Background and career
Lukas Josef Podolski (German: [ˈluːkas poˈdɔlskiː]; born Łukasz Józef Podolski, Polish: [ˈwukaʂ pɔˈdɔlskʲi], 4 June 1985) is a former professional footballer who played as a striker or left winger. Born in Poland, he played for the Germany national team. He is the current owner of Ekstraklasa club Górnik Zabrze, for whom he played before his retirement in 2026. He was known for his powerful and accurate left foot, explosive shooting, technique and probing attacks from the left side.
Podolski joined 1. FC Köln in 1995 where he made it into the first team in 2003 resulting in 81 appearances for the club before moving to Bayern Munich. With Bayern, Podolski won the Bundesliga and DFB-Pokal double in 2008. Podolski returned to 1. FC Köln in 2009. He later signed for Premier League club Arsenal in 2012, with whom he won the FA Cup in 2014. He then moved on loan to Serie A club Inter Milan in January 2015, before signing six months later for Galatasaray where he also won the Turkish Cup of 2016. In 2017, he moved to Vissel Kobe in Japan, spending three seasons there before moving back to Turkey to play for Antalyaspor. In 2021, he moved to Górnik Zabrze in Poland and in May 2026, they won the Polish Cup, his first with the club. Later that month, he became Górnik's majority owner and announced his retirement from professional football.
Born in Poland, Podolski moved to Germany at the age of two. He was eligible to play for both Poland and Germany. He represented Germany at youth level, making his first appearance for the senior team in 2004. Podolski enjoyed great success with the Germany national team. He was part of the squad in seven major tournaments, winning the 2014 FIFA World Cup. He is the fourth most-capped player in German history, with 130 caps, and the third-highest goalscorer in German history, having scored 49 times. In May 2013, Podolski scored the fastest goal in Germany national team history, and the second fastest international goal in history at that time, after just nine seconds against Ecuador. Podolski retired from international football on 22 March 2017 after scoring the winner as captain in a friendly against England.
Podolski began playing football at the age of six in the youth team of FC 07 Bergheim, where he played until he joined 1. FC Köln at the age of ten. It was there that 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 until Florian Wirtz overtook the record in 2021.
How Lukas Podolski makes money
On 1 July, Podolski returned to Köln on a four-year contract, at a reported fee of around €10 million, equivalent to the fee Bayern paid to sign him in 2006. Podolski signed a three-year contract with Turkish club Galatasaray on 4 July 2015 for an initial fee of £1.8 million, after which the Süper Lig champions will pay Arsenal £2.1 million for three consecutive seasons thereafter.
