Amica Wronki - History

History

In the 1993/1994 season Amica Wronki were promoted to the Third Division. The next season the team, led by Jarosław Szuby, won promotion to the Second Division. Amica didn't stay in the second division for long because the following season they again won promotion, this time to the Ekstraklasa under Marian Kurowski who took over the job started by former coaches Boguslaw Baniak and Horst Panic. Their fairytale promotion ride to the top tier of Polish football was a dream come true for the fans and they were not going to be disappointed. The team finished 5th, 5th and 7th in successive seasons to cement themselves as an Ekstraklasa side. On June 13, 1998, Amica Wronki beat Aluminium Konin 5-3 to win their first Polish Cup and first trophy in their history. On July 18, 1998, Amica Wronki won the Polish Super Cup, contested by the previous seasons League and Cup Champions, by beating League Champions ŁKS Łódź after a goal by Radosław Biliński.

Amica qualified for the last edition of the now defunct European Cup Winners Cup in the 1998/1999 season, playing for the first time against European opposition. They beat Hibernians FC 5-0 in the qualifying round before losing to SC Heerenveen 4-1 on aggregate in the first round. After a disappointing league campaign in 1998/1999 where they finished in 12th place they managed to end the season well by winning their second Polish Cup beating GKS Bełchatów on June 13, 1999. Once more they had the opportunity of playing in Europe through the UEFA Cup and surprisingly beat Brøndby IF of Denmark 5-4 on aggregate in the first round. They followed up that success by beating League Champions Wisła Kraków to win their second Polish Super Cup on September 22, 1999. They were drawn against Spanish team Atlético Madrid in the second round of the Uefa Cup and lost 5-1 on aggregate ending the 1999/2000 season in 6th place. Amica won their third Polish Cup on 9 June 2000 in a rematch of the Super Cup game against Wisła Kraków. They appeared in a European competition for the third season in a row and made it to the second round beating FC Vaduz 6-3, FC Alania Vladikavkaz 5-0 and finally losing to Hertha BSC Berlin 2-4 and finished the 2000/2001 season in 7th place.

In the 2001/2002 season a reshuffle of the Ekstraklasa occurred to lower the number of teams from 18 to 16. Two groups of nine teams were created for the fall season. The spring season consisted of a Championship group consisting of the top 5 teams in both fall season groups and a Relegation group consisting of the bottom 4 teams from both fall season groups. Amica finished in 5th place in their group during the Fall Season with 12 points to qualify for the Championship group and ended the Spring season in 3rd place. Amica made it to the Polish Cup final for the fourth time but were beaten by Wisła Kraków 8-2 on aggregate. Qualification for the 2002/2003 UEFA Cup was accomplished as Polish Cup runners-up because Wisla had won the league title and therefore qualification for the UEFA Champions League. Amica beat Servette FC on the away goals rule after a 4-4 aggregate tie in the first round before extending their streak of never having qualified past the second round by losing to Málaga CF 4-2 on aggregate and finishing the season in 6th place.

The following season fared much better as a good run of games propelled them to 3rd place in the league and therefore UEFA Cup qualification, the only downside being their elimination from the Polish Cup in the quarter finals. A penalty shoot-out was needed for Amica to beat Hungarians Budapest Honvéd FC 5-4 after a 1-1 aggregate tie in the second qualifying round of the 2004/2005 UEFA Cup. A 2-1 victory in the first round against Latvians FK Ventspils was followed by their first appearance in the revamped UEFA Cup group stage. They lost all 4 group games to finish bottom of Group F. They finished in 6th place in the league thus failing to get into European competition the following season.