Górnik Zabrze has won fourteen Polish championship titles. The most famous run is the five consecutive championships in 1963-1967, and the most famous European match is the Cup Winners' Cup final in Vienna in 1970. Both stories, however, begin with a club created from four teams in 1948.

A club made of four clubs

Górnik was founded on 14 December 1948 under the name GZKS Górnik from the merger of four Zabrze teams: KS Zjednoczenie, KS Concordia, KS Pogoń and KS Skra. This merger is regarded as the only one of its kind in Polish football. The club won its first Polish championship in the 1956/57 season. Further ones followed: 1959 and 1961. In 1960-1962 the coach was Augustyn Dziwisz.

Five titles in a row

The championships of 1963, 1964, 1965, 1966 and 1967 form a series of five consecutive titles. The remaining titles are 1957, 1959, 1961, 1971, 1972, 1985, 1986, 1987 and 1988. During this time Włodzimierz Lubański made his debut for the club: on 21 April 1963 he played in a match against Arkonia Szczecin and scored a goal. In the 1963 season he played eight matches and scored four goals, and in 1966-1969 he became the league's top scorer four times in a row. He made his international debut on 4 September 1963 at the age of 16 years and 188 days, in a match against Norway won 9-0. This is regarded as the record for the age of a debutant and a scorer in the Polish national team.

In 1966-1969 the coach was the Hungarian Géza Kalocsay, whose period is called the club's golden years. In the 1967/68 season Górnik reached the quarter-final of the European Champion Clubs' Cup. In the Polish Cup the team won six times between 1965 and 1972: in 1965, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971 and 1972.

Austria Vienna at the Silesian Stadium

In September 1963 Górnik began play in the European Champion Clubs' Cup with a two-legged tie against Austria Vienna. The first match took place on 18 September 1963 at the Silesian Stadium in Silesian Park and Górnik won it 1-0. The sources give the attendance differently: some give 89,089 spectators, while the dzieje.pl portal writes of 120 thousand and calls it the stadium's record. The return leg in Vienna on 2 October 1963 was won by Austria 1-0, so a third match was needed. It was played on 9 October 1963 in Vienna, and Górnik won 2-1. In the next round the team was knocked out by Dukla Prague, losing the two legs 3-4.

In front of the management building of this stadium stands today a monument to another Silesian footballer: Gerard Cieślik, a player of Ruch Chorzów, in the kit from the Poland - USSR match of 1957.

The final in Vienna, 1970

In the 1969/70 season Górnik played in the Cup Winners' Cup as the winner of the national cup. In the first round it beat Olympiacos, 2-2 and 5-0, then Rangers, 3-1 and 3-1. In the quarter-final it eliminated Levski Spartak Sofia, 2-3 and 2-1. In the semi-final against AS Roma, after draws of 1-1 and 2-2 and a third match ending 1-1, a coin toss decided who advanced.

The final was played on 29 April 1970 at the Praterstadion in Vienna. Manchester City won 2-1: the goals were scored by Neil Young in the 12th minute and Francis Lee in the 43rd, and for Górnik Stanisław Oślizło scored in the 68th minute. There were 7,968 spectators in the stands, and the team was led by Michał Matyas.

Ernest Pohl Stadium

Górnik's home stadium was opened on 2 September 1934, to a design by Gustav Allinger. The name Ernest Pohl Stadium was given in the middle of the first decade of the 21st century: the sources give the year 2004 or 9 June 2005. Ernest Pohl is one of Górnik's most famous players. The attendance record, 50 thousand spectators, was set on 22 September 1957 in a match against Gwardia Warsaw won 3-1. The stadium was extended in 1957 and 1965, and received floodlights in 1967.