Polish Tauron Liga starts on Friday filled with domestic and international stars

Featuring 13 of the 14 players who helped Poland win the European Championship last month and secure a spot at the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics, the Polish Tauron Liga begins this weekend, bringing excitement to a country that truly loves the sport.

Between this Friday and May, 14 teams will compete for the national title in a dispute that will involve some of the top players and the best club teams in the world.

• Watch Poland's TAURON Liga live on VBTV

Played under different formats since 1928, the Polish League stands out as one of the most competitive at the national volleyball level, having had four different champions in the last five editions.

Besides featuring almost the entirety of the Polish national team, the tournament also highlights elite international players in a mix that results in competitive matches week in, week out.

The Teams

Defending champions Aluron CMC Warta Zawiercie spearhead the list of favorites in 2026-2027 after winning the title for the first time in their last campaign. Among the main contenders will be BOGDANKA LUK Lublin, who lifted the trophy in 2024-2025 and whom they faced in the last two finals.

ZAKSA Kędzierzyn-Koźle, who have ten titles, PGE GiEK SKRA Bełchatów, who won nine times, Asseco Resovia Rzeszów, who were the champions in seven seasons, and PGE Projekt Warszawa, who are still looking for their first victory, are also part of the country's top teams.

ChKS Chełm, Energa Indykpol AZS Olsztyn, Energa Trefl Gdańsk, Jastrzębie Barkom, NEONET Norwid Częstochowa, Stilon Gorzów and Ślepsk Malow Suwałki all return from last season, while GKS Katowice are back among the elite after winning the country's second division last season.

The Stars

Defending champions Warta Zawiercie made arguably the biggest signings of the offseason, bringing Polish star outside hitter Tomasz Fornal, middle blocker Jakub Kochanowski and Italian opposite Kamil Rychlicki to join an already strong core that features American Olympic medalist outside hitter Aaron Russell and Polish national team opposite Bartłomiej Bołądź, middle blocker Mateusz Bieniek and libero Jakub Popiwczak.

Lublin also got better, adding Japanese stars Ran Takahashi and Tomohiro Ogawa to join Polish national team stars Wilfredo León, Kewin Sasak and Marcin Komenda, and Bulgarian middle blocker Aleks Grozdanov.

Skra Bełchatów have veteran setter Grzegorz Łomacz and Brazilian opposite Alan Souza,  Asseco Resovia count on star setter Marcin Janusz, opposite Łukasz Kaczmarek and libero Paweł Zatorski, ZAKSA have outside hitter Rafał Szymura and Dutch middle blocker Fabian Plak, while Italian opposite Yuri Romanò, Polish national team captain Aleksander Śliwka and star middle blocker Bartłomiej Lemański all play for Warszawa.

There's talent spread all over the league, with two-time French Olympic champion outside hitter Yacine Louati playing for Chełm, German Johannes Tille setting for Olsztyn, Ukrainian opposite Vasyl Tupchii representing  Jastrzębie Barkom, Bulgarian outside hitter Asparuh Asparuhov helping Suwałki and Argentine opposite Pablo Kukartsev joining Norwid.

The Format

Each team plays 26 matches during the regular season, facing each of its 13 opponents at home and away. At the end of the regular season, the eight best-ranked teams advance to the playoffs, and the team that finishes 12th is relegated to the Polish second division.

The quarterfinal and semifinal series are held in a best-of-three format, while the final and the third-place series are held in a best-of-five format.

Polish Tauron Liga: full match schedule

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