If the PlusLiga regular round ended now, ZAKSA would not only not play in the final tournament of the Polish Cup, but would not even make it to the play-off phase of the league!
After 15 matches played at home, Kedzierzyn managed only seven victories, which means that they left the field with eight defeats. ZAKSA have lost four of their last five matches. The three-time Champions League holders have not had such a bad record for years.
Of course, ZAKSA still has the second part of the season ahead of it, in which it can make up for the losses in the top positions. And they are already giants – 15 points off the league podium and 18 points behind leaders Jastrzębski Wegiel. However, to fight for the national championship, it is enough to take at least the eighth place. Hardly anyone can imagine a scenario when volleyball players from the Opole region will not achieve this goal.
1. Lukash Kaczmarek celebrated the most beautiful moment of 2023. A surprising choice?
However, ZAKSA has already lost the chance of one cup – the Polish Tauron Cup. The regulations here are absolute for PlusLiga teams. To advance to the quarterfinals, after the first round of the regular season, at least the sixth place must be finished. They lost this position by five points.
ZAKSA's biggest drawback is the plague of injuries, which means the team cannot train with optimal squads.
– We lost important players in previous seasons, but never so many at one time. It prevents us from practicing well, in sixes, and this practice was our strength before, thanks to which we played well. Now it was difficult to find normal conditions – said ZAKSA striker Lukasz Kaczmarek, quoted on PlusLiga's official website.
ZAKSA has dominated the Polish Cup in recent years, as evidenced by victories in 2019, 2021-2023 (no results in 2020 due to the pandemic). Now he will not even play in the quarter-finals, which included Jastrzębski Wegiel, Projekt Warszawa, Aluron CMC Warta Zawiercie, Asseco Resovia Rzeszów, Trefl Gdańsk, Bogdanka LUK Lublin and two representatives from the lower leagues.
ZAKSA's staffing problems can also be seen in the Champions League. On January 11, the defenders of the Eurocups will play an important match at home against Olympiakos within the framework of the last round of the group stage. Kedzierzyn's side are still unsure of a place in the knockout stages, sitting in second place, two points ahead of third-placed Knak Roselare and three points ahead of the Greeks.