3 Big Questions for the Ekstraklasa Weekend: A Quick Weekend Preview of the Ekstraklasa
The Polish Clasico and former champions rock bottom of the standings dominate a big weekend of Polish soccer
Can Motor Lublin overcome troubles at home to beat Zagłębie Lubin?
Motor Lublin and Zagłębie Lubin might sound similar, but both clubs and their respective cities are separated by 350 miles. The gap in the Ekstraklasa table is slightly shorter as Lublin’s Motor (12th) trails Lubin’s Zagłębie (7th) by six points.
In Round 12’s opening fixture, Motor should be the favorites since Zagłębie has won just once away from home. What complicates things, though, is that the team has already lost three games at the Motor Lublin Arena this season.
Motor’s captain Karol Czubak missed the penalty last week but remains one of the best Polish strikers with 15 league strikes in 2026. A hot commodity in Zagłębie, Marcel Reguła is set to celebrate his 20th birthday this Monday. Valued at $7.8 million, this midfielder wants just one thing as a gift: a sixth win of the season.
Can the former champions move off the bottom?
Wisła (6th place), the newcomers from the city of the Polish Kings, has a perfect record at home. In five games, the team collected 15 points and scored 10 goals. Four of them came from a reliable Spaniard, Angel Rodado, who has scored 70 strikes for the side from Lesser Poland in nearly four seasons.
This Saturday at Synerise Arena, Wisla will take on a side that in the last five seasons lifted the league trophy once and finished as runners-up twice. Shockingly though, this campaign has Raków dead last in the standings. That took some heavy toll at the helm as they enter Wisła’s encounter with its fourth manager this season. The key for the “Praying Medallions", which feature a New York City born 18-year-old Adam Basse and a powerful forward Adam Makuch is not to concede as they allowed league-worst 26 goals.
Who will win the Polish Clasico?
Over the last decade Legia Warsaw and Lech Poznań have won seven championships between them. Overall, both clubs have collected 25 Polish titles. It is entirely possible that one of them will grab the gold again as both have started this season remarkably well.
Legia (3rd) are the lone unbeaten team and Lech (2nd) has won three straight games while outscoring the opponents fifteen to three. It will be a battle between an organized and well-oiled machine of Marek Papszun and explosive, high-octane attack under the leadership of a Danish coach Niels Frederiksen. Last time these two met was in May and Lech handed Legia a 4:0 thrashing in Poznań.
Since then, the Warsaw side, which includes a 21-year-old Robert Deziel Jr. from Palm Beach, FL , is unbeaten. Will Papszun find his revenge on Sunday?
