The Vistula Social Club at the corner of Main Street and Plauderville Avenue in Garfield, New Jersey is, for many, a small slice of a place called home. For the Polish immigrants who came to the U.S. in waves starting in the early years of the 20th century, and through both World Wars, it was a place to hear the old language and smell the old smells.
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“Our club was founded in 1952,” said Chris Karcz, the 42-year-old player-coach of SC Vistula Garfield – the Polish club that celebrated its 70th anniversary year back in 2022 and is now one win away from reaching the U.S. Open Cup Tournament Proper for 2026. “The clubhouse is still up there in Garfield, with the bar, and we can use it any time we want for hang-outs and get-togethers.
“It’s great for team bonding,” added Karcz, whose Vistula side – with a lot of talent and a little bit of luck – are through to the Final Qualifying Round of the 2026 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup for the first time since they trod the same path in the build-up to the 2023 tournament.
Karcz’ father also played for the club. The traditions of Vistula are very much in his blood. He grew up playing with and against the youth teams and he now helps out with coaching some of those same teams when an extra hand is needed.
“The first team has really taken on the personality of Coach Karcz,” said President Dariusz Wesolowski who sees Vistula as “a way of life” rather than merely a club. “He’s extremely kind off the field and a hard-worker and never-say-die guy on it.”
The Vistula club is named after a river that snakes out of the Carpathians and through to Poland’s capital of Warsaw – and it has connections to the famed Legia Warsaw club back home. It’s the oldest Polish soccer club in this country, though Polonia of Milwaukee might argue that point. It is, without doubt, one of a proud panoply of ethnic clubs that helped keep the game of soccer alive after the folding of the American Soccer League (ASL) in 1934 and before the emergence of the North American Soccer League (NASL) fifty years later.
From 1936 to the start of the Modern Era of the tournament, in 1995, the U.S. Open Cup crown was almost exclusively worn by clubs from the country’s ethnic leagues. They had names like the New York German-Hungarians, the Philadelphia Ukrainian-Nationals (archival footage below) and the Maccabees of Los Angeles.
Precious few of those teams remain in operation.
Karcz played with current U.S. Men’s National Team and former Arsenal goalkeeper Matt Turner (now on loan from France’s Lyon at the New England Revolution of MLS) in the 2015 and 2016 Open Cups as part of the New Jersey Express. On both occasions, he was knocked out by a revived New York Cosmos that boasted Spanish legends Marcos Senna and Raul.
“North Jersey is filled with talent,” said Karcz, who scored the lone goal against East Brunswick-based Bulldogs SC in this year’s Third Qualifying Round to see Vistula through to an all-or-nothing Fourth Rounder on the road against fellow Garden Staters Oaklyn United FC on Nov. 23. “A lot of the guys who grew up around here come back after college and join up with us.
“They bring their friends along too,” Karcz added. “We’ve done a great job of recruiting, and we’re improving all the time.”
The make-up of the Vistula first team competing in the 2026 Open Cup Qualifying Rounds is a mishmash of old and young – with everything in between. In addition to those fresh off the competitive circuit of the college game, you have the guys who are hanging on to the edges and bringing their vast experience and wisdom to bear on proceedings.
Karcz, at 42, is a perfect example. He’s the oldest scorer in this year’s Qualifiers, from a record-bursting line-up of 145 teams at the start of the First Round. But he’s a long way from the oldest competitor. There are, in fact, ten players who lined up in these Qualifying Rounds who are older than the Vistula veteran (the oldest being a member of the NorCal Shockwaves at the ripe old age of 62).
Surrounding the small city of Garfield, where a large percentage of the population is of Polish descent, you’ll find some of the best amateur teams in the country. In a radius of 20 miles, there's the NY Greek-Americans, the NY Pancyprian Freedoms and all the teams of the historic Cosmopolitan League. The competition for eligible players is as fierce as the competition on the pitch.
Having a brick-and-mortar club, and the deep traditions of a place like SC Vistula, can make all the difference in assembling a squad with the goods to reach our Tournament Proper.
“We all go back to the clubhouse after big wins,” said 26-year-old Chris Kondratowicz, a center-back for the team who holds a PhD in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering from Princeton. Like Karcz, Kondratowicz grew up in and around the club. His father reigned as President for a time and his three younger siblings all played in the youth teams.
He joined the club when he was eight years old and played through his undergraduate years at the Stevens Institute of Technology in nearby Hoboken.
“All the old-timers are there buying rounds for us – they’re so insanely proud [when we do well],” added the Bergen County born-and-raised Kondratowicz. “As someone who’s grown up in the club, it’s just so special.
“We’re playing for fun now,” he added. “He have careers and families, but being able to have the club, and the soccer part of it, to carry it on, is something we really value.”
Vistula are one of 32 teams who’ll compete in the Nov. 22-23 Final Qualifying Round. The winners of those 16 games will book their place in next year’s Tournament Proper. There they’ll become one of a cast of 32 Cinderella amateur sides who’ll take dead-aim at causing a Cupset or two against the pros.
Fontela is editor-in-chief of usopencup.com. Follow him at @jonahfontela on Twitter/X.