A fan-run soccer club pushes back against Poland’s nationalist stadium culture

“Because you have to support someone,” Wrzosek said.

His bar isn't only a meeting place for AKS Zły fans, but also a venue where the club occasionally organizes social events, often meant to commemorate an aspect of the local history of the Praga district. In March, it co-hosted an event honoring Stefan Okrzeja, a socialist worker who fought for Polish independence at the beginning of the 20th century.

“It bothered me that in Poland, a country with a great history of leftist and left-wing values, there isn’t a single club that is democratic, that doesn’t impose its own version of fan culture,” Wrzosek said.

Rivals are also welcome

At a recent women’s game in Poland’s second division, AKS Zły faced a stronger team from Słupca, but fans in the modest stadium in Praga were undaunted.

They sang songs welcoming the visitors and urging their own side to score to the rhythm of drums. Complaints about the referee were kept to a minimum and polite.

“It’s not just empty words when you say that the fans are the 12th player, because it really helps and motivates you to give more,” former AKS Zły player and now supporter Eliza Górska-Tran told The Associated Press.

The 37-year-old Górska-Tran, who attended the game with her wife and two young children, stressed the importance of the supportive community created around the club, which she helped to run after her playing days.

AKS Zły embraces LGBTQ+ and immigrant players. The club has always invested in the male and female teams equally. And, at its academy for kids, richer parents help cover the costs of poorer ones.

Górska-Tran said that fans staged a wedding ceremony for her and her partner at the stadium after they married in Scotland, where same sex marriage is legal, unlike in Poland.

“I also remember my last match before I got pregnant, it was an unforgettable experience,” she said. “There were flares, including rainbow-colored smoke, on the football pitch.”

Alicja Cichońska, who is in her seventh season playing for AKS Zły, said that she joined the club, because she had heard about the inclusive community built around it.

“Football should unite us all, not divide us, because there’s enough of that in society already,” she said.