My journey with Legia Warszawa began In late 2013, when I became part of Dariusz Mioduski’s team, helping to transition the club from its previous owners. My initial tasks revolved around setting up key legal and strategic frameworks, including drafting shareholder agreements and establishing a holding company structure. From the get-go, I faced a steep learning curve, trying to blend my background in private equity with the unique dynamics of football club management, where the personal relationships and distinct personalities of the shareholders were front and center.

In early 2014, I was invited to join the Supervisory Board. This role, while still advisory and non-executive, placed me closer to the action, allowing me to lend my insights more directly as the club worked through the complexities of football governance and demanding personal dynamics. The governance structure of the club, especially without traditional shareholder exit mechanisms like drag-along or tag-along rights, required creative approaches to daily leadership decisions. Ultimately, already in 2017, we faced the challenge of reevaluating this structure amid significant corporate shifts, a task that furthered my understanding of balancing business objectives with personal relationships in the management of a club.

This phase highlighted the learning opportunities and underscored the value of adaptability and continuous learning in my role. It was a foundational period, equipping me with deep insights into sports management and the nuanced challenges of overseeing a premier football club.

From day one in my initial role, my responsibilities revolved around creation of the new facility for the club’s youth academy, the first team, and the sporting department. At that time the club operated on two training pitches next to the stadium: one reserved for the first team and the other accommodating all the other youth teams and grassroots projects. 

Apart from the project work that started in Sulejówek in early 2014 I was gaining a more comprehensive understanding of the club’s financial health and operational strategies. This involved analyzing financial statements, familiarizing myself with football regulations, and assessing the club’s various investments and initiatives. It was a period marked by learning and observation and direct action within the project.

Additionally, given my investment industry background, I focused on exploring R&D opportunities in the sports industry, liaising between the club, its principal owners, IT companies and startups active e.g. in player scouting or genetics. These experiences not only allowed be to embrace the power of innovation in sports management, but also expanded the club's horizons beyond what important the day-to-day.

One of my first significant contributions was working on the financing of the club, particularly through the establishment and service on the board of Legia Finance, an SPV created to enable loan and profit-participating loan financing from the specialized football financing mutual fund, Skarbiec Football FIZAN. This was a pioneering endeavor, in which I was involved in key strategic aspects of the financing that needed to be structured in compliance with FIFA's third-party ownership rules to ensure a stable foundation for the club.

Participation in the supervisory board meetings introduced me to the complex and challenging decision-making processes at the club, particularly given the unique characteristics of its corporate governance. The key challenge of functioning within such an organizational setup lied in navigating diverse interests, perspectives, as well as sensitivities of the co-owners, especially given that the differences among them, including on the development of the new facilities for the club’s youth academy grew larger, as the Legia Training Center project was becoming a more realistic perspective.

Here, having led the project origination, I guided detailed internal discussions on this key infrastructure project, as well as representation of the club towards external project’s stakeholders. These experiences were invaluable, offering insights into the delicate balance of interests between immediate sporting success, long-term strategic goals, and financial sustainability on the one hand, and the realities of moving forward with the project externally.

The tenure on the Supervisory Board was not without its challenges. The volatile nature of football club revenues, budgetary constraints, public pressure on winning, and the intricacies of sports governance were among the key issues that we had to navigate. These challenges demanded careful consideration and a willingness to learn and adapt.

The works on the Legia Training Center during this period included the meticulous efforts related to the selection of the site. After more than a year of negotiations with the municipality of Sulejówek and talks, presentations and public debates, also in in the mids of the heated election campaign for the local authorities, we had to start anew in 2015, selecting a new location. Ultimately, the selection was made after considering at least 10 possible locations, including Stare Babice, Halinów, Zaborów, Lesznowola, Wawer, and horse-riding areas in Służewiec. 

My involvement in the project encompassed several areas, including negotiating with the local governments the terms of site development, applying for state and EU subsidies, and conducting legal, tax, and technical due diligence. I also coordinated with the architects, managed environmental advisors in the permitting process, and took part in planning insurance and utility connections. Lastly, I led the land acquisition processes, and contributed to tender preparations, value engineering effort and the high-level discussions with potential general contractors.

As the Legia Training Center (LTC) project began taking shape, there was an air of excitement and anticipation, especially after Legia's qualification to the Champions League group stage. However, in October 2016, amidst this growing optimism and brighter financial prospects, my employment with Legia, along with many colleagues involved in the LTC project, was abruptly terminated. This came as a shocking blow, a jolt out of the blue, leaving me and the project team disheartened and bewildered.

The termination stemmed from a complex, multifaceted conflict among the club's co-owners, deeply rooted in differing visions for the club’s future and incompatible personal ambitions. The LTC project, a symbol of long-term growth and player development, became one of the points of contention. The minority shareholders, focused on short-term gains, were hesitant to invest in the land and development costs. In contrast, the majority shareholder looked towards the future, advocating for the project's long-term benefits. This polarization of perspectives created a tense and uncertain atmosphere.

For the next six months, I found myself in an unusual position. I was siting on the Supervisory Board, but was no longer formally part of Legia's organizational structure, yet I was deeply invested in resolving this high-profile corporate dispute and advancing the LTC project closer to fruition. Working from the outside, I navigated through complex environment striving to keep the project on track. This period was a test of resilience and determination, as I endeavored to implement a transactual solution that would bridge the divide between conflicting interests and allow the project to continue towards a successful outcome.

Perphaps the most important lesson from this chapter of my journey was how unpredictable and volatile is the nature of football club politics, how delicate is the balance of power within such organizations and how important is the adaptability and foresight. Thanks to numerous challenges, these experiences enriched my understanding of sports management dynamics and only strengthened my commitment to the club's long-term objectives.

This period of my tenure on the Supervisory Board laid also a crucial foundation for future initiatives at Legia Warszawa. It was a period more focused on groundwork than direct impacts, yet the decisions and insights gained, especially regarding the Legia Training Center project, were vital for my subsequent contributions to the club. This era was instrumental in developing my skills in learning, collaboration, and strategic thinking, shaping my comprehension of the club’s operations and equipping me for more active and demanding roles ahead.