On September 1, 1939, the armed forces of Nazi Germany invaded Poland from the west initiating World War II.
Polish activists and players risked their lives by organizing clandestine football competitions in Kraków, Warsaw and Poznań.
Other well-known teams from Soviet-occupied Eastern Poland were Junak Drohobycz, Rewera Stanisławów, Kresy Tarnopol, Ognisko Pińsk, Strzelec Janowa Dolina and WKS Grodno.
[3] Other famous players from Lwów, who were allowed to compete in Soviet-sponsored teams, were popular goalkeeper Spirydion Albański and Wacław Kuchar, who was coach of Dynamo Lvov (1939–1941, 1944–1945).
Jan Wasiewicz ended up in Polish Armed Forces in the West, and Adolf Zimmer Pogoń Lwów was murdered in the Katyń Massacre.
Wacław Jerzewski, who was Pogoń's player and coach in 1938 - 1939, was after September 1939 interned in Romania, then fought in general Władysław Anders Corps, and returned to Poland after the war.
Junak played several games both in Hungary, and Yugoslavia, among top players there were Antoni Komendo-Borowski (previously of Jagiellonia Białystok and Pogoń Lwów) and Henryk Kidacki.
[5] The Poles also faced the team of the British Army (with Harry Goslin, Stan Hanson, Don Howe and Ernie Forrest).
Besides players from former clubs from Eastern Poland, the Carpathians also capped stars of Polish football from Upper Silesia, who had been drafted into the Wehrmacht, and were caught by the Allies or deserted in Western Europe - Edmund Giemsa, Ewald Cebula, Henryk Janduda of AKS Chorzów, Zygmunt Kulawik of Śląsk Świętochłowice.,[7] In mid-October 1939, a little-known game took place in Starosielce in the suburbs of Białystok.
On June 16, 1940, as Gazeta Codzienna Polish language daily announced, a match between teams of Kaunas and Vilnius took place.
Longin Korwin-Pawłowski, the only player of Śmigły who capped for Poland in 1937, ended up in a German POW camp, and after the war settled in Canada, where in 1968 - 1969 he was leader of Polish scouting.
[9] Following Polish September Campaign, the Germans occupied western and central Poland, the area where football was much better developed.
Before German authorities seized Polonia's stadium on Konwiktorska Street, in September 1940, a tournament with thirteen teams took place there.
[13] Since matches attracted thousands of fans, and Warsaw was too dangerous because of presence of numerous German soldiers, most of them took place in the suburbs, in such towns, as Piaseczno, Konstancin-Jeziorna, Błonie, and Mirków.
In Piaseczno, on Easter Boxing Day 1943, a game between the teams of Warsaw and Kraków took place, ending in a 1–1 draw, with hundreds of spectators watching.
A few days earlier, on July 23, Hans Frank had issued a decree, which officially dissolved Polish associations, including sports clubs on the territory of General Government.
However, Juvenia official Aleksander Wódka was allowed to use the grounds of the Sports Park in any way he liked, so football pitch there for two years was the arena of a number of matches, with German authorities giving unofficial permission.
Poles were banned from practising organized sports, but at the same time, they were allowed to use Juvenia Parks’ facilities, which gave them a chance to keep playing.
There were no qualifiers for the Championship, and thirteen teams took place in it: AKS, Bloki, Cracovia, Dębnicki, Garbarnia, Groble, Juvenia, Kazimierz, Prądniczanka, Sparta, Wawel, Wisła and Zwierzyniecki.
A week later, there were disturbances during games Groble - Nadwiślan (in Borek Fałęcki), and Dąbski - Czarni (in Rakowice), and Blue Police had to intervene.
Unlike in other parts of Poland, German authorities in Upper Silesia allowed all teams to continue their activities, but they were ordered to change their names.
In the late 1930s, bulk of players of National Team of Poland were from Upper Silesia; in some games there were eight Silesians in the starting lineup.
Most popular football star of interwar Poland, Ernest Wilimowski, capped several times for Germany in the early 1940s, and other top players, from the region such as Gerard Wodarz, Jerzy Wostal, Teodor Peterek, Wilhelm Góra, Leonard Piątek, Ewald Dytko, Erwin Nyc, after signing the Volksliste, were allowed to continue playing.
Some time in early stages of the war, Leonard Piątek went to Kraków, to ask Józef Kałuża if he would let him and his colleagues play for German teams.