Polonia Warsaw are one of eastern Europe’s most romantic clubs. Founded by the Warsaw intelligentsia, their players fought in the Warsaw Uprising in 1944, and so the Communist government, regarding the club as dangerously independent, ensured their budget was never sufficient for them to rise higher than the second division. ‘Polonia was not only football,’ Engel said. ‘You could meet scientists or artists or painters there. There was a very good atmosphere within the club, because when you don’t have a lot of money what you have to have is spirit.’
