This afternoon (4pm) the final of the Polish Cup will be played. A tournament that under normal conditions would not attract any headlines in the Spanish media, if it were not for the fact that one of the finalists, Wisla Krakow, has a powerful Spanish representation in its ranks. The team from Krakow, the second most important city in the country, has nine Spanish players in its ranks. In addition, the coach, Albert Rudé, and the sports director, Kiko Ramírez, also come from Spain.
The match against Pogon Szczecin could give Wisla a title that it has not won since 2003, and most importantly, a ticket to European competitions. A surprising fact for a team that currently plays in the Polish second category and has not even secured promotion to First Division yet.
At the head of Castellón last season, Albert Rudé took the reins of Wisla in the last winter market and hopes to lead them to the cup title this afternoon. In the squad, the Mallorcan Ángel Rodado was the first to land in the team, in the summer of 2022, and in the winter market Miki Villar and David Juncà, formerly of Girona, Celta or Eibar, would arrive.
The Spanish exodus was completed last summer, with five more additions. The Catalans Ángel Baena and Marc Carbó signed from Lugo; Álvaro Ratón from Zaragoza; Jesus Alfaro, from Badajoz and the Navarrese Eneko Satrústegui from Racing. In addition, Joan Ángel Román, better known as 'Goku', also joined the project. The one from Reus, trained in the Espanyol youth team, played in the Barça reserve team and was in the City youth team. He has been playing for Polish teams since 2016.
The Cup final has aroused great expectation and more than 20,000 Wisla fans are expected to travel to Warsaw to watch the duel against Pogon Szczecin. A victory that would serve to give an injection to a team in decline that is fighting to return to the elite.
