Lukas Podolski always said that he had two hearts: one Polish and the other German. The striker had a considerable chance to play for the Polish national team. Ultimately, “Poldi” chose to play for “Die Mannschaft”, with whom he won the world championship. Why, despite the efforts of Paweł Janas, born in Gliwice, did he not wear the colors “White and Red”?
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Lukas Podolski could play for the Polish national team
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Paweł Janas even sent the players national team jerseys with the number 10
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It turned out that his efforts came too late, as the Polish Football Federation had not shown any initiative before.
Lukas Podolski has become a legend of the German national team. He made his debut for the national team at the age of 19 and two days, when the coach of “Die Mannschaft” was another legendary footballer from our western neighbors, Rudi Voller. The striker won the world championship in 2014, but his career could have turned out completely differently.
The footballer was tempted by Paweł Janas to play for the Polish national team. The manager of our team at the time even sent the teenagers our team T-shirts with the number 10, but it was too late. “Poldi” has already made the decision and PZPN activists are largely responsible for it.
Lukas Podolski, the star of the German national team
Lukas Podolski was born as Łukasz on June 4, 1985 in Gliwice, Sośnica district.
His mother played handball in Sośnica, his father was a footballer, he played for Górnik Knurów, ROW Rybnik and Szombierki Bytom. In the 1979/80 season he was part of the Szombierek team when they became Polish champions.
When little Łukasz was two years old, he emigrated to Germany with his parents and became Lukas. There he developed as a footballer at FC 07 Bergheim, and at the age of 10 he joined FC Koeln and was called up to the youth teams of the German national team.
The young “Poldi” was climbing the ranks and we knew he had a lot of talent.
At the age of 19 years and two days, he made his debut for the German national team and then-coach Rudi Voeller took him to Euro 2004.
There, our western neighbors did not make it out of the group, but in general, Podolski’s career in the national team was a series of successes.
In total, the striker played 130 times for the national team, which is the third most in the German all-time rankings, and scored 49 goals, which also gives him the third position in this regard.
Podolski participated in the 2004, 2008, 2012, 2016 Euros and the 2006, 2010 and 2014 World Cups.
In 2008, he became vice-European champion and the jewel of his career was the 2014 World Championship.
However, the player may not have had all of this.
“You were late”, “no one was interested in me”
The above-mentioned approaches of Paweł Jans did not achieve anything.
Lukas Podolski has already made his choice and given his words, it is hardly surprising.
– Before I started playing for the German national team, none of your officials made me an offer. I only answered the phone when I had no choice, he once told Przegląd Sportowy.
The PZPN should be largely responsible for this development of events. The footballer honed his skills abroad and his hard work was appreciated. While living in Germany, he also became emotionally attached to that country.
The prospect of playing in “Die Mannschaft” was also very tempting, because let’s be honest, it’s a national team on a completely different level. However, if the Polish Football Federation had reacted a little earlier to the development of the footballer’s talent, everything could have turned out differently. – At first, no one from Poland paid me any special attention. Then I started playing for the German youth team and my career took off quickly. Nobody offered me to play for the Polish national team when it was still possible. What was I supposed to do? Come and ask someone from the national team to be interested in me? – asked the footballer in an interview with “PS”.
Despite his strength, Podolski never sang the German anthem, but always emphasized his love for Poland, also repeating that Polish and German hearts beat in his dogs.
Thanks to this, “Poldi” has always enjoyed great respect and sympathy among Poles, although he plays for our western neighbors. This was certainly influenced by the fact that at that time we didn’t have someone like Robert Lewandowski and if we could admire someone who was even a little “ours”, it was the Gliwice-born striker.
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