The University of Gdańsk team won the men's futsal finals in the Polish Academic Futsal Championships, which were held in Kraków. Our players, after phenomenal performances, could enjoy first place on the podium. The fight was fierce, and 16 teams qualified for the tournament.

Report: Miłosz Sieliwończyk

In early February, Wojciech Pawicki's players travelled to Toruń to play in the A semi-finals of the Polish Academic Championships. The Academics then placed 4th, which guaranteed the last of four tickets to the final tournament in Kraków. The players from Gdańsk went to the capital of Małopolska with a clear goal - to fight for the highest stakes.

Group D

The Academics were placed in a strong group together with the University of Silesia, Warsaw University of Technology and Stanisław Staszic State University of Piła. The competition for our team was not easy - the team from Greater Poland had won the match for third place in semi-final A as much as 7:1 three weeks before. The team of UŚ qualified in the first place after the semi-final in Katowice. Warsaw University of Technology placed 4th in their qualification. The start of the group struggle took place on February 24.

Despite demanding competition, the AZS players proved their determination. The group matches started with a 3:3 draw with a recent rival, PUSS in Piła. The score was opened by Mikołaj Kreft, but a moment later the opponents managed to compensate. In the 15th minute, the Greaterpolanders went into the lead after a goal by Mikołaj Michałek, two minutes later Piotr Przygocki increased the lead. Thus, after 17 minutes, the scoreboard showed the result 1:3 for the opponents. The Academics responded with a goal by Sidor, and a minute before the end Karol Majchrzak led to a draw.

The next clash was scheduled for 15:00. The rival was the team of UŚ from Katowice. The players from Gdańsk came onto the court with the knowledge that they needed 3 points to leave the group. Kewin Sidor took matters into his own hands. The player scored two hits in this meeting and was selected MVP of the match. The opponents managed to respond by scoring a contact goal, and the final score stood at 2:1 for AZS UG.

On Friday, February 25, the Academics went into the last group match, which was to decide on promotion. The meeting with the Warsaw University of Technology started at 9:00 a.m. The match was under the control of Wojciech Pawicki's players from the very beginning. Jakub Domżalski opened the score in the 3rd minute. Lewczuk, Sidor, Kuzio and Kaczmarek scored more goals, but the futsal players from the capital city scored only two, which made the score 5:2 for Gdańsk. Szymon Kuzio was chosen as the best player of the match

AZS UG – PUSS Piła 3:3

AZS UG –  UŚ Katowice 2:1

AZS UG – PW Warszawa 5:2

As a result, the AZS UG team took 2nd place in group D with 7 points and could prepare for the quarter-finals.

The quarter-final

The rival in the quarter-finals was UEK Kraków, the winner of group A. Once again, the Academics quickly took the initiative and opened the score. A goal for 1:0 in the 4th minute was scored by the team captain. 10 minutes later, Kewin Sidor increased the lead. 10 minutes before the end, the players from Kraków managed to score a contact goal, but immediately afterwards, another goal was scored by the unfailing Kewin Sidor during AMP. It was already 3:1 for AZS, and the last goal of the match was an o.g. by Szymon Kuzia. Kacper Sasiak, who not for the first time guarded our goal very well, was chosen MVP of the quarterfinal. AZS UG - UEK Kraków 3:2

Semi-final

The Academics were already one step away from the final. On Saturday, at 9:30, they faced WSG Bydgoszcz in the semi-finals. The evenly balanced meeting ended in a 2:2 draw after goals by Kreft and Sidor. Although there was no shortage of situations in this match, the players from Gdańsk had to take penalty kicks anyway. Taking the example of Tuesday's penalty shootout in the cup against Legia, in Kraków, the Academics also won. With a 3:2 score, AZS made its way to the final!

Final

Our players fought for gold with a well-known rival - PUSS Piła. The group match ended in a 3:3 draw, but in the semi-final A (at the beginning of February), the Academics lost by as much as 1:7. The previous results, however, were of no importance in the fight for the historic gold, which is probably what Kewin Sidor assumed, as he scored the first goal in the 5th minute after Kreft's action. 5 minutes later, the captain passed the ball to Wojciech Pawicki, the coach, being with his back to the goal, passed it to Kreft, who went down to the left side and with a powerful strike scored the second goal. The team from Gdańsk confidently led the game, which was again confirmed by Sidor - the best AZS shooter put a futsal between the goalkeeper's legs and it was 3:0 (Kewin's 9th goal in the tournament). Another goal was added by coach Wojciech Pawicki. The Piła players were playing with a loose goalkeeper, which the vigilant coach took advantage of. As soon as he got the ball back, he took a long shot at an empty goal. The honorary goal was scored by the PUSS players three minutes before the end. The final ended with AZS UG winning 4:1, and after the final buzzer, the Academics gave vent to their joy - the gold medal of the Polish Academic Championships followed in the footsteps of Wisła and went from Kraków to Gdańsk!

AZS UG – PUSS Piła 4:1

The podium of AMP 2022 in Kraków:

AZS UG

PUSS Piła

UW Warszawa