St Pats to host top Polish team

St Patrick’s Athletic FC have announced that Wisla Krakow, Poland’s most successful football club over recent years, will play a friendly match against St Patrick’s Athletic in Richmond Park on Tuesday, November 13th with a 7.45pm kick-off.It is a bid to increase the Polish support for the Eircom League of Ireland side. Maybe some people will come to support Wisla Krakow, but there are Polish people in Dublin from all over Poland and they may support St Pats.Champions of Poland on five occasions since 1999, the current Wisla Krakow squad contains no fewer than eight full Polish internationals. The team currently lies in 1st place in the Polish championship. In July of this year Wisla travelled to the United States to compete in, and win, the inaugural Chicago Trophy beating reigning UEFA Cup champions Sevilla FC in the final.The fixture is sure to be of huge appeal to the sizeable Polish community living in the Dublin area and St Patrick’s Athletic manager Johnny McDonnell is enthused by the prospect of hosting Polish opposition at Richmond Park.Wisla coach, Maciej Skorza, welcomed the opportunity to play Irish opposition in Dublin. “The timing of this match is ideal. The domestic season in Poland commenced in September so my players are in great condition right now. The St Patrick’s Athletic team has made great progress this season and the challenge for us will be stiff, but with so many Polish people living in Dublin I expect Wisla to feel right at home in Richmond Park!”