Intense schedule, striking numbers

31 matches – 30 league clashes and 1 Polish Cup game – is the minimum number of games that any Polish Ekstraklasa side is going to play throughout the 2020/2021 campaign. A majority of top-division teams will compete in more games than that, especially Lech Poznań who has already finished the first part of the season with 26 matches played. This statistic emphasises how intense Lech’s schedule has been. Even though the team from Poznań had a few breaks here and there, the club from Greater Poland hasn’t experienced a similar match marathon since the 2015/2016 season.

AUTUMN ROUND 2020/21

Start date: August 15th
End date: December 19th

Total days: 126
No. of matches: 26, including: 14 - PKO Ekstraklasa, 2 - Fortuna Polish Cup, 4 – Europa League qualifiers, 6 – Europa League group phase

Average: match every 4.8 days

AUTUMN ROUND 2015/16

Start date: July 10th
End date: December 20th
Total days: 163
No. of matches: 38, including: 21 - PKO Ekstraklasa, 1 – Polish Super Cup, 4 – Polish Cup, 4 – Champions League qualifiers, 2 – Europa League qualifiers, 6 – Europa League group phase

Average: match every 4.3 days

During an average season, a team plays one match every 5.8 to 6.6 days – that is a normal league match rhythm. These calculations include international breaks – if it weren’t for them, the average would probably amount to a match per every 3 days. If we take a closer look at Lech’s autumn schedule, the team form Poznań had 4 mini "match marathons" during which the squad had to compete every 3 days.

LECH’S MATCH MARATHONS

August 21st – August 30th

Zagłębie Lubin 2:1 Lech Poznań
Lech Poznań 3:0 FK Valmiera
Lech Poznań 2:2 Wisła Płock

September 12th – September 20th

Śląsk Wrocław 3:3 Lech Poznań
Hammarby IF 0:3 Lech Poznań
Lech Poznań 1:0 Warta Poznań

October 17th – November 8th

Jagiellonia Białystok 2:1 Lech Poznań
Lech Poznań 2:4 SL Benfica
Lech Poznań 1:1 Cracovia
Rangers FC 1:0 Lech Poznań
Znicz Pruszków 2:3 Lech Poznań
Lech Poznań 3:1 Standard Liege
Legia Warszawa 2:1 Lech Poznań

November 22nd – December 19th

Lech Poznań 3:3 Raków Częstochowa
Standard Liege 2:1 Lech Poznań
Lechia Gdańsk 0:1 Lech Poznań
SL Benfica 4:0 Lech Poznań
Lech Poznań 4:0 Podbeskidzie
Lech Poznań 0:2 Rangers FC
Stal Mielec 1:1 Lech Poznań
Lech Poznań 0:4 Pogoń Szczecin
Lech Poznań 0:1 Wisła Kraków

The fatigue, which was evident by the end of the autumn round, was intensified by numerous travels. The number of kilometres that Lech has covered over the past 5 months deserves attention too. Throughout the autumn round, the team from Poznań visited 15 cities: Opole, Lubin, Wrocław, Stockholm, Limassol, Charleroi, Gliwice, Białystok, Glasgow, Pruszków, Warsaw, Liège, Gdańsk, Lisbon, and Mielec. In total, Lech travelled a distance of 22,000 kilometres*.

* - Calculated based on linear distances between cities