a new Football Manager save Alfie makes a video on them?

Day 400: Indonesia XI If All Eligible Players Had Declared For Them.

Hiya Alfie, would you ban Polish clubs out of European football like what we had to suffer in the middle 1980s to the early 1990s? because of the state of hooliganism? I hope the Polish Football league can get it sorted out, I can remember when Widzew Lodz played Manchester United in the 1998/99 Treble winning season for Manchester United, Manchester United won 2-0 at Old Trafford and it was 0-0 draw at Widzew.

Łks myje ręce szamponem

Use Dinamo Bucharest for a video!!!

Day1: Rise and fall of Klaipėdos Atalantas

You should point out that the fall of communism was "bad" for Polish football, in the sense that there was no longer a draconian authoritarian police state to prevent players leaving and pursuing their careers where they pleased. Rather an important distinction.

Make a video about Raków Częstochowa.

Berlin is the capital and largest city of Germany yet has had very little success in terms of its football clubs so being a large city isn't always a guarantee of having successful football teams

łódź is 4 biggest city in poland right now

The traditionally top 3 clubs in Poland with a rich history are Widzew Lodz, Legia Warsaw and Lech Poznan

Best German players in the premier league of all time. (Day 467) I will not give up until the video is made or Alfie himself tells me to stop. Everyone else telling me that will be ignored. If you don't believe my number, just go back to the previous videos. I'm at the bottom most of the time, but I'm there.

Funniest thing about this is that if Widzew would lost yesterdays match there was a chance of them falling to the league below but RTS won and we all happy

Why did u change the thumbnail? Was the original one a load of shite?

Tylko Widzew💪

Went to an LKS Łódz game to watch my mate play. One guy in the turnstiles said you guys better not be Widzew academy players, you’re not safe here 😂

"Somewhat confusingly named fourth liga". Bro, you're fourth tier is called league 2. What are you saying

Interesting to talk of a complete lack of nostalgia for the communist days in Poland, unlike other countries. Was it because communism was imposed on them, or also because the country was left so devastated by the wars, or something else? I know Poland is also quite a Catholic country and the church was opposed by the state, not sure if that's something to do with it?

the name is also not rolling from the tongue in German :D

How Football In Ukraine Was Affected During The Russian Invasion

Have you ever heard of club the rangers from Scotland

there needs to be a comma after "Fall" in the title. but, you know, great video otherwise.

Not sure you can complain about a fifth tier called the fourth league when you live in a country that insists on, for example, calling the fifth level of a building the fourth floor 😅

Unlike Manchester though, it's a nice place

I'm gonna put in another request for a hypothetical starting XI for the East African Federation, a proposed federation (big surprise there) of Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda. None of them are exactly what you'd call powerhouse footballing nations, with the exception of the DRC, but with plenty of players from those nationalities in the French and German leagues there's bound to be some diamonds in the rough. I did actually send Alfie a Twitter DM detailing my own attempt at an EAF first team, complete with a kit design and a subs bench, but since that didn't get a response I can only assume it got lost in the post. It's not like he'd ignore an unsolicited private message about putting together a national football team for a country that doesn't exist, right? Right? This is request number 7; calling it a streak feels a little disingenuous considering I miss days a lot of the time due to my health. I intend to go for as long as I can until Alfie either makes the video or tells me to bugger off. I'm sure you have your own opinions about which is more likely. =]

ŁKS Widzew Łódź

🫶🏼🤔

Would this Jewish and English association be crassly partly why we now have the coloquial association with having a wadge of cash or even a boatload (town name translation) of cash ?

At this stage the question is: are you Polish or have any serious connection to the country?