Lukas Podolski

Lukas Podolski (born as on 4 June 1985 in Gliwice) is a Germany association football who plays as a striker for 1. FC Köln and is a member of the Germany national football team.

Early life

Podolski was born to Krystyna Podolska, a former member of the Poland women's national handball team and Waldemar Podolski, former Polish football professional and the 1980 champion of Poland with Szombierki Bytom, in the Silesian industrial town of Gliwice (near Katowice), Poland. In 1987, when Łukasz Podolski was two years old, Lukas Podolski family emigrated from Poland to West Germany and got the status as Aussiedler, but Podolski said in 2008 that Lukas Podolski has Polish blood in him. Podolski grew up in Bergheim, North Rhine-Westphalia, and later in Pulheim, both near Cologne. Lukas Podolski still has Polish citizenship, but Lukas Podolski travels with a German passport.

Club career

FC Köln

Podolski began playing football at the age of six in the youth team of FC Bergheim, where Lukas Podolski played until Lukas Podolski joined 1. FC Köln in 1995. It was there 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 Fußball-Bundesliga. First team boss Marcel Koller, working on a shoestring budget, invited Podolski to train with the senior players and Lukas Podolski made Lukas Podolski top flight debut shortly afterwards on 22 November 2003. Even though Köln failed to avoid a drop to the 2. Fußball-Bundesliga, Podolski had shown what Lukas Podolski could do, scoring 10 goals in Lukas Podolski first 19 senior appearances. This was the best tally by an 18-year-old in the history of the Bundesliga.

Though Lukas Podolski call up to the Germany national football team UEFA Euro 2004 squad brought along interest from several top clubs, Podolski stayed at Köln to help the club gain promotion in the Second Fußball-Bundesliga 2004-05. With 24 goals, Podolski advanced to become the league's best scorer. Somewhat unusually, Podolski remained part of the Germany squad, even though Lukas Podolski did not play in the national top-tier league.

After Köln were promoted, the pressure was on Podolski to keep the club in the Bundesliga practically singlehandedly. Podolski managed to score 12 goals in the Fußball-Bundesliga 2005–06, but eventually, Köln were relegated again. It became clear that Podolski would not stay again to push them through the Second Fußball-Bundesliga 2006-07—even more so, as Podolski was becoming an integral part of the national team.

Bayern Munich

In 2006, clubs such as FC Bayern Munich, Hamburger SV, Werder Bremen and even Real Madrid manifested their interest in Podolski, even though Lukas Podolski had a contract with 1. FC Köln through 2007. On 1 June 2006, Podolski announced that a transfer agreement had been reached with Bayern Munich, allowing Lukas Podolski to join the Bavarian side for the 2006–07 season. Financial details of the deal were not immediately available, but the transfer fee was speculated to be around €10 million. Lukas Podolski made Lukas Podolski Bundesliga debut for Bayern on 11 August 2006 with a 2–0 victory against Borussia Dortmund, coming on as a substitute in the 88th minute. On 9 September 2006, Lukas Podolski came on as a second half substitute in a DFB cup game versus FC St Pauli. Only 26 seconds after the second half started, Lukas Podolski scored the Equaliser (football), evening the match 1–1. On 14 October 2006, with Lukas Podolski first Bundesliga goal for Bayern, Podolski helped to secure the club's 4–2 win over Hertha BSC Berlin. On 26 October 2006, Podolski suffered a serious injury to Lukas Podolski right ankle joint caused by teammate, Mark van Bommel, during a training session. Consequently, Podolski missed more than five match weeks. Lukas Podolski returned from this injury and scored against Alemannia Aachen. Lukas Podolski sometimes communicates with fellow Bayern and national team striker Miroslav Klose, who is also Polish-born, in Polish language to hinder their opposition's understanding of their conversation.

When Bayern brought in Italian striker Luca Toni, "Poldi" was moved down the pecking order and received less playing time due to the coach's preference to partner Klose and Toni together instead. After a rather unhappy season at Bayern, Lukas Podolski returned to former club 1. FC Köln on 1 July 2009.

Return to FC Köln

After Podolski was assured by Germany national football team Coach (sport) Joachim Löw that a return to 1. FC Köln would not harm Lukas Podolski chances of international football, an agreement to sign Lukas Podolski was agreed between FC Bayern Munich and Köln on 20 January 2009, although Lukas Podolski would not return to Köln until the start of the summer transfer window, on 1 July. Podolski will return to Köln on a four-year contract, and the transfer is speculated to be around €10 million, equivalent to the fee Bayern paid to sign Lukas Podolski in 2006.
Köln created a website where people can buy pixels of an image of Lukas Podolski for €25 each, in order to gather €1 million to reduce the cost of the transfer.

International career

International debut and breakthrough

In late 2003, after several impressive performances in Lukas Podolski first few Bundesliga games, Polish media suggested then-Polish national team coach Paweł Janas to check Podolski out, as Lukas Podolski was still eligible to play for Poland. Janas ignored the request stating in one of the press interviews that "as for today we have much better strikers in Poland and I don't see a reason to call up a player just because Lukas Podolski played one or two good matches in the Bundesliga. He's not even a regular starter at Lukas Podolski club." By that time Podolski was still interested in representing Poland, but as the season progressed more and more German media started to suggest to call up the striker to their national team. When Lukas Podolski full potential was finally unveiled, Lukas Podolski had already been persuaded to represent Germany. At the end of the season Köln were relegated, but Podolski impressed so much, that Lukas Podolski celebrated Lukas Podolski debut for Rudi Völler's Germany on 6 June 2004 in Kaiserslautern against Hungary with a late substitute appearance. Lukas Podolski had become the first second-division player since 1975 to break into the national team.

Euro 2004

Podolski played for Germany national football team at UEFA Euro 2004, where Lukas Podolski was the squad's youngest player. Lukas Podolski made one substitute appearance in the game against the Czech Republic, when Lukas Podolski came on for Torsten Frings at half-time.

World Cup 2006

Podolski was selected in the 2006 FIFA World Cup squads Germany for the 2006 FIFA World Cup, where Lukas Podolski partnered Miroslav Klose in attack. Lukas Podolski scored Lukas Podolski first ever World Cup goal in Germany's third group match against Ecuador national football team, and both goals in the 2–0 win over Sweden in the round of 16. By this, Lukas Podolski 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. Germany went to the semi-finals and lost to Italy 2–0 in extra time. They eventually won the third place match against Portugal national football team. Lukas Podolski three goals in the tournament tied Lukas Podolski for second in the Golden Boot competition, which was won by Lukas Podolski teammate Miroslav Klose with five 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.

Euro 2008

In UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying game against San Marino national football team in Serravalle, San Marino Podolski netted four goals in Germany's record 13–0 thrashing. Lukas Podolski is one of only four German players to score four goals in an international match. Lukas Podolski was the third after Gerd Müller and Michael Ballack, and since this, Mario Gómez has accomplished this feat. In Germany's 4–1 win against Slovakia national football team in Bratislava on 11 October 2006, Lukas Podolski scored the first and the last German goal, both on assists by Miroslav Klose. Lukas Podolski has continued to score goals at an astonishing rate. On 17 November 2007, in a UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying Group D match against Cyprus national football team, Podolski was involved in every goal in Germany's 4–0 victory. This was one of Podolski's best performances for the national team. Even though Lukas Podolski played out of Lukas Podolski natural position, playing at left midfield, Lukas Podolski netted one goal himself and was voted Man of the Match.

On Sunday 8 June 2008, Podolski made Lukas Podolski Euro 2008 entrance against debutants Poland national football team in a UEFA Euro 2008 Group B match in Klagenfurt, Austria. Lukas Podolski scored both goals in a 2–0 victory. Lukas Podolski avoided celebrating Lukas Podolski goals, however, to show respect for Lukas Podolski country of birth. After the game Lukas Podolski gave an emotional interview on Polish television. The goals put Lukas Podolski in the lead in the Euro 2008 goal-scoring list for two days until David Villa scored a hat-trick for Spain national football team against Russia national football team.

On 12 June, Germany played Croatia national football team in their second Group B match, again in Klagenfurt. Podolski scored the German team's only goal of the game in the 79th minute, by which time the Croatians were already leading 2–0. Lukas Podolski did not celebrate this goal either despite it putting Lukas Podolski joint first on the Euro 2008 goal-scoring list with David Villa. Podolski's goal was not enough to snatch a draw, with Croatia holding out for a 2–1 victory over Germany. On 19 June, Germany played Portugal in the quarterfinal in Basel, Podolski was instrumental in the first goal, whipping a cross into the penalty box that slotted home by Bastian Schweinsteiger in the 22nd minute to give Germany a 1–0 lead.

On the international scene, Podolski seems to be gravitating towards an attacking left midfield role from Lukas Podolski traditional place as a striker. Lukas Podolski resumed this position in the UEFA Euro 2008 Final, but was unable to prevent Germany losing 1–0 to Spain national football team. In a controversial incident, Podolski was headbutted by Spanish midfielder David Silva, although this went unnoticed by the referee and Lukas Podolski assistants, and went unpenalised. Lukas Podolski was named in the 23 man squad as one of the players of the tournament along with countrymen Michael Ballack and Philipp Lahm.

World Cup 2010

On 6 September 2008, Podolski scored the opening two goals in Germany's first FIFA World Cup 2010 qualifying game against Liechtenstein national football team in Rheinpark Stadion; a match that ended in a 6-0 victory for the Germans. Lukas Podolski scored the opener in the 2-1 home win over Russian national football team on 11 October, when Lukas Podolski turned Vasily Berezutsky on the edge of the penalty area, before unleashing a powerful shot past Russia's goalkeeper Igor Akinfeev. As of 10 June 2009, Lukas Podolski is currently the joint-top scorer in 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification - UEFA Group 4 with 4 goals. During one of the qualifying matches, Lukas Podolski was involved in a bust-up with team captain Michael Ballack.

Despite enduring an unhappy domestic 2008-09 season, Podolski still maintained Lukas Podolski scoring streak at international level, many times partnering Miroslav Klose to great effect.

Personal life

Podolski's longtime girlfriend Monika Puchalski gave birth to their first child, Louis, on 14 April 2008.