Derbies Poland #2: Kraków Derby

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Wisła Kraków – Cracovia Kraków:

Kraków derby also know as Święta Wojna or Holy War is the most well known Polish derby across europe. As many may already know hooligans in Poland have a pact that they don’t fight with any weapons, usual way of fighting is via ustawka which are organised fights that mostly take place in forests, fair numbers, rules etc. But in Kraków they don’t have such an agreement and there isn’t much respect or honour if any between Wisła and Cracovia fans. That has lead to several fans being murdered from both Kraków clubs. Most recent high profile killing was ‘Człowiek’ of Cracovia in 2011.

In terms of numbers in the city, Wisła have more fans than Cracovia but its much closer than in Warsaw for example where Polonia are almost non-existent. You can easily find many Cracovia areas and lots of graffiti from both clubs. It is pretty close overall but Wisła have slightly more areas/fans. Though you will not see anyone wearing colours unless you’re at the stadium on match day.

Both clubs have quite allot of friendships/contacts with other Polish clubs and on derbies both are usually supported well by their friends. Cracovia has friendships with Lech Poznań, Arka Gdynia, GKS Tychy, Sandecja Nowy Sącz and Tarnovia Tarnów. While Wisła has friendships/pacts with Ruch Chorzów, Widzew Łódż and Polonia Przemyśl.

These teams have played allot lately, derbies in the last few years were quite interesting. Just 1 month ago in December 2017 Cracovia played Wisła at their stadium and the match was stopped for 20 minutes due to fireworks fired from Cracovia towards the Wisła section.

Some photos/videos from the Kraków derby: