A secret wood or a football stadium

The modern stadium of Lech Poznan has become a ‘must visit’ for many fans, a great stadium, a train parked up outside however the main pull for most is the atmosphere created by all the Lech fans, not just the Ultras.

However for the football fans there is far more to see in Poznan on top of visiting Lech, and the best part is the one stadium you will definitely want to visit, is just a 10 minute walk from the town centre.

Edmunda Szyca Stadium, was once the home of the ‘second’ team in Poznan, Warta, who were one of the top teams in Poland between the World wars and they moved into the Edmund Szyca was one of the founding members of the Warta Poznan club. The stadium opened in 1929, rebuilt after the war and re-opened in 1957. Over 60.000 saw Lech play there in 1972 in 2^nd Division game.

However the ground was too big (and expensive to run) for Warta, so they moved to the training ground next door. The Training Ground, known as Ogrodek (Little Garden) is still their home bur does not conform to Polish top league standards, so Warta currently play away from the city.

Once Warta left the Edmunda Szyca Stadium, trees quickly started to push through the terracing, however the pitch was kept clear and used for training. However over the last few years, the whole ground has been abandoned and fenced off, but various holes in the walls, make entry to the ground easy and what you find I part wood, part football stadium and you will end up spending hours climbing up and down the terracing and trying to get a better photograph.

The ground is featured on the excellent Austrian book about disused grounds in Europe, ‘Das Fussball-Stadion’ by Josef Gruber.

It is not the only ground in Poznan featured, take a tram to the north west of the city, you will find a large sports complex – 3 stadium next to each other, one just for football and athletics stadium and then the one from the book – Stadion Golecin, still used occasionally for football but a ground better known for speedway, however it went for a while with no team as TS Olimpia closed their speedway section, however it is now used again as a track and well worth a visit.

 Worth a look at the impressive flood lights at the athletic stadium next door.