GKS Tychy become's E.H.C. Alliance's 105th member club

The Alliance of European Hockey Clubs is proud to announce Polish club GKS Tychy as our 105th member. This also boosts the number of countries with E.H.C. club membership to 16.

GKS Tychy, which leads the Polish Tauron Hokej Liga in superior fashion after 20 rounds of play, becomes the first Polish E.H.C. member club since Cracovia Kraków had to leave the Alliance some years ago due to financial challenges.

“We are delighted to welcome GKS Tychy as our newest member club,” said E.H.C. Managing Director Caroline Jonsson. It has been our goal for several years to expand to Poland which we see as an excellent growth market for both men’s and women’s hockey. We believe that Tychy’s membership can be seen as an encouragement for Polish hockey and their top clubs.”

Tychy is a town of some 130,000 inhabitants and is at the center of Poland’s southern Silesia region which has dominated Polish hockey since its beginnings. GKS Tychy was founded in 1971 following a merger between three clubs and they have won five Polish titles between 2005 and 2020. The club has also won 10 Polish cups.

Their biggest international success was third place in the IIHF Continental Cup in 2016 when GKS Tychy became the first Polish club to qualify for the CC Super Final.

GKS played in the Champions Hockey League in the 2018-19 and 2019-20 seasons, and they became the first Polish team to win a CHL game. The club was also scheduled to be the Polish representative in the 2020-21 Champions Hockey League, which unfortunately was cancelled due to COVID-19.

“We are proud to join the E.H.C. Alliance,” said Jarosław Rzeszutko, General Manager of the club’s hockey program. “Obviously, our goal is to benefit from the excellent networking opportunities, to learn from the best in Europe and to become a regular participant in European club competitions.”

GKS Tychy is the maternal club of Poland’s two best-known players, defenseman Henryk Gruth was inducted into the IIHF Hall of Fame in 2006 and Mariusz Czerkawski, arguably the best Polish player of all time, with a 12-year NHL career from 1994 to 2006. Czerkawski also played professionally in Sweden (Djurgården) and Switzerland (Rapperswil-Jona).

GKS Tychy plays its home games in the Stadion Zimowy (Winter Stadium) with a capacity of 2535.