Overview of Sport in Poland

Sport participation in Poland is on the rise with a range of sports growing faster in Poland then some of the more traditional western European country's.

Numerous sports are popular in Poland . Football ( soccer ) is the country's most popular sport , with a rich history of global competitiveness . Track and field , basketball , boxing , ski jumping , fencing , handball ,cycling, ice hockey , swimming , volleyball , winter sports, weightlifting and Bodybuilding are notable other sports popular in Poland .

The golden era of football in Poland took place throughout the 1970s together with until the early 1980s , when the Polish national football team accomplished their best results in any FIFA World Cup competitions achieving third place in the 1974 and 1982 World Cups . The team won a gold medal in football at the 1972 Summer Olympics as well as winning 2 silver medals in 1976 and 1992 . Poland , together with Ukraine hosted the UEFA European Football Championship in 2012 . Polish football players are prominent in the Bundesliga as well as the premiership with 3 polish players Lucasz Piszczek , Jakub Blaszczykowski and Robert Lewandowski an integral part of German club Dortmund runner up place in Europes champions league in 2013 . Robert Lewandowski is one of the most sort after strikers in Europe with him just agreeing terms to join Europes leading club Bayern Munich for the 2014/2015 season .

The Polish men's national volleyball team is ranked 3rd worldwide and the women's volleyball team is ranked 13th . Mariusz Pudzianowski is an extremely successful strongman competitor and has won more World's Strongest Man titles than any other competitor on the planet , winning the event in 2008 for the 5th time .

The first Polish Formula One driver , Robert Kubica , until recently was considered the most naturally gifted F1 driver and has brought awareness of Formula One Racing to Poland . Poland has developed a long , proud history in motorcycle speedway racing and in recent times Poland’s Tomasz Gollob , has been a world leading rider . The national speedway team of Poland is one of the major teams in international speedway and is very successful in numerous competitions .

The Polish mountains are the perfect location for hiking , winter sports and mountain biking and attract millions of tourists each year from all over the world . Baltic beaches and resorts are popular locations for fishing , canoeing , kayaking and a broad-range of other water-themed sports .

At the London Summer Olympics of 2012 Poland won 10 medals with 2 Golds in Mens shot put and Weightlifting . At the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi , Russia Poland won 6 medals with 4 gold medals , Poland was 11th overall in the medals table .

Increasingly , sports such as road/track cycling , mountain biking, rugby , tennis, golf & rowing are becoming more popular .

The most popular sports in Poland 1 to 10:

1) Football (Soccer)

2) Basketball

3) Motor Sports

4) Gym/Fitness

6) Boxing

7) Tennis

8) Table Tennis

9) Cycling

10) Cue Sports

It's estimated that 71% of Polands population of 38m are aged 15 – 60+ years old , so therefore all potential gym and fitness studio users . A typical metropolitan city like Wroclaw has 28 - 39% of the population physically active with many having gym memberships . The Polish fitness industry is set to grow from the current ( 2013 ) $485m to $1 .1b within the next five years & the use of fitness clubs is on the rise . The Polish sports supplement market is the 2nd fastest growing in Europe just behind Russia , overall the Polish vitamins and sports supplements market is estimated to of being worth just under $1 billion in 2013 and represented 25% of the overall market in the Central Eastern Europe region . The total market value for vitamins and sports nutrition and supplements is $3 .2 billion in CEE with Russia being the number 1 market in Central and Eastern Europe and represents 44% of the market in this region.