The Polish Ice Hockey Federation announced a major new partnership with Górnośląsko-Zagłębiowska Metropolia (GZM). With GZM’s support, Polish hockey will gain two major opportunities for growth: more free broadcasts and the launch of a junior development fund. Both will have immediate impact and come into effect for the 2026-27 season. 

With GZM’s addition as a partner, at least one game from each round of the regular season will be broadcast on TVP Sport for free. The number of games on TVP Sport has steadily grown. But has mostly been limited to later-stage playoff matches, the Polish Cup, the Polish Super Cup, and non-IIHF national team games. Over the past few years, the only way to watch regular-season matches has been via the league’s online PPV stream. Teams in the league averaged 849 (Unia Oswiecim) to 180 (STS Sanok) buys. More games available for free on TVP Sport is a major opportunity for Polish hockey to reach new fans and grow the game. 

The second phase of this program is establishing a fund that will reward teams who give ice time to young Polish players. This is a key part of the newly established Junior Hockey System. The more minutes young Polish players play for a team, the more funds the team earns to reinvest in youth training. 

Of the 196 players that represented Poland U20 from 2015 to 2020, only 19.3% played professional hockey in 2026. These players would be between 24 and 30 today, and 158 are already retired in what should be the prime of their careers. Young players have often struggled to find a place in Poland’s top level, and hopefully this program will help more actually stick in the Tauron Hokej Liga. 

I do have some cautions with this program. I would not want it to be abused by a team formed like Sanok last season. Sanok had an average age of 22.13 and was majority Polish. But that was not something done by choice. They played young players on cheap deals due to funding issues. While it was good that players had somewhere to play, there is no major development that happens in situations like these. 

Of the 34 U23 Poles who played with Podhale Nowy Targ or STS Sanok in 2024 or 2025, 10 have already retired, while only 6 were able to move to a stronger THL team.

Minutes need to be quality minutes where a Polish player can develop. Players can’t just play minutes to hit a quota or on a team that won’t even win 5 games. If the program has ways to make sure those minutes are quality, then it could be a major breakthrough for Polish hockey.

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Thumbnail Photo via polskihokej.eu