Poland’s Ekstraklasa shows Europe’s tightest race, leaders 11 points clear of bottom | OneFootball

At the halfway point in Poland, Wisla Plock top the Ekstraklasa on 30 points, yet bottom club Termalica have 19, underlining Europe’s tightest title race. L'Équipe highlights that the table is unusually compressed this season.

Plock’s squad is valued by Transfermarkt at €11.85m, almost four times less than Rakow Czestochowa’s €43.40m. French left wing-back Quentin Lecoeuche, who joined in the summer after Caen, says survival was the initial goal and credits a close‑knit group, many of whom rose together to the top flight, and a lingering euphoria.

Defensively robust, Plock have conceded only 12 in 18 matches, yet they have scored fewer than Termalica, 21 to 24. After 17 or 18 games, depending on the team, the standings are tightly bunched from top to bottom.

Motor Lublin’s Mathieu Scalet notes this is unusual, with few clubs adrift at this stage, adding that the parity makes every fixture unpredictable. Lublin are 11th, one point from the relegation zone yet only eight off fourth, which brings the first European spot.

The old order has shifted. Legia Warsaw, champions in all but 2019 from 2016 to 2021 and the country’s most decorated club with 15 titles, sit 17th at mid-season on 19 points. Since 2022, Lech Poznan, Rakow Czestochowa and Jagiellonia Bialystok have lifted the title, with Lech also triumphing in 2025.

Crowds near 25,000 regularly fill Gornik’s stands, with broadcasts in Germany helped by 40-year-old Lukas Podolski. Benjamin Mendy, 31, is at Pogon Szczecin. On the pitch, the style is direct and physical, as described by Radomiak’s Jérémy Blasco, and Lecoeuche rates the league above Ligue 2 for individual quality, akin to Ligue 1’s lower half.

Source: L'Équipe