Odlew fight a losing battle in Poznan

Only once did Poland's national team coach admit that he was afraid of another team. Which side was he talking about? Amateur club KS Odlew Poznań. And yes, Franciszek Smuda was joking.

Smuda was one of a few present and former KKS Lech Poznań coaches who cheered the foundation of a third force in local football in the city, after Lech and KS Warta Poznań. Set up by local journalists, the team also features students, lawyers and even a member of the Polish Football Federation (PZPN). "These guys have character," said Smuda in an interview with Futbol magazine. "I saw them in a Polish Cup match and they looked really good."

Another former Lech and Warta coach, Bogusław Baniak, added with a chuckle: "These journalists ought to play, to get a real feel for football so that they can write about it even better later. Unless somebody has played, they cannot understand the complexity of the game. Besides, they are running their way out of having a heart attack."

Odlew play in the lowest league in Poland, and on their website the table is routinely turned upside down. "This way we can be top" is the official reason. "We will never be relegated," sing the Odlew fans, mindful that the club are so far down the pyramid that they cannot fall any lower.

Fun is a crucial element of their game, and fair play too. Once, when a referee disallowed what they saw as a perfectly legal goal for their opponents, the Odlew players took a vote in the dressing room at half-time, resolving to score an own goal immediately after the break. Their goalkeeper duly directed the ball straight between his own posts. "Now we can play properly," the team captain explained to their bewildered opponents.

While heavy defeats marked most of Odlew's first games, things are improving. The club's motto states: 'The real loss is not losing, but not taking up the fight at all." Czesław Michniewicz, another former Lech coach, said the exact same words to Zagłębie Lubin's players in the dressing room before the club became Polish champions in the 2006/07 season. Inspiring stuff.

This year, Odlew celebrated their tenth anniversary, taking a trip to San Marino and playing a local top-flight club, Domagnano FC. They only lost 1-0. The club still survive on the players' membership fees alone, and offer living proof that football is still for everyone. UEFA EURO 2012 celebrates the greatest players in football, but Odlew pride themselves on giving a game to some of the weakest. They do it because they love it, and in the true spirit of the game, that is enough.