The club was founded in June 1945 by the
Poles who had been forced to leave their homes in
former eastern Poland annexed by the Soviet Union (present-day Ukraine). The club's name comes from the
Piast dynasty, which ruled Poland from its beginnings as an independent state in the 10th century, until 1370, and in the city itself until 1532. In 1949, five local teams were merged with Piast, and the team was renamed to Metal Piast Gliwice, and then to Stal Gliwice, before its original name Piast Gliwice was restored in 1955. Piast continued to play their matches on ul. Robotniczej. In 1964, Piast merged with GKS Gliwice, a team formed in 1956 from a fusion of the three other local clubs, and the name was changed to GKS Piast Gliwice. Since the 1950s, Piast mostly played in the
Second Division. During that period, Piast have twice (1978, 1983) managed to reach the final of the
Polish Cup, losing on both occasions. In the 1990s, due to financial difficulties, the team was rebuilt from the Klasa B (7th tier), achieving four consecutive promotions from the seventh to the third tier in 1997–2001, and afterwards it won promotion to the II liga (second tier) in 2003. Piast played as many as 33 seasons in the Polish Second Division, before finally being promoted to the
Ekstraklasa in 2008. Having played two seasons in the top division, the club was relegated in 2010 to come back in 2012. It is the first football team in Poland to gain promotion from the 7th tier to the
Ekstraklasa (Polish top tier of football) and later to the European club competition. In the 2010s, Piast enjoyed its greatest success, being runners-up in the
2015–16 Ekstraklasa and winning its first Polish championship in the
2018–19 season. There is also a
futsal department of Piast Gliwice, which competes in the
Futsal Ekstraklasa (top division). Its home venue is the
Gliwice Arena. It won its first Polish Championship in the 2021–22 season.
Naming history • 18 June 1945 – KS Piast Gliwice • 23 May 1946 – KSM Piast Gliwice • September/November 1947 – ZKSM Piast Gliwice • 5 March 1949 – ZS Metal Piast Gliwice (merged with ZKSM Huta Łabędy, ZKS Walcownia Łabędy, RKS Jedność Rudziniec, RKS PZS Gliwice and ZKS Silesia Gliwice) • 1 November 1949 – ZKS Stal Gliwice • 11 March 1951 – ZKS Stal GZUT Gliwice • 15 March 1955 – ZKS Piast Gliwice • 20 January 1957 – KS Piast Gliwice • 1 January 1961 – SKS Piast Gliwice • 15 March 1964 – GKS Piast Gliwice (merged with GKS Gliwice and KS Metal Gliwice) • 17 October 1983 – MC-W GKS Piast Gliwice • 12 September 1989 – CWKS Piast-Bumar Gliwice • 1989 – merged with ZTS Łabędy (Gliwice) • 1990 – CWKS Bumar-Piast Gliwice • 4 April 1990 – KS Bumar Gliwice • 11 May 1990 – KS Bumar Łabędy (Gliwice) • 1 July 1990 – KS Bumar Gliwice • 1991 – KS Piast-Bumar Gliwice • 1 July 1992 – MC-W GKS Piast Gliwice • 1 August 1995 – KS Bojków Gliwice (merged with KS Bojków Gliwice) • 15 September 1995 – KS Piast Bojków Gliwice • 2 September 1996 – GKS Piast Gliwice ==Crest==