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Lukas Podolski

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Lukas Podolski
File:Lukas Podolski (Confed-Cup 2005).JPG
Personal information
Height 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
Position(s) Forward[1]
Team information
Current team
 FC Bayern Munich
Number 11
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of June 16 2008

Lukas Podolski (German, IPA: [ˈlukas poˈdolski]) (born as Łukasz Podolski on June 4, 1985 in Gliwice (German: Gleiwitz), Upper Silesia, Poland) nicknamed (Prinz) Poldi, is a German footballer who plays as a striker for Bayern Munich and is a member of the German national team.

Early life

Podolski was born to Krystyna Podolski, a former member of the Polish national handball team and Waldemar Podolski, former Polish football professional and the 1980 champion of Poland with Szombierki Bytom, in the Upper Silesian industrial town of Gliwice, Poland. His family has a Silesian-German ethnic background. In 1987, when Lukas Podolski was only two years old, his family emigrated as former imperial German citizens (Spätaussiedler) from Poland to West Germany. Podolski grew up in Bergheim, North Rhine-Westphalia, and later in Pulheim, both near Cologne.[2]

Career

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 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 November 22, 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

Jürgen Klinsmann, the former coach of Germany, held Podolski in high regard as he is an effective scorer with both his head and feet. Because of this, clubs such as Bayern Munich, Hamburg, Werder Bremen and even Real Madrid manifested their interest in Podolski, even though he had a contract with FC Köln through 2007. On June 1, 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. He made his Bundesliga debut for Bayern on August 11, 2006 with a 2:0 victory against Borussia Dortmund, coming on as a substitute in the 88th minute. On September 9, 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 October 14, 2006, with his first Bundesliga goal for Bayern, Podolski helped to secure the club's 4-2 win over Hertha Berlin. On October 26, 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 matchweeks. He returned from this injury and scored against Alemannia Aachen.

International career

In late 2003 after a couple of impressive performances in his first few Bundesliga games, Polish media suggested then-Polish national team coach Paweł Janas to 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 more and more German media started to suggest to call up the striker to their national team. When his full potential was finally unveiled, he had already been persuaded to represent Germany. At the end of the season Köln were relegated, but Podolski impressed so much, that he celebrated his debut for Rudi Völler's Germany on June 6, 2004 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 in attack. He scored his first ever World Cup goal in Germany's 3rd group match against Ecuador, 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 Best Young Player for his performance in the tournament.

On September 6 2006, Podolski netted 4 goals in a Euro 2008 qualifying game against San Marino, 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 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. On the November 17 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 German 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.

Euro 2008

On Sunday June 8 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. 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. [3]

On June 12, 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. [4]

Germany beat Austria 1-0 at Ernst Happel Stadion, Vienna on June 16 to qualify for the quarter-finals against Portugal. Although Michael Ballack scored the only goal from a free kick for Germany, Podolski's attacking play was noticable. Podolski injured his calf in the game against Austria and is doubtful for the next match again Portugal.[5]

International goals

# Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition
1. December 21, 2004 Bangkok, Thailand  Thailand 3-1 5-1 Friendly
2. December 21, 2004 Bangkok, Thailand  Thailand 5-1 5-1 Friendly
3. March 5, 2005 Ljubljana, Slovenia  Slovenia 1-0 1-0 Friendly
4. June 4, 2005 Belfast, Northern Ireland  Northern Ireland 4-1 4-1 Friendly
5. June 15, 2005 Frankfurt, Germany  Australia 4-2 4-3 Confederations Cup 2005
6. June 25, 2005 Nuremberg, Germany  Brazil 1-1 2-3 Confederations Cup 2005
8. September 7, 2005 Berlin, Germany  South Africa 1-0 4-2 Friendly
9. September 7, 2005 Berlin, Germany  South Africa 3-1 4-2 Friendly
10. September 7, 2005 Berlin, Germany  South Africa 4-2 4-2 Friendly
11. May 27, 2006 Freiburg, Germany  Luxembourg 3-0 7-0 Friendly
12. May 27, 2006 Freiburg, Germany  Luxembourg 5-0 7-0 Friendly
13. June 20, 2006 Berlin, Germany  Ecuador 3-0 3-0 World Cup 2006
14. June 24, 2006 Munich, Germany  Sweden 1-0 2-0 World Cup 2006
15. June 24, 2006 Munich, Germany  Sweden 2-0 2-0 World Cup 2006
16. September 2, 2006 Stuttgart, Germany  Republic of Ireland 1-0 1-0 Euro 2008 qualifying
17. September 6, 2006 Serravalle, San Marino  San Marino 1-0 13-0 Euro 2008 qualifying
18. September 6, 2006 Serravalle, San Marino  San Marino 5-0 13-0 Euro 2008 qualifying
19. September 6, 2006 Serravalle, San Marino  San Marino 8-0 13-0 Euro 2008 qualifying
20. September 6, 2006 Serravalle, San Marino  San Marino 10-0 13-0 Euro 2008 qualifying
21. October 11, 2006 Bratislava, Slovakia  Slovakia 1-0 4-1 Euro 2008 qualifying
22. October 11, 2006 Bratislava, Slovakia  Slovakia 4-1 4-1 Euro 2008 qualifying
23. September 12, 2007 Cologne, Germany  Romania 3-1 3-1 Friendly
24. November 17, 2007 Hannover, Germany  Cyprus 3-0 4-0 Euro 2008 qualifying
25. March 26, 2008 Basel, Switzerland   Switzerland 4-0 4-0 Friendly
26. June 8, 2008 Klagenfurt, Austria  Poland 1-0 2-0 Euro 2008
27. June 8, 2008 Klagenfurt, Austria  Poland 2-0 2-0 Euro 2008
28. June 12, 2008 Klagenfurt, Austria  Croatia 1-2 1-2 Euro 2008

Honours

On July 6, 2006, Podolski was announced as the first Gillette Best Young Player for the 2006 FIFA World Cup.

Club Titles


National Team

Club career stats

All-Time Club Performance
Club Season Bundesliga DFB Cup European Competition Total
App Goals App Goals App Goals App Goals
Köln 2003-04 19 10 1 0 - - 20 10
2004-05* 30 24 2 5 - - 32 29
2005-06 32 12 1 0 - - 33 12
Total 81 46 4 5 - - 85 51
Bayern Munich 2006-07 22 4 3 2 7 1 32 7
2007-08 24 5 4 0 12 5 40 10
Total 46 9 7 2 19 6 72 17
Career Totals 127 55 11 7 19 6 157 68

*Played in Second Bundesliga.

References

  1. ^ "Germany: 20 Lukas Podolski". www.uefa.com. Retrieved 2008-06-09.
  2. ^ "M 02.11 Lukas Podolski" (in German). www.bpb.de. Retrieved 2007-10-17.
  3. ^ Germany vs Poland match report
  4. ^ Croatia vs Germany match report
  5. ^ "Podolski doubtful for Portugal tie". FourFourTwo. 2008-06-17. Retrieved 2008-06-17.

External links

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