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Lukas Podolski (born as Łukasz Podolski on June 4, 1985 in Gliwice, Poland), nicknamed (Prinz) Poldi, is a German football player of Polish origin. He plays for 1.FC Köln (for Bayern Munich next season) in the position of a striker. He is seen as one of the most promising German players.

Player profile

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. 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 January 22, 2003. Even though Cologne failed to avoid the drop 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.

Podolski continued to stay with the club despite relegation and was instrumental in ensuring a quick return to the top flight, scoring 24 goals in the process. Even before the 2004/05 season began he 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.

He played for Germany at Template:Ec2, where he was the squad's youngest player. He also attended the FIFA Confederations Cup in 2005 and scored 3 goals there.

Germany coach Jürgen Klinsmann holds him in high regard as he is lethal with his head as well as his feet and still very young and energetic. Because of this, clubs such as Bayern München, Hamburger SV, Werder Bremen and even Real Madrid manifested their interest in Podolski, though he had a contract with FC Köln through 2007. On 1 June 2006, Podolski announced that a transfer agreement had been reached with Bayern Munich allowing him 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 somewhere in the area of €10 mil.

Podolski was selected in the Germany squad for the 2006 World Cup, where he will partner Miroslav Klose in attack. He scored his first ever World Cup goal in Germany's 3rd group match against Ecuador, and two goals against Sweden in the round of 16. 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.

Trivia

• Podolski speaks Polish with his parents, as well as fellow teammate Miroslav Klose, and also knows English.
• Podolski has a girlfriend, Monika, who is also from Poland.
• His family name comes from the one-time Polish region of Podolia.
• Despite being a naturalized German citizen, Lukas feels a strong bond to his native Poland, choosing not to sing the German anthem when facing off against his native Poland, as in all games.

Club career stats

See also

• FC Cologne
• Germany national football team
• Bayern Munich

References

1. Guardian Unlimited Football (2006). World Cup 2006 | Lukas Podolski. Retrieved June 25, 2006.

External links

• Official website Template:De icon
• MyPodolski fan website Template:En icon

v t e Germany squad – 2006 FIFA World Cup third place
1 Lehmann 2 Jansen 3 Friedrich 4 Huth 5 Kehl 6 Nowotny 7 Schweinsteiger 8 Frings 9 Hanke 10 Neuville 11 Klose 12 Kahn 13 Ballack (c) 14 Asamoah 15 Hitzlsperger 16 Lahm 17 Mertesacker 18 Borowski 19 Schneider 20 Podolski 21 Metzelder 22 Odonkor 23 Hildebrand Coach: Klinsmann

• 1985 births
• Living people
• Polish-Germans
• German footballers
• UEFA Euro 2004 players
• FC Cologne players
• German International players
• FIFA World Cup 2006 players