The Falubaz player has had two surgeries. He doesn’t know if the transfer to Unia went through!

Before the 2025 season, he joined Stelmet Falubaz Zielona Góra from Fogo Unia Leszno only on loan. However, he struck up a great rapport with Zielona Góra’s coach, Piotr Protasiewicz, and his talent exploded even further. Leszno hoped Damian Ratajczak would return, but Zielona Góra did everything they could to secure a permanent contract. The three-year contract, binding him to the club until 2028, was a major transfer hit. Now he’s looking to compete for medals with Falubaz.

In his debut season at Falubaz, he was expected to be merely a solid addition to the junior team. Instead, it turned out that, along with Leon Madsen and Przemysław Pawlicki, he was the team’s top scorer in many matches. Thanks to him, Zielona Góra had no trouble staying in the PGE Ekstraliga. He finished the season 25th in the scoring charts, averaging 1.75 points per run.

“Everything’s heading in the right direction. I’m feeling less and less iron. I’ve had two surgeries. One involved reassembling the metacarpal bone in my hand, and the other involved removing all the iron from my thigh. It was quite a short period of time, so it took me a while to recover from the procedures. Now, everyday life is the same: constant rehabilitation,” he revealed in an interview with Radio Zielona Góra. “I’m focusing on it. I’m putting 100 percent of myself into it to be ready for the season. That’s what matters to me,” he added.

In recent weeks, Ratajczak has been focusing on leg exercises because he couldn’t move his arm. Only a few days ago did they remove the wires from his arm.

“I think December will be stronger and more intense in terms of pre-season preparation. They’ll be able to increase the weights and allow themselves more freedom in full-body exercises, because everything is heading towards normal,” he admitted.

After the 2025 season, the Zielona Góra club experienced a minor “earthquake.” Sporting director and coach Piotr Protasiewicz resigned. The former Polish national team player had a great relationship with Ratajczak. The young speedway rider even wanted to invite him to work for his team, but Protasiewicz ultimately accepted Betard Sparta Wrocław’s offer, and it is at that club that he will now serve as both coach and sporting director.

“I was certainly surprised by this decision, but it’s not my place to go into detail about why it happened. I still have a good relationship with coach Piotr Protasiewicz. We usually talk on the phone once a week. So I can also count on some support from him. Our relationship hasn’t changed because the coach won’t be on our team,” he emphasized.

Falubaz has already chosen a new coach.

“Grzegorz Walasek, who raced as a full-fledged rider this season, is coming in. He’s certainly also very knowledgeable and will want to help us as much as possible. From juniors to seniors, he’ll want to take care of everything as best he can, because that’s his role. I think I also have a good relationship with him, and it certainly won’t get any worse, and we’ll be able to achieve good results with the team,” Ratajczak told Radio Zielona Góra.

Did the EU receive the transfer?

His permanent transfer to Falubaz was one of the highlights of the transfer window, but it also sparked considerable controversy. Fogo Unia Leszno officials were angry with their alumnus for not even waiting to see if the Leszno club would return to the PGE Ekstraliga, instead announcing he was staying in Zielona Góra for another three years.

The people of Leszno are only entitled to compensation for training in the amount of PLN 720,000.

“We should ask the president whether the transfer to the EU has already been made or not. I think everything must have been taken care of since I was able to sign the pre-contract. I think all the formalities are complete, and we should be happy about that,” Ratajczak said.

In this year’s transfer window, Zielona Góra not only announced a multi-year contract with the junior, but also extended Przemysław Pawlicki’s contract and acquired two Grand Prix stars: Dominik Kubera and Andrzej Lebiediew. Leon Madsen remains the team’s leader, having signed a two-year contract with Zielona Góra from Krono-Plast Włókniarz Częstochowa last year. What will this team be capable of in the 2026 season?

“We can fight for the playoffs. And if we get to the playoffs, we can fight for a medal, because then anything is possible. We’ll fight for that,” Ratajczak announced.