Lukas Podolski biographyHonors
On July 6, 2006, Podolski was announced as the first Gillette Best Young Player award winner.[3] Runner-up Cristiano Ronaldo had been favored to win the award, but concerns about his fair play counted against him. Holger Osieck, head of the FIFA Technical Study Group that selected the winner, praised Podolski as "a key element in Germany's attack."
Born in the industrial town of Gliwice, in Upper Silesia, Poland, Podolski is one of two top German soccer players with Silesian roots, the other one being Miroslav Klose. His father Waldemar Podolski was also a professional football player playing for a number of Polish clubs, while his mother played handball for Sośnica Gliwice. In 1987, when Lukas Podolski was two years old, his parents resettled from People's Republic of Poland to West Germany, as Aussiedler. Podolski grew up in Bergheim, North Rhine-Westphalia, and later in Pulheim, both near Cologne.
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 November 22, 2003. Even though Cologne failed to avoid a drop to the 2nd German 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.
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.
Bayern Munich
Jürgen Klinsmann, the former coach of Germany, holds Podolski 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 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 the August 11 2006 with a 2:0 victory against Borussia Dortmund coming on as a substitute on the 88 minute. On September 9 2006 he was coming on as a substitute for the second half 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 BSC Berlin.
National Team Career
Even before the 2004/05 season began Podolski 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.
Podolski played for Germany at Euro 2004, where he was the squad's youngest player. He also attended the FIFA Confederations Cup in 2005 and scored 3 goals there.
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 overtime. 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 awarded the Best Young Player title for his performance in the tournament.
On September 6, 2006, Podolski netted 4 goals in a Euro 2008 qualifying game against San Marino. 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.
Trivia
- He abstains from alcohol.
- His family name comes from the former Polish region of Podolia.
- Podolski speaks Polish with his parents, besides being fluent in German and speaking English, which he learned in high school.
- Podolski feels a bond with both Poland and Germany. He wears shoes that display the Brandenburg Gate and have inscribed the words 'Unity, justice and freedom' -- from the German national anthem. "It is special to have the words of the national anthem printed on my boots. It is fantastic," Podolski said. He also has stated, "It will be special and a bit strange to hear the Polish national anthem and then the German one afterwards. I will not sing either of them because I feel at home in both countries. I have not quite lost my Polish heart."
- He is the face (and body) of Axe Body Spray.
- Jürgen Milski dedicated a song to him, named "Lu-Lu-Lu Lukas Podolski".
- Podolski is only the second German after Gerd Müller to score 4 goals in an international match. He scored 4 goals in Euro 2008 qualification where Germany beat San Marino 13-0, a new record for Euro qualification.
- Podolski is also on the cover of every game of the FIFA Series in Germany since FIFA 06.
- Podolski's girlfriend, Monika, originally hails from Silesia as well.
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