After 18 years of professional football, Lukas Podolski, who reached the top of the World Cup with his German teammates and helped his team win the Bundesliga and the FA Cup, finally returned to Poland to play for his beloved team, Górnik Zabrze. (Note: Górnik means miner in Polish)
The 36-year-old Lucas Podols made his debut in the Polish football league for the Polish team last week, and even though he ended up going 2-0, Pogon Szczecin, he delivered on a promise he had made.
Born in a small town in the southern Polish city of Gliwice, Lucas Podols is adjacent to Zabrze, and even though he moved to Germany with his parents as early as the age of 2, he has been a fan of miners since he was a child, and miners are the second most successful team in Polish history.
Having played for Cologne, Bayern and Arsenal, he also scored 130 times in the German national team and scored 48 goals, making his career appearance in the seven major leagues, but Lukas Podolski never forgot that he was from Poland.
Lucas Podolski's wife, Monika, is also Polish and communicates with her children in Polish on a daily basis. Often returning to Poland to visit his grandmother, Zofia, he had a deep relationship with Silesia, who was a miner fan like other family members.
"Even though Lukas Podolski and Miroslav Klose are both Polish, the former is more widely loved by our journalists than the latter, and Miroslav Klose has no intention of communicating with the Polish media, does not speak Polish, and looks proud when the German national anthem is played." Marek Wawrzynowski, a journalist at Sportowe Fakty, said of the duo.
Lukas Podolski responded in Polish to the Polish media, and at Euro 2008, he did not celebrate after he broke through Poland's gates twice for Germany. We all see him as our own. ”
In 2012, a few months before bidding farewell to Cologne and moving to Arsenal, Lucas Podolski said: "I watched all the miners' matches on TV or on the Internet, and I am very happy that the club will usher in a new stadium, and I dream of stepping on a new stadium in the future." ”
Krzysztof Maj, the miner's sporting director at the time, welcomed him very well, and the two became friends. Lucas Podolski promised to play for the miners before retiring, which was his promise to his grandmother Zofia.
Unfortunately, the two were unable to witness the day when the promise was fulfilled. Krzysztof Maj died of a heart attack in 2015 at the age of 39, while Lucas Podolski's grandmother, Zofia, died in December 2019. He said on the social platform: When I was a child, football was accompanied by you, and your careful education has made me what I am today. Always full of confidence in me, sure that my dreams will come true one day, with you by our side, we have won the world championship together.
In January 2020, Lucas Podolski moved to Antalyaspor in the Turkish Super League, where he had previously played for Galatasaray and Vissel Kobe, and miner fans saw him continue his professional career around the world to earn money and doubt his intention to play for the miners.
"He mentioned more than once that he would return to Poland, but at the same time he chose to play for teams around the world, and over time his promise became a joke. Lucas Podolski's transfer of miners to Silesia means pigs can fly, which seems to be an impossible thing. Wirtualna Polska's journalist Piotr Kozminski shared his views with BBC Sport.
However, this is not the case, and the pigs still can't fly, but Lucas Podolsky has confirmed that he has transferred to miners and signed a one-year contract, with the option of extending the contract for one year. At the same time, Mexico's Queretaro had invited Lucas Podolski to play for 3 million euros with a two-year contract, but was rebuffed.
Journalist Piotr Kozminski went on to say: "A move to another team would have cost Lucas Podolski at least six to seven times more, and he still chose miners, and this transfer is most likely the last of his career." He doesn't care that he makes less money, and more importantly, he can go back to Poland. ”
The Zabrze Miners, a long-established team and the only Polish team to reach the final of a European competition, made their debut in the 1970 Cup Winners' Cup, but unfortunately lost to Manchester City and did not reach the top. Miner Zabrze won the league 14 times between 1957 and 1988, but the team's performance slipped as mining became less important.
The Zabrze miners had very limited financial resources and were even demoted in 2008. The team finished last season in tenth place, so there was a great need for ways to boost the morale of the team, and the addition of Lucas Podolski brought life to the team, and the team and even fans were thrilled to join.
Interia's reporter, Pawel Czado, said: "For the first time, nearly 10,000 fans have come to the home stadium to welcome Lukas Podolski, and it is also the first time I have seen such a lively welcome ceremony in Polish football. The sale of jerseys bearing its name is also ideal. ”
Pawel Czado continued: "No player who has ever won a World Cup has ever played in the Polish league, and lucas Podolski's addition makes the league more popular around the world. ”