Lukas Podolski

Lukas Podolski (International Phonetic Alphabet–German: ) (born as on June 4, 1985 in Gliwice, Poland) nicknamed (Prinz) Poldi, is a German Football (soccer) who plays as a striker. He plays as a striker for FC Bayern Munich and is a member of the German national football team.

Early career

Born in the industrial town of Gliwice, in Upper Silesia, Poland, Podolski is one of two top German football players with Polish roots, the other one being Miroslav Klose. The Podolski family managed to emigrate to West Germany as Aussiedler Germany since Lukas' grandparents were German citizens before World War 2. His father Waldemar Podolski was also a professional football player playing for a number of Polish clubs, while his mother played handball for Sośnica Gliwice. In 1987, when Lukas Podolski was two years old, his parents settled from People's Republic of Poland to West Germany. Podolski grew up in Bergheim, North Rhine-Westphalia, and later in Pulheim, both near. Cologne.

It was at 1. FC Köln where Podolski's talents were first noticed. In 2003, at the age of 18, Podolski was still part of the club's youth side. At this time the club found itself in dire straits battling to avoid relegation from the Bundesliga (football). First team boss Marcel Koller, working on a shoestring budget, invited Podolski to train with the senior players and he made his top flight debut shortly afterwards on November 22, 2003. Even though Cologne failed to avoid a drop to the 2nd German division, Podolski had shown what he could do, scoring 10 goals in his first 19 senior appearances. This was the best tally by an 18 year old in the history of the Bundesliga (football).

Though his call up to the Germany national football team EURO 2004 squad brought along interest from several top clubs, Podolski stayed at 1. FC Köln to help the club gain promotion in the 2004-2005 campaign. With 24 goals, Podolski advanced to become the league's best scorer. Somewhat unusually, Podolski remained part of the Germany national football team, even though he did not play in the national top tier league.

After 1. FC Köln was promoted, the pressure was on Podolski to keep the club in the Fußball-Bundesliga practically singlehandedly. Podolski managed to score 12 goals in the 2005-2006 season, but eventually, 1. FC Köln was relegated again. It became clear that Podolski would not stay again to push 1. FC Köln through the 2006-2007 2nd Bundesliga (football) - even more so, as Podolski was becoming an integral part of the Germany national football team.

Bayern Munich

National team

Even before the Football-Bundesliga 2004/05 season began Podolski had become the first second-division player since 1975 to break into the national team, celebrating his debut for Rudi Völler's Germany on 6 June, 2004 in Kaiserslautern against Hungary with a late substitute appearance.

Podolski played for Germany national football team at 2004 UEFA European Football Championship, where he was the squad's youngest player. He also attended the FIFA Confederations Cup in 2005 and scored 3 goals there.

Podolski was selected in the 2006 FIFA World Cup (squads) Germany for the 2006 FIFA World Cup, where he partnered Miroslav Klose in attack. He scored his first ever World Cup goal in Germany's 3rd group match against Ecuador national football team, and both goals in the 2-0 win over Sweden in the round of 16. By this, he became the first player since 1962 to score two goals in the first 12 minutes of a World Cup match and only the third man ever to accomplish the feat. During the World Cup, Lukas Podolski and his German squad went to the semi-finals and lost to Italy 2-0 in extra time. And, eventually won the third place match against Portugal. His three goals in the tournament tied him for second in the Golden Boot competition, which was won by his teammate Miroslav Klose with 5 goals. Podolski was tied with Ronaldo, Thierry Henry, Fernando Torres, David Villa, Maxi Rodriguez, Hernán Crespo, and FIFA World Cup MVP (winner of the Golden Ball) Zinedine Zidane. Podolski was named the World Cup's FIFA World Cup awards Best Young Player Award for his performance in the tournament.

On September 6, 2006, Podolski netted 4 goals in a 2008 UEFA European Football Championship qualifying game against San Marino national football team, which made him only third German after Gerd Müller and Michael Ballack to score 4 goals in an international match. The final score of the match in Serravalle, San Marino was 0-13. In Germany's 4-1 win against Slovakia in Bratislava on October 11 2006, he scored the first and the last German goal, both on assists by Miroslav Klose. He has continued to score goals at an astonishing rate, with 7 goals thus far in Euro qualifying, second only to David Healy of Northern Ireland with 11 goals.

Honors

On July 6, 2006, Podolski was announced as the first FIFA World Cup awards Best Young Player Award

Club Titles

- 2. Fußball-Bundesliga: 2005
- Liga-Pokal: 2007

National Team

- Confederations Cup Bronze medallist: 2005 FIFA Confederations Cup
- FIFA World Cup Bronze medallist: 2006

Club career stats