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Lukas Podolski

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{{Infobox football biography | playername = Lukas Podolski | image = | fullname = Lukas Josef Podolski | dateofbirth = (1985-06-04) 4 June 1985 (age 39) | cityofbirth = Gliwice | countryofbirth = Poland | height = 1.82 m (5 ft 11+1⁄2 in) | position = Striker / Winger | currentclub = 1. FC Köln | clubnumber = 10 | youthyears1 = 1991–1995 | youthclubs1 = FC Jugend 07 Bergheim | youthyears2 = 1995–2002 | youthclubs2 = 1. FC Köln | years1 = 2002–2004 | clubs1 = 1. FC Köln II | caps1 = 2 | goals1 = 0 | years2 = 2003–2006 | clubs2 = 1. FC Köln | caps2 = 81 | goals2 = 46 | years3 = 2006–2009 | clubs3 = Bayern Munich | caps3 = 71 | goals3 = 15 | years4 = 2007–2008 | clubs4 = Bayern Munich II | caps4 = 2 | goals4 = 0 | years5 = 2009–2011 | clubs5 = 1. FC Köln | caps5 = 75 | goals5 = 29 In an interview Podolski said that the Polish football association never cared about him until he started playing for the German U21 national team and received coverage in the media. At that point, Podolski arrived at the decision, but nevertheless "there are two hearts beating" in his chest. In an interview in the Polish Przegląd Sportowy from 2011, Podolski stated that he always wanted to play in Poland as he is a Pole but plays for the German team.Cite error: A <ref> tag is missing the closing </ref> (see the help page).

Club career

1. FC Köln

Podolski began playing football at the age of six in the youth team of FC Bergheim, where he played until he 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 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 22 November 2003. Even though Köln failed to avoid a drop to the 2nd 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.

Though his call up to the German Euro 2004 squad brought along interest from several top clubs, Podolski stayed at Köln to help the club gain promotion in the 2004–05 season. With 24 goals, Podolski advanced to become the league's best scorer. Somewhat unusually, Podolski remained part of the Germany squad, even though he 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 2005–06 season, but eventually, Köln were relegated again. It became clear that Podolski would not stay again to push them through the 2006–07 season—even more so, as Podolski was becoming an integral part of the national team.

Bayern Munich

In 2006, clubs such as Liverpool F.C., Bayern Munich, Hamburger SV, SV Werder Bremen, and even Real Madrid manifested their interest in Podolski, even though he 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 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 around 10 million euro. He made his 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, he came on as a second half substitute in a DFB cup game versus FC St. Pauli. Only 26 seconds after the second half started, he scored the equaliser, evening the match 1–1. On 14 October 2006, with his first Bundesliga goal for Bayern, Podolski helped to secure the club's 4–2 win over Hertha Berlin. On 26 October 2006, Podolski suffered a serious injury to his right ankle joint caused by teammate, Mark van Bommel, during a training session. Consequently, Podolski missed more than five match weeks. He returned from this injury and scored against Alemannia Aachen. He sometimes communicates with former Bayern and fellow national team striker Miroslav Klose, also a Polish-born Aussiedler, in Polish 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, he returned to former club Köln on 1 July 2009.

Return to FC Köln

After Podolski was assured by national team coach Joachim Löw that a return to 1. FC Köln would not harm his chances of international football, an agreement to sign him was agreed between Bayern Munich and Köln on 20 January 2009, although he would not return to Köln until the start of the summer transfer window. On 1 July, Podolski returned to Köln on a four-year contract, and the transfer is speculated to be around 10 million euro, equivalent to the fee Bayern paid to sign him in 2006. Köln created a website where people were able to buy pixels of an image of Lukas Podolski for €25 per 8x8 pixel square, in order to gather €1 million to reduce the cost of the transfer.

Having just moved from Bayern Munich, Podolski had a poor first season at Köln, scoring just three times the entire season. One of his goals however, came from a free kick against his former club to salvage a draw.

In the 2010–11 season, Podolski scored his 50th Bundesliga goal in the match against Hannover 96 in March 2011. During the entire season, Podolski scored thirteen goals and seven assists.

Podolski is now being strongly linked with a move to Arsenal FC in the coming weeks of January,with the fee rumoured to be about £13.5 million

Arsenal

German striker Lukas Podolski has joined Arsenal on 2nd January 2011 for £13.5Million fee.

International career

Lukas Podolski during a friendly game against South Africa

International debut and breakthrough

In late 2003, after several impressive performances in his first few Bundesliga games, Polish media suggested then-Polish national team coach Paweł Janas should check Podolski out, as he 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 he played one or two good matches in the Bundesliga. He's not even a regular starter at his club." By that time Podolski was still interested in representing Poland, but as the season progressed German media increasingly highlighted his performances to suggest he should be called up to the German national team. When his full potential was finally unveiled, he had already decided to represent Germany. At the end of the season Köln were relegated, but Podolski impressed so much, that he held his debut for Rudi Völler's Germany on 6 June 2004, at age 19, in Kaiserslautern against Hungary with a late substitute appearance. He had become the first second-division player since 1975 to break into the national team.

Euro 2004

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

World Cup 2006

Podolski was selected in the Germany squad for the 2006 World Cup, where he partnered Miroslav Klose as the attack duo in the starting lineup. He scored his first ever World Cup goal in Germany's third group match against Ecuador, and both goals in the 2–0 win over 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 player ever to accomplish the feat. Germany finished third in the tournament, and while his teammate Miroslav Klose won the Golden Boot competition, Podolski's three goals tied him for second place with Ronaldo, Thierry Henry, Fernando Torres, David Villa, Maxi Rodriguez, Hernán Crespo and Zinedine Zidane. Podolski was named the World Cup's Best Young Player ahead of players like Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo.

Euro 2008

In a Euro 2008 qualifying game against San Marino in Serravalle Podolski netted four goals in Germany's record 13–0 thrashing. He is one of only four German players to score four goals in an international match. He 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 in Bratislava on 11 October 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. On 17 November 2007, in a Euro qualifier match against Cyprus, 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 he played out of his natural position, playing at left midfield, he netted one goal himself and was voted Man of the Match.

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

On 12 June, Germany played Croatia 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. He did not celebrate this goal either despite it putting him 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 was 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 his traditional place as a striker. Initially, Löw had moved him to the wing in order to accommodate the partnership of Klose and Mario Gómez up front. When this backfired, he resumed his forward position in the UEFA Euro 2008 Final, but was unable to prevent Germany losing 1–0 to Spain. In a controversial incident, Podolski was headbutted by Spanish midfielder David Silva, although this went unnoticed by the referee and his 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.

2010 FIFA World Cup

On 6 September 2008, Podolski scored the opening two goals in Germany's first 2010 World Cup qualifier against Liechtenstein in Vaduz; a match that ended in a 6–0 victory for the Germans. He scored the opener in the 2–1 home win over Russia on 11 October, when he turned Vasily Berezutsky on the edge of the penalty area, before unleashing a powerful shot past Russia's goalkeeper Akinfeev. He finished the qualification campaign second highest scorer of Group 4 with 6 goals, behind teammate Miroslav Klose's 7. During one of the qualifying matches, he was involved in a bust-up with team captain Michael Ballack.

On 13 June 2010, Podolski, who had become accustomed to his position as a winger scored the first goal in Germany's World Cup opening game in a 4–0 win against Australia, before assisting teammate Thomas Müller for the third goal.

On 18 June 2010, Podolski missed a second-half penalty after a handling infraction committed by Nemanja Vidić in the 1–0 loss to Serbia. The German team had gone down to 10-men after a second yellow was shown to Miroslav Klose in the 36th minute. Even though the Germans played with 10-men throughout the rest of the game, Podolski had numerous chances on goal. However he was unable to capitalize, and the game ended in a surprise defeat for the Germans. However, he managed to score against England in the last 16, giving Germany a 2–0 advantage in the first half. They went on to beat England 4–1.

In the quarter final against Argentina, Podolski assisted Klose to a goal, bringing the score to 2–0. The Germans won the match 4–0.

Euro 2012

During qualification, Podolski provided assists for three goals and scored three times, helping Germany to win all 10 matches of their qualification campaign.

Career statistics

Club

As of 27 December 2011
Club performance League Cup League Cup Europe Total
Club League Season Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
1. FC Köln II Regionalliga Nord 2002–03 1 0 – – – 1 0
2003–04 1 0 – – – 1 0
Total 2 0 – – – 2 0
1. FC Köln Bundesliga 2003–04 19 10 1 0 – – 20 10
2. Bundesliga 2004–05 30 24 2 5 – – 32 29
Bundesliga 2005–06 32 12 1 0 – – 33 12
Total 81 46 4 5 – – 84 51
Bayern Munich Bundesliga 2006–07 22 4 3 2 2 0 7 1 34 7
2007–08 25 5 4 0 0 0 12 5 41 10
2008–09 24 6 3 1 – 4 2 31 9
Total 71 15 10 3 2 0 23 8 106 26
Bayern Munich II Regionalliga Süd 2007–08 2 0 – – – 2 0
Total 2 0 – – – 2 0
1. FC Köln Bundesliga 2009–10 27 2 4 1 – – 31 3
2010–11 32 13 2 1 – – 34 14
2011–12 16 14 2 0 – – 18 14
Total 75 29 8 2 – – 83 31
Career total 231 90 22 10 2 0 23 8 278 108

International career statistics

Template:Football player national team statistics |- |2004||8||2 |- |2005||12||8 |- |2006||17||12 |- |2007||7||2 |- |2008||16||7 |- |2009||9||6 |- |2010||14||5 |- |2011||8||1 |- !Total||91||43 |}

International goals

Scores and results table. Germany's goal tally first:
# Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition
1. 21 December 2004 Rajamangala Stadium, Bangkok, Thailand  Thailand 3–1 5–1 Friendly
2. 21 December 2004 Rajamangala Stadium, Bangkok, Thailand  Thailand 5–1 5–1 Friendly
3. 26 March 2005 Bežigrad Stadium, Ljubljana, Slovenia  Slovenia 1–0 1–0 Friendly
4. 4 June 2005 Windsor Park, Belfast, Northern Ireland  Northern Ireland 4–1 4–1 Friendly
5. 15 June 2005 Commerzbank-Arena, Frankfurt, Germany  Australia 4–2 4–3 FIFA Confederations Cup 2005
6. 25 June 2005 Frankenstadion, Nuremberg, Germany  Brazil 1–1 2–3 FIFA Confederations Cup 2005
7. 29 June 2005 Zentralstadion, Leipzig, Germany  Mexico 1–0 4–3 FIFA Confederations Cup 2005
8. 7 September 2005 Olympiastadion Berlin, Berlin, Germany  South Africa 1–0 4–2 Friendly
9. 7 September 2005 Olympiastadion Berlin, Berlin, Germany  South Africa 3–1 4–2 Friendly
10. 7 September 2005 Olympiastadion Berlin, Berlin, Germany  South Africa 4–2 4–2 Friendly
11. 27 May 2006 Badenova Stadion, Freiburg, Germany  Luxembourg 3–0 7–0 Friendly
12. 27 May 2006 Badenova Stadion, Freiburg, Germany  Luxembourg 5–0 7–0 Friendly
13. 20 June 2006 Olympiastadion Berlin, Berlin, Germany  Ecuador 3–0 3–0 FIFA World Cup 2006
14. 24 June 2006 Allianz Arena, Munich, Germany  Sweden 1–0 2–0 FIFA World Cup 2006
15. 24 June 2006 Allianz Arena, Munich, Germany  Sweden 2–0 2–0 FIFA World Cup 2006
16. 2 September 2006 Gottlieb Daimler Stadion, Stuttgart, Germany  Republic of Ireland 1–0 1–0 UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying
17. 6 September 2006 Stadio Olimpico, Serravalle, San Marino  San Marino 1–0 13–0 UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying
18. 6 September 2006 Stadio Olimpico, Serravalle, San Marino  San Marino 5–0 13–0 UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying
19. 6 September 2006 Stadio Olimpico, Serravalle, San Marino  San Marino 8–0 13–0 UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying
20. 6 September 2006 Stadio Olimpico, Serravalle, San Marino  San Marino 10–0 13–0 UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying
21. 11 October 2006 Tehelné Pole Stadion, Bratislava, Slovakia  Slovakia 1–0 4–1 UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying
22. 11 October 2006 Tehelné Pole Stadion, Bratislava, Slovakia  Slovakia 4–1 4–1 UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying
23. 12 September 2007 Rhein-Energie Stadion, Cologne, Germany  Romania 3–1 3–1 Friendly
24. 17 November 2007 AWD Arena, Hannover, Germany  Cyprus 3–0 4–0 UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying
25. 26 March 2008 St. Jakob Park, Basel, Switzerland   Switzerland 4–0 4–0 Friendly
26. 8 June 2008 Wörthersee Stadion, Klagenfurt, Austria  Poland 1–0 2–0 UEFA Euro 2008
27. 8 June 2008 Wörthersee Stadion, Klagenfurt, Austria  Poland 2–0 2–0 UEFA Euro 2008
28. 12 June 2008 Wörthersee Stadion, Klagenfurt, Austria  Croatia 1–2 1–2 UEFA Euro 2008
29. 6 September 2008 Rheinpark Stadion, Vaduz, Liechtenstein  Liechtenstein 1–0 6–0 FIFA World Cup 2010 qualifying
30. 6 September 2008 Rheinpark Stadion, Vaduz, Liechtenstein  Liechtenstein 2–0 6–0 FIFA World Cup 2010 qualifying
31. 11 October 2008 Signal Iduna Park, Dortmund, Germany  Russia 1–0 2–1 FIFA World Cup 2010 qualifying
32. 28 March 2009 Zentralstadion, Leipzig, Germany  Liechtenstein 4–0 4–0 FIFA World Cup 2010 qualifying
33. 29 May 2009 Shanghai Stadium, Shanghai, China  China 1–1 1–1 Friendly
34. 9 September 2009 AWD-Arena, Hanover, Germany  Azerbaijan 4–0 4–0 FIFA World Cup 2010 qualifying
35. 14 October 2009 HSH Nordbank Arena, Hamburg, Germany  Finland 1–1 1–1 FIFA World Cup 2010 qualifying
36. 18 November 2009 Veltins-Arena, Gelsenkirchen, Germany  Ivory Coast 1–0 2–2 Friendly
37. 18 November 2009 Veltins-Arena, Gelsenkirchen, Germany  Ivory Coast 2–2 2–2 Friendly
38. 29 May 2010 Stadium Puskás Ferenc, Budapest, Hungary  Hungary 1–0 3–0 Friendly
39. 13 June 2010 Moses Mabhida Stadium, Durban, South Africa  Australia 1–0 4–0 FIFA World Cup 2010
40. 27 June 2010 Free State Stadium, Bloemfontein, South Africa  England 2–0 4–1 FIFA World Cup 2010
41. 7 September 2010 RheinEnergieStadion, Cologne, Germany  Azerbaijan 2–0 6–1 UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying
42. 12 October 2010 Astana Arena, Astana, Kazakhstan  Kazakhstan 3–0 3–0 UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying
43. 2 September 2011 Veltins-Arena, Gelsenkirchen, Germany  Austria 3–0 6–2 UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying

Honours

Club

1. FC Köln

FC Bayern Munich

Individual

National team

Attributed quotes

  • "So ist Fußball, manchmal gewinnt der bessere" (That's football, sometimes the better one wins)
  • "Fussball ist wie Schach, nur ohne Würfel." (Football is like chess, only without the dice.) The quote has been published by Spiegel Online but has never been confirmed. Spiegel officially withdrew this quote.

References

  1. "List of Players" (PDF). FIFA. Retrieved 8 November 2010.
  2. "Spielerporträt Lukas Podolski". 1. FC Köln (in German). Retrieved 28 March 2011.
  3. "Germany: 20 Lukas Podolski". UEFA. Retrieved 9 June 2008.
  4. Cite error: The named reference keinpass was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. "20 – Lukas Podolski". euro2008.uefa.com. Retrieved 1 November 2008.
  6. "GERMANY/ OFFICIAL, Podolski at Koeln next summer". 19 January 2009. Retrieved 19 January 2009.
  7. "Low assurance for Podolski". football.co.uk. 14 January 2009. Retrieved 2 November 2009.
  8. "Podolski secures Köln return". insideworldsoccer.com. 20 January 2009. Retrieved 2 November 2009.
  9. "FC Köln find unique way of funding Podolski transfer". thespoiler.co.uk. 4 February 2009. Retrieved 2 November 2009.
  10. "1. FC Köln – Poldi-Pixel". pixel.fc-koeln.de. Retrieved 2 November 2009.
  11. "Podolski double gets Germany going". euro2008.uefa.com. Retrieved 1 November 2008.
  12. "Olić kick-starts Croatian celebrations". euro2008.uefa.com. Retrieved 1 November 2008.
  13. McNulty, Phil (27 June 2010). "Germany 4–1 England". BBC Sport. Retrieved 28 June 2010.
  14. Bevan, Chris (3 July 2010). "Argentina 0–4 Germany". BBC Sport. Retrieved 3 July 2010.
  15. Lukas Podolski at National-Football-Teams.com
  16. "Lukas Podolski - Goals in International Matches". RSSSF. Retrieved 8 May 2011.
  17. "Spain dominate Team of the Tournament". euro2008.uefa.com. 30 June 2008. Retrieved 30 June 2008.
  18. "DFB-Elf erhält Silbernes Lorbeerblatt". Rheinische Post (in German). Retrieved 19 December 2010.

External links

Awards
Awards
Preceded byInaugural Gillette Best Young Player
2006 		Succeeded byThomas Müller
Preceded byRuud van Nistelrooy & Wayne Rooney UEFA Euro Silver Boot
2008 		Succeeded byIncumbent
2. Bundesliga top scorers
2. Bundesliga North
2. Bundesliga South
2. Bundesliga
FIFA World Cup Young Player Award
Best Young Player
FIFA Young Player Award
FIFA Young Player Award was first awarded in 2006.
UEFA Euro 2008 Team of the Tournament
Goalkeepers
Defenders
Midfielders
Forwards
Germany squads

Template:Germany Squad 2004 Euro U-21

Germany squad – UEFA Euro 2004
Germany
Germany squad – 2005 FIFA Confederations Cup third place
Germany
Germany squad – 2006 FIFA World Cup third place
Germany
Germany squad – UEFA Euro 2008 runners-up
Germany
Germany squad – 2010 FIFA World Cup third place
Germany
1. FC Köln – current squad


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