Lukas Josef Podolski is a German professional footballer who plays as a forward for Ekstraklasa club Gornik Zabrze.
55 Facts About Lukas Podolski
2.
Lukas Podolski later signed for Premier League club Arsenal in 2012, with whom he won the FA Cup in 2014.
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Lukas Podolski then moved on loan to Serie A club Inter Milan in January 2015, before signing six months later for Galatasaray where he won the Turkish Cup of 2016.
4.
Lukas Podolski was part of the squad in seven major tournaments, winning the 2014 FIFA World Cup.
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Lukas Podolski is the third most-capped player in German history, with 130 caps, and the third-highest goalscorer in German history, having scored 49 times.
6.
Lukas Podolski retired from international football on 22 March 2017 after scoring the winner in a friendly against England.
7.
Lukas Podolski began playing football at the age of six in the youth team of FC 07 Bergheim, where he played until he joined 1.
8.
In 2003, at the age of 18, Lukas Podolski was still part of the club's youth side.
9.
Somewhat unusually, Lukas Podolski remained part of the Germany squad, even though he did not play in the national top-tier league.
10.
On 26 October 2006, Lukas Podolski suffered a serious injury to his right ankle joint caused by teammate, Mark van Bommel, during a training session.
11.
Lukas Podolski returned from this injury and scored against Alemannia Aachen.
12.
Bundesliga, Lukas Podolski scored 18 goals in 29 league Bundesliga appearances.
13.
Lukas Podolski was linked with Premier League club Arsenal throughout the 2012 winter transfer window but no deal materialised.
14.
However, on 30 April 2012, it was officially announced that Lukas Podolski had signed for Arsenal on a long-term deal, for an undisclosed fee.
15.
Lukas Podolski took the number 9 from Park Chu-Young, who had been loaned out to Celta Vigo, after the number 10 shirt vacated by Robin van Persie was given to Jack Wilshere.
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Lukas Podolski then started in his first official match for Arsenal against Sunderland on the opening day of the Premier League on 18 August 2012.
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Lukas Podolski's first contribution was an incisive pass to Theo Walcott for Arsenal's first goal.
18.
Lukas Podolski was substituted for Aaron Ramsey to a standing ovation.
19.
Lukas Podolski ended his first season in Arsenal with a total of 16 goals and 11 assists.
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Lukas Podolski's first was a goal against his former club, FC Bayern Munich, in the return leg of the UEFA Champions League last 16 tie.
21.
Lukas Podolski was not named in Inter's squad list for the knockout stages of the UEFA Europa League with coach Roberto Mancini preferring Xherdan Shaqiri over the German international.
22.
On 2 March 2017, Lukas Podolski announced his transfer to Japanese club Vissel Kobe after the completion of the Turkish season.
23.
On 23 January 2020, Lukas Podolski joined Antalyaspor on a one-and-a-half-year contract.
24.
On 6 July 2021, Lukas Podolski was announced by the Ekstraklasa club Gornik Zabrze, having signed a one-year contract that comes with the option of another year, and with the club being probably his last club before retiring, after stating it's his dream to finish his footballing career playing for Gornik.
25.
On 19 May 2022 Lukas Podolski agreed to a one-year contract extension.
26.
Lukas Podolski had become the first second-division player since 1975 to break into the national team.
27.
Lukas Podolski played for Germany at Euro 2004, where he was the squad's youngest player.
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Lukas Podolski made one substitute appearance in the game against the Czech Republic, when he came on for Torsten Frings at half-time.
29.
Lukas 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.
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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 player ever to accomplish the feat.
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Lukas Podolski was named the World Cup's Best Young Player ahead of players like Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.
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Lukas Podolski is one of only four German players to score four goals in an international match.
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Lukas Podolski was the third after Gerd Muller and Michael Ballack, and since this, Mario Gomez has accomplished this feat.
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Lukas Podolski has continued to score goals at an astonishing rate.
35.
On 8 June 2008, Lukas Podolski made his Euro 2008 entrance against debutants Poland in a Group B match in Klagenfurt, Austria.
36.
Lukas Podolski avoided celebrating his goals to show respect for his country of birth.
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Lukas Podolski did not celebrate this goal either despite it putting him joint first on the Euro 2008 goal-scoring list with David Villa.
38.
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.
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Lukas Podolski finished the qualification campaign second highest scorer of Group 4 with six goals, behind teammate Miroslav Klose's 7.
40.
Lukas Podolski was included in the squad for UEFA Euro 2016.
41.
Lukas Podolski made a substitute appearance against Slovakia during the tournament.
42.
Lukas Podolski was given his last ever international appearance for Germany against England on 22 March 2017 where he scored the winning goal.
43.
Lukas Podolski is a physically strong player able to hold up the ball and produce key passes.
44.
Lukas Podolski has good dribbling and technical skills and is a good crosser of the ball having set up many goals for his teammates from the left side.
45.
Lukas Podolski is a penalty specialist, having missed only two penalties in his career.
46.
Lukas Podolski is an ambassador of the Christian Children's Fund the Ark.
47.
In 1987, when Lukas Podolski was two years old, his family emigrated from Poland to West Germany and were given Aussiedler status as a result of his paternal grandparents having German citizenship prior to World War II.
48.
Lukas Podolski grew up in Bergheim, North Rhine-Westphalia, and later in Pulheim, both near Cologne.
49.
Lukas Podolski possesses dual citizenship, both German and Polish, but has stated that he does not have a Polish passport.
50.
At that point, Lukas Podolski had already decided to play for Germany, but nevertheless "there are two hearts beating" in his chest.
51.
Lukas Podolski speaks Polish and sometimes communicated with Bayern Munich and Germany strike partner Miroslav Klose, a Polish-born Aussiedler, in Polish to hinder their opposition's understanding of their conversation.
52.
Lukas Podolski is a fan of KS Gornik Zabrze, a football team based 10 kilometres from his place of birth.
53.
Lukas Podolski owns an ice cream parlour and a kebab shop in Cologne.
54.
On 30 June 2021, Lukas Podolski was announced as a judge for the 15th season of Das Supertalent, the German version of Got Talent.
55.
Lukas Podolski will become the first association football player to judge any version of the franchise owned by Simon Cowell.