Non-League and Academy football writer

PFC Victoria London were founded in 2016 as a club for the Polish community within the Feltham and Hanworth areas of west London. In the years that have followed, the club has made a really good impression on the Middlesex County Football League, and only last season they won promotion from that step 7 league to step 6 of the non-League system, for the 2024/25 season. These are exciting times for the club who play their matches at the Robert Parker Stadium (the home of Ashford Town FC). In their first ever season in the non-League pyramid, the club won the Saturday Division Two of the Middlesex League, finishing the 2016/17 season six points ahead of league runners-up Hayes MBFC.

Following on from the club’s promotion to step 8 of the non-League system in 2017, they would then win promotion from the Middlesex County Football League Division One West during the following season, to step 7. It hasn’t all been about promotions though, and there has been difficult times for the club, who did actually finish second to St Panteleimon, in their first ever season in the premier division of the Middlesex League (in 2017/18).

The club would bounce back in previous seasons within the premier division of the Middlesex League, and after a sixth place finish in 2022/23, they had a really strong 2023/24 season, finishing second to league champions Pitshanger Dynamo, which was enough to see them promoted to the Combined Counties Football League Division One, for the 2024/25 season. Next season they’ll be playing 44 league fixtures, playing against teams such as Yateley United and Rising Ballers Kensington, in what is a very competitive step 6 league. Last season I watched a number of PFC Victoria London’s league matches, and their first team play some really good football, but they also play really well as a team, as well, really showcasing their technical ability as a team, on the ball.

Mateusz Czekalski is the manager of PFC Victoria London’s men’s senior side, and his side has a number of players who have played at a decent level of football in Poland, in the past. Also, some of the younger players in the first team set-up, some of whom have progressed from the club’s successful youth team, which is managed by Seweryn Kowalczewski, provides a real pathway to the club’s first team. 

I’ve been impressed, from the games that I attended last season, with PFC Victoria London’s senior team as a whole, from their very clinical centre-forward Paweł Kowalkowski (he is a former Wealdstone and Haringey Borough player) to the talented Kingstonian player (he was dual-registered with PFC Victoria London last season) and youngster Oskar Dari, who finished the season as the club’s first team top scorer. There is a really good balance of youth and experience to their squad, with 16 year old goalkeeper Milan Czerwonka playing very well from the games that I attended last season, and then you’ve got club captain, the important Jakub Malczuk, who has been at the club since 2017.

Tom Ruchniewicz (I interviewed Tom on my blog, in February) is the chairman of the club, but he is also still a player as well. And PFC Victoria London’s owner is Tomasz Słowiak, who has been a very important part of the club’s journey since the very beginning. I plan on getting to some more of PFC Victoria’s matches next season, when I can, to cover some of their games on my blog. However, I will be following their progress closely in 2024/25. 

PFC Victoria London are a real community club, and they’re also a very welcoming and friendly club as well. I’m sure that all at the club will be relishing the challenge of next season, with them playing their football at step 6, and it will be a very interesting season for them, and it’s one in which I wish them all the very best for.