Name	Lukas Podolski
Height	5' 10"
Naionality	German
Date of Birth	4 June 1985
Place of Birth	Gliwice, Poland
Famous for

Born in the industrial town of Gliwice, Poland, Podolski is one of two top German football players with Polish Silesian roots, the other one being Miroslav Klose. The Podolski family managed to emigrate to West Germany as Aussiedler since Lukas` grandparents were German citizens before World War 2. His father Waldemar Podolski was also a professional football player playing for a number of Polish clubs, while his mother played handball for Sośnica Gliwice. In 1987, when Lukas Podolski was two years old, his parents settled from People`s Republic of Poland to West Germany. Podolski grew up in Bergheim, North Rhine-Westphalia, and later in Pulheim, both near Cologne.

It was at Cologne where 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 November 22, 2003. Even though Cologne failed to avoid a drop to the 2nd German 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.

Though his call up to the German EURO 2004 squad brought along interest from several top clubs, Podolski stayed at Cologne to help the club gain promotion in the 2004-05 campaign. With 24 goals, Podolski advanced to become the league`s best scorer. Somewhat unusually, Podolski remained part of the Germany squad, even though he did not play in the national top tier league.

After Cologne were promoted, the pressure was on Podolski to keep the club in the Bundesliga practically singlehandedly. Podolski managed to score 12 goals in the 2005-06 season, but eventually, Cologne were relegated again. It became clear that Podolski would not stay again to push them through the 2006-07 2nd Bundesliga - even more so, as Podolski was becoming an integral part of the national team.