Warta Poznań () is a multi-sports club based in Poznań, Poland. The name means the Guard in Polish and also the name of the river Warta on which Poznań is located. Founded in 1912, the association football club are two-time winners of the Polish Football Championship, in 1929 and 1947. In 2020, Warta returned to the Polish Ekstraklasa after being absent for 25 years. The club also played in the top level of the Polish football league system from 1927 to 1939, 1946 to 1950 and 1993 to 1995. In its history, the club celebrated many successes in disciplines such as boxing (the club won the Polish championship 11 times between 1927 and 1939), field hockey (the club won the Polish championship 12 times between 1963 and 1980) and tennis (Wiesław Gąsiorek of Warta was Polish champion 12 times between 1959 and 1970). In total, Warta teams, sportsmen and sportswomen won almost 800 medals in Polish championship competitions in different sports disciplines. History Beginnings (1912–1918) On 15 June 1912, the Warta Poznań Sports Club (Klub Sportowy Warta Poznań) was established, which later became known as "the first lady of Wielkopolska". Its founders were young Poles who previously played in the German clubs in Poznań, including Marian Bey, Stefan Malinowski, Stefan Mórkowski, brothers Edmund and Franciszek Szyc and Ludwik Zysnarski. They were included in the first board of the club, whose first president - as the oldest member of the board - became Franciszek Szyc. His brother Edmund was appointed secretary, and Marian Bey was the team captain. At the founding meeting, white and green were chosen as statutory colours. In addition to football, Warta formed an athletics section in 1912 and then a tennis section in 1914. During German rule, matches involving Polish teams were forbidden, which prompted the decision to organize the first Wielkopolska football championship in 1913, in which three teams participated: Warta Poznań, Posnania and Ostrovia Ostrów Wielkopolski. Warta became the first champion. The results were as follows: Posnania - Warta 1–1, Warta - Ostrovia 3–2, Ostrovia - Warta 3–4, Warta - Posnania 2–2. The inaugural championship of the region resulted in a surge of football popularity in Poznań. New football teams emerged such as Trytonia founded in Łazarz and a team called Sparta established in Jeżyce. In 1914, despite the start of hostilities related to the outbreak of World War I, efforts were made in Poznań