Podolski bows out on the pitch before taking over Polish club Gornik

Inja News می 24, 2026 2 minutes read

Former Germany forward Lukas Podolski brought the curtain down on his playing career on Saturday with one last appearance for Gornik Zabrze, the Polish ⁠club he loves so ⁠deeply that he not only chose to retire there but bought them as well.

The 40-year-old came off the bench on the final ⁠day of the season in Gornik’s 6-2 home win over Radomiak Radom, as the club finished runners-up in the top flight behind Lech Poznan.

The Gornik fans unveiled a huge tifo in Podolski’s honour, with the word ‘boss’ to the fore. He announced on Thursday that he was now the club’s majority owner, after completing a deal with ⁠the ⁠Zabrze city council who ran the club.

Podolski was born in Poland but moved to Germany as a boy, and represented his adopted country 130 times, scoring 49 goals and winning the World Cup in 2014.

After a club career which took him to Bayern Munich, Arsenal and Galatasaray, he ⁠returned to Poland in 2021.

Gornik, a club whose glory days appeared to be long behind them — winning the last of their 14 league titles in 1988 — was the team Podolski’s grandmother supported and he has remained a supporter since his childhood days visiting ⁠Poland.

Gornik ‌won ‌the Polish Cup for the first ⁠time since 1972 earlier in ‌May and the fans will hope Podolski’s stewardship can lead them back to a ⁠long-awaited league title.

Aside from a successful ⁠footballing career, Podolski owns a popular kebab chain ⁠in Germany, Mangal Doner, and has also invested in several other business ventures.

ANEWS wp:paragraph