Monaco Angers Polish Fans with Silesia Photos Ahead of Match Against Górnik

AS Monaco has stirred up controversy among Polish football fans after posting a series of photographs of the Silesia region on its Facebook page. The images appeared just ahead of the club's first-round Conference League play-off match against Polish side Górnik Zabrze.

The photos mostly showed panel-block apartment buildings, roads, tram tracks and an industrial landscape complete with a smokestack and cooling tower. Local readers noted that some of the images appeared to have been deliberately edited in muted tones to create a "blast from the past" effect.

Polish fans react

According to the Polish press, the post was branded a "shameful move" by the club. Many commenters remarked that the pictures looked as though they had been taken back in the 1980s or 1990s, and suggested Monaco replace whoever runs its social media accounts.

Some users saw outright bias in the selection, arguing that the photos didn't reflect the real look of Katowice and the wider region, but had instead been chosen deliberately to cast it in an unflattering light.

Not everyone took offence, however. One fan wrote that plenty of foreigners actually love that kind of atmosphere — a "post-Soviet flavour" that doesn't exist in their own countries and that leaves a strong impression on them. He recalled an acquaintance from Indonesia who was reportedly fascinated by the contrast between grey panel housing blocks and the greenery typical of Slavic countries. The Monaco post itself has already racked up more than four thousand likes and nearly 500 comments, with the debate still raging.

Where Monaco stand today

Meanwhile, fans' attention is shifting back to the actual football. Monaco once enjoyed far more glamorous nights in European competition — in the 2016/17 season, the club, then featuring an eighteen-year-old Kylian Mbappé, reached the Champions League semi-final.

After selling off that star-studded squad, the club failed to replicate that success, and two years later Monaco narrowly avoided relegation from France's Ligue 1, staying up only thanks to a second-to-last-round result. Last season the club finished seventh, and only secured a Conference League play-off spot after Lens — already through to the Champions League — went on to win the French Cup as well.

Monaco's opponent, Górnik Zabrze, finished second in the Polish league last season. The club is also of interest to Czech fans, as it currently fields three Czech players — former Sparta men Michal Sáček and Lukáš Sadílek, along with ex-Slavia player Ondřej Zmrzlý. Slovak forward Erik Prekop, who also has a spell at Prague's Eden behind him, plays there too. Until recently the Czech contingent was even bigger — 22-year-old Lukáš Ambroš left Górnik for Belgium's Anderlecht this July after two seasons with the club.

The first leg kicks off in Zabrze on Thursday at 20:00, with the return leg in Monaco a week later.

Around Prague, based on reporting by sport.cz