It is no surprise that the Polish Cup final of 2025 will be contested by 20-time winners Legia Warsaw but their opponents Pogon Szczecin are chasing a first major trophy. All the more remarkable given that the club almost went bust earlier this year.
The debts had piled up and the creditors were circling. With the electric bills unpaid, there were threats to turn the lights off. "The players were not being paid either," Tan Kesler tells Sky Sports. "The club was literally 18 hours away from losing its licence."
Kesler, the former Hull City vice-chairman, is a Turkish businessman who has helped turn things around as the new chief executive alongside owner and president Alex Haditaghi. Even now, they acknowledge much will still hinge on Friday's cup final.
"The cup final will define our future and destiny."
Despite the contrast in silverware between the two clubs, Pogon have a chance. Legia are the more famous name, having competed with Chelsea over two legs recently, but Pogon are actually above them in the Ekstraklasa table - this is fourth playing fifth.
"The team is a special group of guys. They bonded because of the previous financial and management problems. When we came in, we have basically given them the right support. Their survival instinct has turned into a focus to do something special."
For Kesler, the situation he inherited was bleak because with those players having gone unpaid for two months, there was a risk of them walking away. "That was stressful. The MLS transfer window, for example, was open. Some could have moved on for free."
He explains: "Everything just became unmanageable. The game was on Saturday. On the Thursday, the creditors sent a final notice saying they were cutting off the electric. The cleaning and security companies said they would not provide their services.
"In English terms, the club was about to go into administration. That is when we came in. We had 12 sleepless nights, literally. You are buying a club with no lights on but within a couple of days we had paid over €2.5m of bills. We put out the fire."
The challenge now is to help Pogon fulfil their potential. The club was formed in 1948 and has had its ups and downs - "all the way to the fourth division and back" - but the sell-out crowds in excess of 20,000 reveal the passion that exists and the possibilities.
"It is hard to create a fan base," says Kesler. "But here, we are playing in front of a 21,000 capacity crowd since we have taken over. It is rare to find this kind of support. That is the main reason we came in. We have a two-year-old stadium worth €200m."
There is a broadcast deal in place providing significant revenue. "Poland is an emerging market." And there is an impressive academy that offers the prospect of developing their own players. If Pogon can secure European football, the platform will be there.
"The city has put a significant amount of taxpayers' money to improve the football here. Our academy facility is brilliant. We produce a lot of players. We are close to Berlin but far away from Warsaw, so a lot of the kids in the area want to come and play for us.
"There were financial challenges for the academy but we fixed those. Recruitment will be key. We are making a lot of changes. If we improve how players are produced here, we can make them more suitable for the buying markets in England, Italy and Spain.
"Our recipe will be to sell one player from the academy every year - but not be forced to sell. We want to give young and ambitious players a chance to play in bigger leagues. The chance to play in Europe brings more revenue to invest in the club and in players."
It is this talk of changing the playing style "to make the club more appealing" that will resonate with supporters of Hull City who were appreciative of Kesler's work when they were pushing for promotion to the Premier League with Liam Rosenior as head coach.
But when Hull owner Acun Ilicali decided to dispense with the services of Rosenior at the end of last season, replacing him with German coach Tim Walter, things unravelled fast. Kesler left in October of last year. Now Hull are facing relegation to League One.
"Liam is a great coach," acknowledges Kesler. "We worked countless hours to bring in a lot of good players like Fabio Carvalho, Jaden Philogene, Liam Delap. But then the decision was made - and I was part of it - to go down a different route.
"We had to form a new squad with a different style. It was very difficult. Tim is very good but he wanted to change everything very quickly. The fans were supportive of the first two years but I will probably get a lot of criticism for that period. It just did not work out.
"I never regret things, I try to take the lessons from it. But, for good or bad, I know I worked 17-hour days. I moved there to understand the culture and it was a privilege to be part of that community. My son was born in Hull so it has a sentimental value to me."
He is optimistic that he can succeed at Pogon instead. "I feel like the culture and tradition here complements our philosophy." Season-ticket sales have doubled. Out of the literal darkness of the winter months, Pogon's future looks bright again this spring.
"The debts are cleared and everyone is being paid," says Kesler. "Do we have more problems? Yes. Are we fixing them? Yes. But the goal is to be sustainable and we have the fans. We want to do something to remember, something to make my family proud.
"We are working day-to-day to make everyone believe that we can achieve this for the first time in the history of our club, that this will not be agony but an opportunity. We want to get into Europe. We want that first trophy. We are trying to make it complete."