Tuesday, July 6th, 2021
“The saga continues”
Podolski moves to the (very) old homeland
Lukas Podolski will continue his long career as a professional soccer player where it all began: a few kilometers away from his birthplace. The 2014 world champion will play for the Polish first division club Gornik Zabrze in the future.
Ex-national player Lukas Podolski is continuing his great professional career with the Polish first division soccer team Gornik Zabrze, as Nassim Touhiri, the manager of the 2014 world champions, confirmed to RTL / ntv. As an indication of the impending move of the 36-year-old, both the club and the striker published video clips on Monday.
In the Gornik clip it was called “The legend continues”, in Podolski “The saga continues”. In addition, Podolski’s back number 10 played a central role in both short videos, and is printed on the jersey with a characteristic horizontal line through the zero.
Podolski had last played for one season for Antalyaspor in Turkey and had been without a club since July 1 after his contract expired. Zabrze is the eighth station of his professional career for the 130-time national player, he has played for FC Bayern Munich, Arsenal and Galatasaray Istanbul, among others. Gornik had taken tenth place in the championship last season.
For Podolski, the change is not just another step in his long career: Podolski was born in Gliwice, only twelve kilometers away from his new sporting home. According to information from RTL / ntv, Podolski made significant cuts in his salary in order to accommodate the club. Zabrze is the birthplace of his parents. However, Podolski had never played for his new club, and the future soccer star had already moved to Germany with his family at the age of two. In 1995 he moved to the youth team of 1. FC Köln, where he also made his Bundesliga debut.
In addition to his professional career, Podolski will soon be seen in another role: as a juror for the successful TV format “Das Supertalent”. Podolski had “signed for several years,” RTL announced in June. He’ll be involved from the next season. “You grew up with it. You watch it with the children,” said Podolski about the show. “You definitely need a bit of start-up time. But then it’s not a problem.”
.